Official Crawlbox BS thread!

I agree with you on the 2 x 2.28 being fine for most, even on a manual. @JoeCOVA made a post here few weeks ago that suggested 100:1 is an ideal ratio for most folks, and anything more than that is a bit of a gimmick. I really wanted to argue with him at the time and defend my final ratio of 229:1, but the more I thought about, I think he's spot on. When I use double low, I'm more likely to be in 2nd gear (2.19) than 1st (4.171), putting my 2nd gear final ratio at 120:1 instead of 1st gear final ratio at 229:1. In all honesty, if I can't get it done at 120:1, it's unlikely 229:1 will be my savior because I'm probably going TOO slow and need more wheel speed, not less.

The NWF setup with taco gears in the front and FJ gears in the rear case would put me at 111:1, which I think would be perfect. I really don't think I'd miss that 1st gear 229:1 if I were to dump the marlin case and stack the toyota gears with an NWF setup.

 

Just got a call from NWF, my Eco-Crawler will be shipped out tomorrow. The triple shifters are not ready yet unfortunately and they say will be shipping out at the end of the year.

 

Thanks for the heads up on NWF. It does look promising. Am I right in thinking this is a new-ish release for the company and they are getting up and running?

So this box allows you to attach various xfer cases behind it? I could source a 2nd gen, 3rd gen or FJ cruiser case?

Looks pretty bad ass and the idea of less mating surfaces is promising...if not prone to less leaking than what I've read about in other options.

 

They've been around for a while. This is just a new product they developed

 

We've been making transfer case related parts since 2005, we operate out of a 58,000sq ft facility and have 12 CNCs. We manufacture our own parts and have been in the underdrive game for quite a while.

 

I'd interject and say the atlas is great case choice for the rear, but if you already have the parts from the stock chain case it makes sense to use the eco crawler to adapt the atlas to the trans. Why spend $400 on an adapter when for another 1K you'll end up with a 4 speed unit, and no coupler to worry about.

Just a point to consider !

 

The eco in front of the atlas defeat the purpose of trying to keep the drivetrain short.

As far as the eco case and the gear case, I prefer the option of having a much lower gear ratio than 2 x 2.57 if mating to a chain.

The eco case may sound good and a good starting point for those who just need the 2.57 option or haven't invest money into other case option out there.

 

If the main goal is shorter and a single low range is all you want, the atlas will do the trick. The EcoCrawler for the Atlas only adds 5.5" so I don't suspect the pair is much longer than the stock VF case, with two more low ranges its a heck of a combo.

Thanks for your input!

 

Just glad there's other company like yours who is willing to step up and put some effort and elbow grease into designing something different. Making it affordable and hopefully a game change and an eye opener to MC/TG BS. Hopefully you will incorporate a much lower gear range option other than the 2.57 currently.

 

The biggest challenge I see to that is the gear ratio is limited by the case size. But yes I agree I'd love to see this market continue to develop and put companies that can't put products on the shelf out of business. Guys like Merlin and Wyatt have ridden the top for too long because nobody else looked up there, I think it's time we entered a new era of crawlbox products.

 

Wasn't expecting this until tomorrow.

 

It's beautiful!

 

Let the oil leak began.....

 

Looking forward to seeing you tackle this and everything involved. Congrats on being one of the first to do the NWF crawlbox. I am really excited to see one of these in a customer's hands.

Obviously there is some assembly to be done, but I can tell you we are all waiting impatiently for install day...

 

So excited to see these things get installed. I know almost everyone on this thread also follows their Instagram but this is too nice not to repost:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWbT88JtHcg/

 

It's looking pretty rad!

Can't wait to see one installed with the factory case clocked.

 

how does this work for us push button folk? Or would I need to source a j shift case for the back case? Or will I just not even need triples and need just one additional shifter for the front case? But that would then put my existing shifter somewhere in the cup holder area, correct?

 

I would assume there's no difference between the gear driven and planetary driven setup. As you mention, the ADD case will have an extra shifter protruding through the cup holder. But with money and some elbow grease, I'm sure you can fab something similar to the twin stick and relocate your 4wd button elsewhere.

 

Yeah I was thinking it would just be a matter of putting the 4wd switch somewhere else, and just run a twin stick setup. Or I can source a j-shift case as my donor, use that as the back case and the guts of my current case for the eco box to have triple sticks just to eliminate another actuator on the truck.