Squeaky Penguin's (Trip Reports) Build Thread

So you wanna do moab in a few weeks?

 

It certainly does. Nice to see some innovation happening in that market by a company that actually seems to care about their products. I do wish there was a lower reduction available, but I think it will be fine for what I need.

If we're talking mountain biking... maybe.

 

How does the overall cost of this compared to what else is available on the market? I guess I'm talking about trail gear / Marlin crawler solutions.

 

Pretty similar looks like. But you have to find a donor case on top of the eco case cost then you have to swap the guts over.

Still a 2k project at least I'd say.

 

I think two cases and 2.57 or whatever will be plenty honestly.

 

the hopeful benefit though is being able to use whatever case you want and not need to source 20 year old cases. Not to mention clockability which is absolutely what has been drawing me to the ecocrawler. If I can not have a belly that hangs down so low anymore that’s a huge win.

 

I'm not an expert on the existing solutions, but from my understanding:

• Marlin won't even sell you a built case right now.
• Looks like a fail-gear is going for $2,600 for a built unit. Probably a bit cheaper if you source all the parts separately and build it yourself - meaning trail gear adaptors, advance adaptors case, marlin gear set etc. etc. but not sure exactly how much that would cost
• Northwest fab is $1500 plus a donor case. I paid $150 for that.
• I will be paying more, not sure how much yet, for a triple stick shifter setup. But that would be extra no matter your setup.
• If you luck out and can still find the right gear drive toyota case in a junk yard, you can buy adaptors, build it yourself, and come it a bit cheaper than the northwest fab, but those cases are very difficult to find from my understanding.

Probably be not too much more than that with triple sticks and driveshaft work.

This. Plus it's shorter, stronger, less adaptors, and hopefully won't leak everywhere.

 

i love my 4.7... rarely do i double up unless it's a technical line, which isn't that much these days. most lines i just throw it in 4.7.. the NW fab would be plenty for most all of your wheeling needs throwing both cases in. 4.7+2.57 is real fucking low.

having 2 low is also a must do

 

forgot you had one.

Two 2.57s would be lower than one 4.7...right?

 

Assuming Brett has a push button 4wd (I think he does since our trucks are nearly identical in year and model) he already should have been able to have 2-low by simply unplugging something off his transmission. Unless you mean double low in general then I would have to agree

 

I paid $1500 for my 4.7s, adaptors, and triple sticks. Donor tcase was $150. The appeal was to have really stupid low if I wanted it, but with the 4.10s I like using the 4.7s mostly.

 

Yes.

I have a j shift.

Which is why I want the triple stick setup. Plus hopefully keeping my two precious cup holders.

 

Is your donor case a j-shift too, Brett?

 

To be honest I don't know for sure. I'll tell you on Monday.

It came out of a 98 limited 4runner, so I believe it will be a push button. Figured it didn't matter given it's purpose, so long as it's not a multi-mode case, which I don't believe it is. Worst case scenario I could put it in the back, use my current case as a donor, and say I'll figure out making the center diff work but never get around to it.

 

Might be worth giving NW fab a call to confirm that the case you have as a donor will work once you find out for sure what it is. I spoke with their product specialist Kris yesterday for about an hour regarding my plans to build a unit from my old taco case with an FJ in the rear. If I understood correctly, he said the electronic shift VF4 case would not be a good donor as the manual shift components are needed for their unit. Fortunately I still have that cracked manual shift VF2A from my crawlbox install, so I'm going to use the input from my taco case and shifter components from that spare FJ case.

 

It shouldn't be a problem from my understanding given they're both vf2 cases. All 1st gen taco/3rd gen 4r cases are manual high-low shifting, but some had the push button which was only for 4wd.

You're pulling the Marlin box out in favor of a NWF?

 

Wait, a 98 Limited?

You sure thats not an multi mode case? (if it is, I wanna trade as I have a standard J shift and want a multi mode)

 

The internet tells me the multi mode started in 99. If I'm wrong I'll trade ya.

 

If I still had my 1st gen, I'd be looking for a multi-mode as well. Hell, I'd like AWD in the 2nd gen with the supercharger as it was a bit … interesting… driving across the state on 70 last week in the snow. Even with the detroit locker in the rear.

 

Gotcha. I'm not as familiar with the 1st gen cases.

I haven't decided yet if the NWF case is going straight in or sitting around as a spare, but I might have just enough disdain for Marlin to do it so I can get their parts out of my truck. I figure those two toyota cases aren't doing me any good sitting on the floor of my garage taking up space. If my marlin box ever takes a shit, I'd like to have an alternative solution to get up and running again without having to wait months and months for a replacement. Since I don't have any faith in Marlin as a company that they will even be around in a few years, much less producing replacement parts such as gears and bearings...this kinda makes sense to me.