Marlink steering upgrade kit for 1996 80 series (1 Viewer)

[krazykat69]

I am thinking about upgrading my stock steering links and tie rod ends with Marlin Crawler's HD Marlink kit ($249) . 2 rods and 4 TRE's.
Looking for club comments on this. Also , I have not done this kind of work before. How easy is switching out the stock parts and bolting in the new parts, TRE's etc. I understand that the rig would need an alignment after install.
Any down side to beefing up these parts? Or should I just replace stock TRE's as they wear out and not worry about it?
I am on 33"s and open diffs. I will stay on 33"s and will some day add ARB lockers.
Any other considerations?
Thanks for input on this.

 

[pappy]

If you were coming to the meeting tomorrow I would have you peek under the 4Runner. I have Marlin's draglink and tie-rod with FZJ80 rod ends. Mine uses the 23mm ends on both rods. It's beefy, seriously beefy. My only issue was with the 555 rod ends. I know Marlin says they are the supplier to Toyota, but they didn't last on my truck. I replaced them with OEM. With our discount they were about the same price as the 555 from Marlin.

 

[krazykat69]

Thanks. Hope you all enjoy breakfast today. I will be back next week.
About replacing TRE's Do I just jack up front end and remove wheels. Is there a good order in removing each TRE? Remove castle nut, then press out TRE. unscrew old one and replace with new TRE to the same place the old one was? I may just replace all the old TRE's with new OEM TRE's . Then take in for an alignment. Do I have the procedure basically correct? The OEM 's do not attach mwith jam nuts, like the Marlink TRE's are. Interesting that the 555 TRE's did not last well on your vehicle.

 

[krazykat69]

I found several TRE removal threads on I8hmud site. Looks doable.

 

[alia176]

I vote for oem parts as they're beefy enough for the application at hand.

 

[krazykat69]

I will go with OEM parts if needed. Thanks for ideas.

 

[alia176]

If you do get an alignment, I highly recommend a lifetime alignment from Firestone. They have sale on that service so keep an eye out on their site or sign up for email discounts. I'm still using a lifetime alignment from 1990 on one of my cars!