Official Crawlbox BS thread!

that picture is not mine. it’s BigMike from Marlin Crawler with his third gen, he’s also triple case

 

Yup I’ve seen his truck before. They had this one at their booth at previous hammers their set up hinders the ability to leave exhaust at the typical location

 

Heat deflection tape, why? Why not?!

 

good answer

 

Is the back of the skid supported at all?

 

Nope, she’s made out of 1/4” mild steel and my goal for the skid is to just skid over shit and not take solid hits on the transfer itself, in between the skid and the transfer there’s 3/4” industrial rubber(like the ones used on horse mats). It has work wonders so far. I don’t plan on changing the design so far.

 

3rd case install by @Ricardo13x TIA lol

 

Stooooop!

 

A few reasons I went Atlas:

1) Marlin and Inchworm were all but unobtainable in 2019 when I ordered this setup. NWF didn't exist then.
2) Gear options, a doubler only gives you two low gears, unless you do triples like @02hilux or a Marlin with 4.7s, you are limiting your gearing options. Many will say low-low-low isn't needed with an auto, but I love it. I have 2.72:1, 4.3:1, and 11.7:1
3) My Tcase blew up so I would have needed a new one as well as a crawl box
4) I got mine on BF sale in 2019 for ~$3500 all in using cable shifters.
5) Clearance. I have it clocked to be flat with the frame, combined with chopping the trans crossmember, flat belly. Not possible with any other crawl box setup that I am aware of, NWF can be clocked but still not flat.

It was a shit ton of work to get it tucked up, but all of these installs are. I have had zero issues with it.

 

I just checked Marlin, and they're $3700 now, ouch. They say 6-8 weeks, but we've all heard that one before.

 

yea, definitely an ouch moment.

 

I’d be worried about break over, dual cases ended up being pretty close to high center point, I’d be worried about the deflection of that skid without a rear support

 

Gotcha I’ll weld something over weekend i guess

 

If it were me, I would land a tube like this and add a 2 piece bung in the middle so the cross member is still removable. Would add a lot more support than just the welded plate.

 

Solid! I got a bunch of 1.75” square 1/8” wall and a bunch of 2” 1/4 plate laying around.

 

The “tcase skid” is a great concept but it can potentially become its own worst enemy. Factoring in how long it is, its total weight, and held in place by 2 carriage bolt only, I can see the skid collapsing and impacting the factory case from flex/deflection. You must also consider what the add on skid is bolted to as well, which is probably not the best placement IMO. If guys can bend 2.00x.250 DOM tube by hitting rock, the skid will have no issue bending or breaking completely by means of pulling the carriage bolt off where it’s mounted.

But hey, what do I know. I don’t even have a skid.

 

Gotcha, good observation. The center portion of my cross member if fully fabbed up out of 3/16” and 1/4” mild steel. The whole goal of that crap is to have something in between the rocks and the transfer not to serve as a jack point. The transfer skid as mentioned before has been put to use and honestly it gave me a little peace of mind knowing I was not dragging on the transfer. Floor to frame height is 18 1/4” and floor to bottom portion of transfer skid is 15 1/4”. Trans skid to ground is 15 1/4” and ground to engine skid is 12 7/8” in case shit gets destroyed I’ll have some lights to work with
It’s like a different approach to this type of skid https://www.asfir.com/transfer-case...A9WJcQk-kwSHECcS2tR9FBUC9K8LWdeEaAvR2EALw_wcB but on this one I consider it to have a lot a force transfer and I feel the hardware will damage the case housing itself.

 

Me, personally, I would bend 2 - 1.5x.120 HREW round tube (can use square tubing) @ 45 degree at each ends and weld tabs to the inner frame to mount the round tube end with poly bushing/sleeve (leaf spring style mount) or square tube. By having tabs, it’s removable. Then get a square sheet of 1/4” metal (2’x2’ or 2’x3’) and weld the sheet to the fab crossmember. You can add 2 or 3 piece of 1” angle metal and weld that to the top portion of the sheet metal for added rigidity.

I prefer that method if I was to slide over rock vs attaching the skid to an existing skid.

 

Gotcha, the transfer skid it’s not only attached to the transmission skid. the cross member has a 1/4” plate the protrudes about 2” fwd that’s where the transmission/transfer skid attaches to.

 

yep, many say 3 case is overkill, which is true 2.28x4.7x2.57 with a crawl ratio of 408:1 going down a steep rock face is bitter sweet knowing for sure I’m not going to drop fast. Yes, sometimes, it is too slow but I hardly use all 3 cases at once. The 4.7 along with the 2.57 is awesome. When I use 2.28x2.57, I have to do a double take and make sure I’m double L because the truck moves pretty fast.