Official Crawlbox BS thread!

Yeah... Meh I'm very thankful I did not go the trail gear route after seeing just how bad their quality is on the SA kit I bought from them.

 

For shits and giggles, I got to ask, what they do now.

Nowadays, it’s quantity and not quality. Though TG products were never known for quality either.

 

Well the diff in the front was 10 pounds shy in total pre load. The steering box is garbage, they sent me leafs with the wrong diameter center pins, strainer for the wrong motor, missing fittings, missing hardware. But hey they sent me a steering stabilizer that wasn't included in the kit.

 

Hate to say it but sounds about right. Same thing happened to the folks I know. Missing products to excessive items. One of the order was a WILL CALL pick up order. He went about 5 extra trips to exchange or pick up missing items from his kit C package in 1 week.

Like I tell the guys I know, if you know what you’re doing and can wait until there’s a sales, you can purchased everything you need and built a better looking axle with quality parts for less vs buying a complete kit. The “kit” saves you the headache of sourcing and time from buying through different vendors. Majority of the small items in their kit are not brand name or from quality manufacturer. They source them for the cheapest price without proper QC check

 

Yeah even their third members are China castings. I went with it simply due to the giant sale and not having time to shop for all sorts of shit. I also never plan to run bigger than the 37s and like the simple Toyota stuff. I previously bought a 44 to piece together but I'm glad I did this instead. I love the width and love not having u joints to deal with! However I would never ever pay more than 6k for the kit.

Pairs well with the eco crawler (staying on topic lol)

Speaking of in a couple weekends I get to pull apart everything again and track down the minor leaks that I have and do the clutch.

 

Not to sound like a dick. But paying $20k for a set of axles that aren’t spidertrax everything, is just an idiot tax for those unwilling or unable to put their own stuff together with some junkyard digging.

A front SD60 outer 609 build is about $2500-$3k before you pick the third you want. Which has a huge range of options and price points.

Or a front SD60 build is about $2500 complete.

Rear options are equally as cheap and plentiful.

 

Did you keep lift the drivetrain at all, or retain the factory position? I purchased the same crossmember, and was planning on lifting it as high as possible.

 

It is slightly elevated, but not much. Maybe half to three-quarter of an inch from the normal seated position because the weight will drop on the side FROR poly mount. I used a hydraulic lifting table and applied some upward pressure to the drivetrain and weld on the mounting tabs to the frame. I don't think it will be ideal to force the drivetrain upward as much as possible as it may cause clearance issue or cause the motor mount to deteriorate faster.

 

Lol. Every rig is different, and SD axle is not for everyone. Personally, I wouldn't run a SD axle even though they're dime and dozen here. Just like exterior or interior roll cage for a vehicle being driven on the road is dumb, but others may think differently.

But hey, everyone float their own boat. They’re not my spending money so I can careless what they buy.

 

Sweet thanks. Yea im raising the motor too, have the frame chopped for a SAS and cab is off right now. Hard to get an idea of where everything sits without the cab on.

 

True. A buddy from high school been a truma doctor at a level 1 hospital for well over 10 years and drives a Geo Metro or his 2007 Tundra to work. He owns a Lamborghini, Ferrari, among other exotic sports cars but didn’t care what others think of him because they don’t know him and don’t know what he has in his garage.

 

I would do the same thing. Why leave an expensive car out in the open for people to touch. When I was a fiber tech, I drove and parked my 1992 Corolla and left it at the company’s yard. I don’t care what I drive as long as the AC blows cold and heater work. It was great on gas and lacks all the dumb modern electronics.

 

So build a 609 like I said. It’s not hard and even Spidertrax UB’s are 99-04 SD60 based

 

609 at one point, was considered by me before I pulled the trigger on the current Diamond axle. Just a thought for now, but I am now considering Tundra 10.5 centered with 60 outers. Will see. Highly doubt my current setup will go boom but who knows. Might end up with a rock bouncer if the new axles are half the price of a used bouncer.

 

Final touches completed

 

What's the gold tape? Heat tape?

 

looks correct because of the exhaust cross over but I’ve would have reroute the crossover behind the factory case

 

Hell nah! that long ass pipe looks goofy and would have required me to re do my exhaust to be able to fit the EcoCrawler. As you can tell my exhaust is just above the lever of the cross member.

 

something like this would keep the heat farther away

 

Nice set up man did my exhaust after I cut the OEM when I removed the transmission(A750E) to set the A750F and transfer case so it’s not the OEM bulky boi. I have a gap of 2 1/4” from top of exhaust to EcoCrawler did the tape just to fancy it up for the the summer desert trips to Baja. Btw your 3 case set up is wild man.