Friday, September 13, 2013

New Tcase! and a shakedown run at URE once again.

So I recently picked up a 4.7:1 ratio transfer case for my Toyota pickup. Offroading with the factory Tcase is fine but for major obstacles I found myself burning up the clutch more than I wanted to. It basically came down to either doing a doubler Tcase setup or regearing my existing case. I saw a modded Tcase from a Toyota that appeared on NC4x4 about a week ago and knew I had to have it. It saved me the trouble of actually tearing apart my factory Tcase and swapping gears. It also costed me a whole whooping $280. The gear set itself is close to the $500 range and an added bonus TWIN STICKS! came with it which would have been an additional $150. Now for those who are unaware, twin sticks refer to the shifting mechanism on the Tcase. The factory J-shifter on my Tcase controls both the 4wd and high/low range. Basically disabling 2WD Low range. With twinsticks I can select the 4wd independent from the low/high ranges. So I can effectively run 2wd low if I wanted to. The factory Tcase has a gear ratio of 2.3:1 whereas my new case has a ratio of 4.7:1 in low range. This allows me to use the clutch less since there is more torque produced and the truck is moving at a much slower pace compared to the factory setup.

Anyways enough ranting, I kinda decided on a last minute URE trip tomorrow since my class was cancelled today. I originally had planned on tackling the swap myself on Saturday "tomorrow" but a friend of mines convinced me to go to a trail ride with the Carolina Trailblazers. With that being said 2 friends and I scrambled to get the case in today so I could do a shakedown run out at URE and test her out. The swap went pretty smooth but there were a few issues. My factory tcase/tranny option was a forward shift whereas the new case was a top shift. Basically the shifter was in a different position than factory. Installing the case would require me to cut into my precious factory sheet metal, a fate I hated to dowel out on my beloved truck. This made for a pretty uncomfortable time for me and a cutoff-wheel in the cab of the pickup. But the deed had to be done. After clearancing the tunnel for the new shifters, we installed the new tcase and jacked it into place with my tranny jack. Everything else installed without a hitch.

So tomorrow I am taking the old yota out to URE again for a shakedown run and to test the new case.


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