Official Crawlbox BS thread!

At the risk of being flamed for not having installed it myself, I don't want to pull the crawlbox out, so I'm looking for an easier solution to fixing a stripped hole. I believe that I've finally found where my leak is coming from, a stripped bolt that goes through the trans, adapter, and into the reduction box. I had my crawlbox installed by RST, and well we all know how they're doing right now, plus I've since moved so there's no way its getting serviced by them. I know a threaded insert or helicoil would be more ideal, but I really want to avoid pulling the box. Would something such as loc-tite's fix a thread work well for this application? I know the box can get hot, but it doesn't get anywhere near 300F right? If anyone has experience with something like this I'd appreciate some insight. If it comes to it, I probably could pull it all out, but I'd really prefer not to as this is my only DD at the moment and frankly I'm not comfortable messing with the driveline without a backup.

 

Got pictures of the specific bolt? Might be a couple ways to temporarily fix it without taking everything apart.

 

x2 post of pic. I'd say as long as it's not a fill bolt and one that bolts from the inside, a drill and bottom tap would make it a easy fix.

 

As soon as I noticed it, I caked the hell out of it with some rtv as a quick band aid, but this atleast shows the location. It's in a real bad spot, as I can't get a gear wrench around it, only an open ended wrench. I tried backing it out, but wasn't having much luck. Maybe it was just coming really slowly at maybe 1/8 a turn at a time. If I end up really going at it I'll pull the front driveshaft and crossmember to help get some room to work. Also, I considered drilling it, but I don't want to drill through the transmission if I don't have to. If I could remove the box, it'd be a no brainer, but I don't want to modify the trans if I can avoid it.

 

Have you pulled the bolt out and made sure it's long enough? Could just be RST installed a bolt that's too short, stripped the first couple threads, and a longer bolt would be able to tighten on the remaining threads.

 

I've tried pulling it out, but it just spins. If I were to completely remove it I'd have to pull the crossmember out because the trans support is in the way, so I don't really want to do that until I've got a plan. That sure would be nice though if that was the problem. Do you know the length and and size of that bolt? That way I've got the right one on standby when I go at it. Also, how do you guys support the drivetrain when pulling the crossmember? Just keep a floor jack on the transfer case?

 

Yeah just hold it up with a jack on the OEM case. I can't recall the size or length. All of the bolts are the same size but there's 1 or 2 odd length bolts that go in certain spots. You could probably guesstimate length from the outside measuring from where the bolt head sits part way into the casting where the female threads are.

 

Yeah, that'll have to do. I'll give it a shot next weekend when the truck can sit for a while. In the event that it is stripped out, is the "fix a thread" worth a shot? Worst case scenario it gets drilled out anyway, but the heat shouldn't be an issue for it right?

 

I've never tried that loctite liquid stuff. Only experience I have repairing damaged threads is drilling them out and tapping to a larger size or taplok style inserts. Threaded inserts might be hard to use if there isn't much material to work with on the outside of the hole since some style inserts require a much larger hole to be drilled.

Some other folks will likely have some ideas on what to do before next weekend.

If I recall correctly there's a bunch of guys on here running theirs with a bolt missing and they just RTV'd the shit out of the area so it doesn't leak.

 

Wanted to get some input from folks on here as to what you would do in my situation.

Recently have found out that I didn't hammer/clearance the transmission tunnel enough when installing my crawlbox.
It clears it fine normally, but when I add a passenger to the cab, you can feel the cab basically sitting on top of the factory case in first and second gear (significant vibes felt in your ass).

In order to fix this, I either have to:
-drop the tranny & and cases to hammer it out more
-cut out more of the floor & make a bigger access cover/weld a new one in place.
-make a custom 1/2-3/4" body lift

I'm leaning towards extending the hole in my floor, but at this point I'm going to be missing a massive chunk out of my tunnel and that doesn't exactly help with rigidity & sound deadening.
I could weld a new piece in to clear it or make a new removable cover, but that's still a big fucking hole and fabbing sheet metal sucks.

Anyone else have holes this big in their floor? lol

Pics for reference:

Circle is where the cab is basically resting on the rear case with enough weight. This is with no weight in the cab.

 

Option 4. Don't have passengers. That's how I do it. lol

 

I normally don't on trails, but even still it'll occasionally hit on the body and its really annoying when I occasionally have someone else with me.

 

Yeah, frankly if anything idgaf if it holds torque. If it can effectively be a plug and no more oil leaks I'm good. Plus it'll be nice to remove that crossmember to be able to clean everything up really well. Any suggestions on what to use to clean up oily surfaces? Usually if it's a part I can put on the bench I'll douse it in brake or carburetor cleaner, but i don't think that would be a good idea in this case.

 

I've done all 3 options on my 2nd gen, some of them multiple times to stop the case/chassis interference.

 

At least you can trail swap it in an hour now. lol

 

Option 5. Put tons of weight in the passenger seat with a couple clutch dumps in low to torque it and self clearance.

 

Cheap Brake cleaner. Some (or all?) Carb cleaners leave an oily residue for component lubrication.

 

yea you've done some serious work to your truck. Whatever I end up doing, I would ideally only like to do it once. Do you have a poly mount for the dual?

Not a bad idea, but that seems like a good way to break some parts

 

I used the marlin rubber mount. I have loosely thought about getting the poly one to help keep the drivetrain more stationary, but I'm too cheap to pay for it and too lazy to make one by hand.

 

I've thought about trying out a rubber mount for the sake of vibrations, but that would make things worse in my situation.