Official Crawlbox BS thread!

Gotta love that cut out for the crawl box shifter. Why would you want to get rid of that? I kinda want to see it with the plate.

I copied homer's setup and theres no reason it shouldn't be possible with the 5 speed. Just a matter of getting a triple stick setup (http://www.radesignsproducts.com/triple---twin-sticks.html) to bring the toyota shifters forward with the crawl box shifter, then cutting and bending and welding the sticks where you want them to get everything to clear. Shortening the throw on the transmission shifter with the Hurst short throw setup made things easier.

Honestly, you could gain a lot without buying and hacking up a brand new $300 shifter assembly just by re-working the crawl box shifter like @wrmathis did. It's the same process of cut/weld/bend, test fit, repeat. Really just a matter of how much you want to spend, how many sticks you want to mess with, and how you want it to look.

Hope you enjoy the new project!

 

this is what mine looks like now

 

For your amusement here it is!

I mean it definitely works I just wish there was atleast one cup holder or preferably two so I have room for a cold beverage and my cellphone. I have also found a website that sells a short throw for the crawl case. I haven’t seen anyone selling one where it moves the front shifter to the back two. I think that would be easier to deal with vs having all 3 up front.

I would buy the hurst short throw if it was instock! I have been checking since I bought the truck but no luck on that yet.
Hopefully this saturday I will be picking up a used transmission to replace this one in the truck currently. It’s only a tad jacked up. The crawl boxes need a good reseal kit or something because they are currently leaking.
Not the best photo but it does appear a lot of fluid is coming out where the twin sticks are, one of the center parts of the case, and the adapter to the transmission.

 

You have a link to the short throw on the crawl box? I'd love to cut that down as its pulling on my shift boot when engaged.

You could also try the URD kit for the trans.

https://urdusa.com/urd-short-throw-shifter-2-7-tacoma-0539/

 

For the record, I have not purchased from this website so I don’t even really know if they are still around. But here is the link
https://4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/ShortThrowShifter.shtml


I’ll check out the urd shifter

 

I didn't know someone made a short shifter for the rf1a. That's pretty cool.

And 4crawler is a legit company and still around

 

That is good to know. It makes it tempting to do dual short throw and convert the rear case back to jshift. If anything I feel the front stick needs the shorter throw, it’s too damn long from factory.

 

I've ordered stuff from Roger Brown before, his site looks like it was designed using Yahoo geocities from back in '99 but it is legit lol

 

Do you have 2 gear driven cases? Looks like the rear case is a passenger drop, do you have a solid axle up front? Either way, to fix those shifters, flip the crawl box shifter around 180 degrees on the base, and do some cutting/bending/welding of your current setup as @Littles mentioned, and you'll have a nice fitting shifter assembly without having to purchase anything new. It will just take some time and patience. Here’s what mine looked like.

 

What he said.... cut, rotate, extend, and re-weld. Your imagination is your limitation.

 

Fortunately for me I had a bunch of help with the mechanics of the mod & I was able to put a considerable amount of effort into the ascetics.

I think I was the first to do this stick configuration in a 2nd gen. I did a ton of research and never could find one prior to doing it.

I wanted to fit all of the sticks through the stock trans shifter location but I knew that the throws would need to be shortened in order for it to work. The Core/Hurst trans shifter was a big help. I also was able to get a custom short throw for the twin-stick shifter which really helped with fitment.

In the end I just wanted to have it look like an OEM option and not something thrown in. Very happy with it to this day.

 

Currently yes 2 gear driven cases & ‘77 chevy dana 44. That is a good idea on flipping the shifter around, I didn’t even think to try that. Looks like I need to get a welder.. not only for the other sticks but there is heaps of stuff on this truck that a welder will be useful for. Thank you for the tips. My plan is to ditch the rear driven crawl box for an fj case. Then get a furd axle and swap spindles to keep 6 lug. I won’t do that until I have the confidence and tools to link the truck though.

Your setup is super clean man, it looks factory!

Looking at the urd shift kit it looks like you attach an extension and they want you to stake it so it won’t ever be removable. Not sure if I want to go that route just incase I don’t like it. I don’t know why I wouldn’t like it but yeah. I am gonna email Hurst/core shifters and see if they have an eta for theirs.

Also I think I made a mistake in ordering this crossmember for the tcases. I get a lot of vibes and I thought it was because there isn’t anything holding the two boxes, but I think it may just be how the gear driven cases are? Anyway I bought this and pretty sure I am going to have to heavily modify it to work.

Beautiful piece though.

 

I was just about to start putting together rf1a 4.7 case also and am very happy this was posted. I called and they are not yet accepting preorders but they did take my information and configuration I would be running.

I'm thinking I'm going to go with their
underdrive box with a flipped Dana 300 running 4:1 gears. This should offer more strength and also allow for front digs, basically a cheaper version of a 4 speed atlas in a smaller and hopefully more inexpensive package.

No price yet but heard rumors of 1200 for the builder kit (you supply the gears from your chain drive case).

 

Was finally able to make time to put this bad boy in my 3rd gen. Super stoked about the Low life and happy that I can finally contribute to this "Crawlbox" thread

 

Btw I like your shifter slot, very low key and simple

 

I got the idea from a red Tacoma on YouTube . Lol

 

Is your drive train poly or solid mounted? I don't see how guys with that small of a cut out don't have the stick hit and vibrate on the sides of the cut outs under acceleration, not to mention compound low going up a steep hill. My drive train wobbles and twists that much just driving down the street.

 

Poly, I haven't taken it off-road yet, I will trim as needed and I also plan on putting on a slim leather boot

 

Five shifters total. Had to custom build some shit.

 

Started to slap the dual case together yesterday, but one of the dowels is .014" larger than its corresponding hole, seems way too big for press-fit. I checked all the other dowels to make sure I wasn't missing something. I'll give 'em a shout Monday, anyone else ran into this? All good either way, still haven't ordered sticks, plenty of time.