Pure-bred off-roaders are pretty wild machines, clawing their way through crazy terrain that looks more like the moon than anything you’d expect to find a car on. Enabling this capability is the right combination of mechanical bits, as evidenced by the Toyota featured above, which manages to mount a steep slab of granite through the torque of its starter motor.
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The Full Story
This latest bit of rough stuff goodness comes to us from Marlin Crawler Media’s YouTube channel, and features an off-road prepped Toyota that comes to the party rocking a 2.7-liter Tacoma four-cylinder (3RZ-FE) engine, plus a Triple Ultimate Marlin Crawler Transfer Case.
The video shows the Marlin Crawler drive itself up onto a giant rock, after which the steep grade causes the front wheels to bounce a bit.
The driver then cranks the starter motor and the Crawler starts to claw back up the rock face. It doesn’t quite make it, and, as the driver points out, it’s total “hell” on the starter motor. So, the driver then engages a standard Marlin Crawler Dual Case with a 5.20:1 ratio (stock low-range 2.28:1 x 2.28.1), which helps to multiply the starter motor’s torque and almost puts the truck over the top.
Then the driver engages Marlin Crawler’s Dual Ultimate case, which offers up 10.72:1 (stock low-range 2.28:1 x 4.70:1).
Break it down, and this is essentially an exercise in torque multiplication. Manual cars with no clutch safety switch will actually move if you attempt to start it in gear without the clutch depressed, and that’s basically what we’re seeing here. It creates a ton of strain on the starter motor to do this, but with the right ratio, it’s all a lot smoother than you’d expect.
Further Reading
Read our full review on the 2016 Toyota Tacoma.