I have been wanting to regear now for over a year, and finally have the funds to go forward. I have been having the most problems off-road, the on road gearing problems havn't bothered me too much. I am worried that the gearing that I want off-road will be to low on the highway so I will be running too high of RPMS at 75-80. Anyways, I have been reading on Marlin Crawlers site and I think that changing my transfer case setup may be the best plan. Here is my idea and tell me if I am on crack or if there is major details that I am missing.

Buy a used 4cyl gear driven transfer case - $75
Replace gears with 4.7 gears - $399
V6 adapter (not sure if I was looking at the right part) - $350

Total: $825

If this does work does anybody know the size difference between the gear driven and chain driven? Will driveshaft mods need to be done? I know that many of you will tell me that I will have too much of a diffence between 4Hi and 4low, but running a manual tranny and 4.10 in the diffs I think it will be fine.

 

I'm wanting to check into this two, but I can't figure out their site.

Chris

 

won't work for ya...

The 3rd gen has a Driver's side drop tcase, the 4-cyl case is a pass side.

So.. You'll have a slightly more complicated and more expensive option...

R150 adapter - 350
4-cyl case - 75
4.7 geras - 399
MC09 adapter - 650
Drive shaft mods - $150-250
Crosmember mods - free-$300 for FRORF's crossmember.

You're looking at about $2K.

You can reduce the cost by keeping the 2.28 gear set in the front tcase.

 

The thing that is throwing me off on their site is that is says' "On all Toyota V6 models, the factory chain drive transfercase is removed and replaced with one of our special v6 adapters and a 4cyl gear driven transfer case." It only states one adapter, maybe a typo.

 

At that price I would be better of putting out a couple hundred more and getting the crawl box.

 

That is your only option

 

Your only option is the crawler which would reuse the stock case and add a front gear reduction.

I would hold off on this though. Bruce is one of the few people with this set-up that does not leak. Mine has never held fluid and others have had degrees in between.

You want the Marlin Taco Box and ought to go Taco Supreme as long as you are in there.

 

That's not what I want to hear.

 

I could sing "Livin' La Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin if you perferred that instead...

 

I'm confused, you dont you regear to match the tire size?...or did you want the gearing to be lower then it was in stock form with stock tires?....

When I had 33's on my jeep it sucked bad....geared at 4.56 is just like it was when I had the stock 30's on it on and off road.....But if I wasnt happy with the gearing it had in stock form, I can see you option as being stated above....

 

for rocks, you want a low range much lower than the stock low range. it helps you crawl over stuff instead of launching over it. with an auto, you may not notice the difference as much, but on a 5spd, you will love it.

 

If you like the diff gears for on the road, but want more gearing for wheeling, you are a perfect canidate for a crawler box.

 

I thought that only the auto's were having problems with leaks? Mine pushes oil out the breathers on the FRORF Twin-Stick, but never leaked in 5 years. The one on my 4Runner doesn't seem to leak either. My plan was to simply extend the breathers, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

The sticks and autos use predominantly the same coupler.

The autos seem to, one and all, leak. Some day a magic piece will come from the land of little hands and it will be fixed.

 

I am seriously considering the crawler box, because the only time that my gears bother me is when I am towing something and that isn't very often.
Where exactly does the leak come from, and is it a part that comes installed in the crawler or one of the gaskets or seals that the installer has to put in? Also I have read that both drive shafts need to be changed by 8" or so, what is the best method to do this? Are there other yotas that come stock with drive shafts close to the right length?

 

It's hard to say what the problem is, I know I helped in the assembly of my crawl box at Marlin's shop, so I made sure things were sealed up. I know that seal provided for the new coupler, a metal flange type seal, during installation can bend easily, whcih tend to leak afterwards. Mine was a very tight fit and took me about 20 minutes to tap it in.

 

The leak is through the coupler.

CU Buff, I know I have met you, but cannot think of your name for the life of me.

Get a front locker first. With one locker and a crawler, all your front will do is spin one wheel really slowly.

 

My name is Jeff, we met at the Jamboree. I was considering getting the front locked, but if I do that I might as well get gears. I am also worried about breaking cv's with the front locked, I can be hard on parts sometimes. I called ORS and they quoted me $1900 to regear not including the locker. I figured for almost the same price I could put a crawler in. One other issue is my ability to always want to upgrade something, like many on the board, and I will probably want to get larger tires, SAS it or something similar making my regear useless or needed again; however the crawler would still be usefull. I think that the crawler would also have a higher resale value if I did get rid of it. Thoughts?

 

I could have gotten Jeff on a multiple choice test.

Yeah, we all go bigger eventually, but I think you will get lot of use out of locked IFS truck. I have followed Schaefer through things with IFS that would have made some people with a solid axle wet themselves.

You can always sell it off when it is time to go bigger.

I would see how buys Steve's front, snag their stocker for a song, pay a grand for an ARB and install and then call me to drink beer while you install it.

You had the buddy with the stocker who wanted body damage, I remember now.

 

My buddy Aaron, the guy with the stocker, has been slowly buying parts and is planning on doing most all of the work at once. Anyways we were debating setting aside a weekend to possibly regear both of ours at the same time.
I have only taken my vehicles to shops for alignments and tires and have done all the rest of the work myself everything from body work to engine work, so I consider myself to be a fairly competent mechanic. My dad used to race muscle cars and do most all the work himself, so we are thinking that between three of us we should be able to do the job. If we did this I would lock it because I would be saving more than enough money by doing it myself. However, after numerous people talking about how hard it is to regear "correctly", I get worried.