dual case set up marlin or trailgear?????????

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what is better ?????/// what do you folks run????????? any feedback will be appreciated. im not sure whats best i know whats chepest but whats better???????? or is it the same relatively speaking.
 
Oh boy...

Marlin is THE MAN. He invented the crawler gears and the doubler.

IMO, TrailGear is the WalMart of 4x4 suppliers. A lot of people shop at WalMart, but I never do.

You asked for an opinion, there ya go.
 
Marlin is THE MAN.


This is FACT.




He invented the doubler.


This is not.



There were some pretty clever folks from Iceland that made the original dual transfer case boxes.


Marlin made them better....




You will not find better product support than what Marlin himself can provide.



:beer:
 
Marlin is the man he is smart and knows his stuff. But the customer service blows. I know of several instances where they screwed up and it took alot to make them admit it. On one occasion hey put the wrong size bearings in a tranny, how do you do that?. On another they had a guy waiting 4 weeks for a crawl box that was supposed to ship out in 1 week. Then when he got it, it was the wrong one. Ill never deal with him again. And i PERSONALLY read the warrantee sheet, it said warrantied to be free of defects until installed. So i guess that means that its warranted till you put it in and use it and then the warranty is void. WTF

Trail gear does have cheap prices and alot of there stuff is from china. But, I exploded a tcase gear (my own fault) called and told them about it and they said send it back. A week later i had a complete gearset with knew bearings and seals even, no charge to me. They stand behind there warranty.
 
marlin has the MCO7 transfer doubler. its the 7th revision. way i figure each revision is an advance towards a better product. seems like they nailed it.

1979-95 Gear Drive (MC07) | Marlin Crawler, Inc.

yeah there is a mc08 only difference is its rotated
 
There were some pretty clever folks from Iceland that made the original dual transfer case boxes.

Marlin made them better....

Ah yes, you are correct. I guess by "invented" I meant he figured out how to make it work, produce them, brought them to market, etc.

But the customer service blows.

I'm curious how long ago you tried them? I bought a bunch of stuff from them over the past year, and they were great. They accidently left a bearing out of the tranny rebuild kit, and they sent me another one overnight, tossed an extra shifter seat bushing and some stickers in the box. I called them once with a question, and they were very patient over the phone. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them again.
 
I've historically done business with both. I've had customer service problems with Marlin, but that was long time ago. He has a history of that which I'm sure some folks hold against him. I've not had any problems lately. When I needed custom drag links and tie rods for the FJ40, who do you think was willing to make them? Marlin.

Look, when you go to an event, who do you see? MARLIN! That's who. He supports US. He gives generously to event raffles. I've bought parts from Marlin in the flesh off the back of his Hilux tailgate at Cruise Moab. Marlin isn't a hard-core only snob. He is a Toyota 4x4 wizard and is willing to share what he knows and help people out ... in his shop and on the trail.

TG is a business, and while I've never heard of them called the Walmart of parts, I guess it's true. The reality is TG does sell some cool stuff, some stuff Marlin doesn't.

But for TC adapters and gears, it's Marlin all the way.
 
Marlin isn't a hard-core only snob. He is a Toyota 4x4 wizard and is willing to share what he knows and help people out ... in his shop and on the trail.

Perfect example of that is the fact that he does 2wd tranny rebuilds - I think that started with a Fire Guys Racing request for the go-fast desert crowd, exact opposite of crawling
 
Marlin...

I got a 4.7 t-case from him back when they first came out. It took a while to get because at the time they were waiting on the gears from Japan. I put it in and after driving it for a couple weeks it jumped out of 4WD into neutral, some problem with the bearings. My guess is that someone was pulling all nighters trying to get the orders out when the crawler gears finally came in... I called Marlin on the spot from the side of the road. He helped me get it back into gear to get home and sent out a prepaid shipping lable. I got my t-case back in like 3 days total turn time in good working order with no cost to me. I think based on that experience they stand behind their product. That is why I will continue to do business with Marlin and continue to recommend him to all my buddies.
 
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I have put together a MC07R10, a Trail Gear and a AA. Marlin was far and away the best, easiest to assemble and you get the clocked version for the same price. TG was pretty good, but the fit an finish wasn't the same. AA sucked. They didn't include the correct snaprings needed to complete the job and the adaptor just seemed unfinished with lots of casting flash and burs etc.
 
I have both TG and Marlin stuff...........never broke either but TG always gave me faster customer service but Marlin never has treated me bad either.:beer:
 
I just read a story last night about someone blowing a dual case setup on the Rubicon behind a Tundra. Marlin left work, loaded up his gear, drove 6 hours to the Rubicon, wheeled into Walker Hill, replaced the T-case, fixed two other broken rigs (jeep and something else) and accepted no payment when offered.

Another option is Inchworm in Cameron Park. Jim and Marlin are working together where possible, selling each other's unique products...Jim was one of the first to come up with a dual case setup as well.
 
I ran Jim's dual case adapter in a previous truck. It was art.
 

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