Cruzer's Re-Build for the Rubicon

Glad to be of service! Thank you for Guinea pigging so much of this for all of us. Hope to run across yall on a trail one day.

 

The Kanati Mudhog MT 39x12.50r17 tires that I won at the T2S raffle back in April is finally shipping! Still waiting for the wheels though. And I'm still waiting on the 40" Mickey Thompson Baja Pro XS tires that I ordered back in March.....baby steps.

Will use these as my street tires.

 

Getting stuffy in here:

 

Where does the food er...alchol...fit

How many tires you got in there?

 

I'm wondering how he sleeps because apparently his driver's seat is his bed.

 

If you drink enough you can sleep pretty much anywhere.

 

Does discount tires see you coming and tries to just close the roll up doors at this point

 

Sooooooo. I took apart my spare front diff, did a size comparison and test fit with the bearings and fits perfectly!

The side by side comparison shows the Tundra intermediate shaft + collar + (broken) stub shaft. Will try to install it this weekend

 

This is intense; and awesome

Are you going to look into a way to de-couple the CVs from the hubs so that they can rotate freely? Maybe reach out to warn and see if they’ll make you some custom manual hubs

 

I just emailed this site to see if they'd make one. I doubt it though. I highly doubt ARB will do it either cuz there's just no demand for it.
https://therammaninc.com/products/TOYOTA-LOCKING-HUBS-427

 

Only thing I can think of is reaching out to Joe Pie on YouTube and see if he’d be interested in making a set as his next project on his YouTube channel. The guys work is incredible and no doubt he could do it

 

That seems like a step backwards to go to manual hubs? What's the logic, remove the actuator in the diff (good) but now add two other failure points? And manual hubs seem notorious for sucking ass. I'd be amazed if you saw a 0.5mpg difference, I'd run that shaft and not change anything else and keep it bulletproof.

 

Are the clutches in the front diff (I assume they use clutches) designed to be run 24/7 like that or would they wear out faster? Guess there’s only one way to find out..

 

I like the vote of confidence Won't the tires wear out faster though?

 

The diff is constantly spinning in the stock form anyways. The only thing that the coupler that Cruzer is deleting does, is allow that stub portion to spin so that the driveshaft doesn't spin. The diff and spiders are still spinning because the opposite (non-disconnecting side) is always connected to the diff, just where the motion is going is now isolated because one side has a much lower inertia than the driveshaft.

Why? They aren't connected anymore than they usually are. By removing the stock coupler, all you're doing now is making it so the front driveshaft is always spinning. It's disconnected from the tcase so it's not locked to the rear driveshaft so nothing will bind up. Maybe a poor comparison but it's the same way (some) UTVs and buggies are done, where everything is spinning in 2WD you just don't have the front end binding up with the tcase until you lock the tcase into 4WD. Handling (and by extension tire wear) are not any different in those situations than if the diff was completely removed.

The only thing the stock setup really does is "saves" the u-joints in the front driveshaft and eliminates the energy needed to accelerate the front driveshaft.

 

I'll take your word for it. I always thought that when turning, the inside tire had to rotate slower than the outer tire, where in my case they will both rotate at the same rate.

For some reason My Cousin Vinny popped into my head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7YoxrKa4f0

 

Well the first part of your thought process is correct Excuse if I insult your intelligence, but to get us on the same page: The driveshaft inputs torque and rpm to the front diff, which is then divided between the tires. You can have two tires spinning at the same rate, or one stopped and the other spinning twice as fast. That is the case with any open diff, regardless of 4wd. Where you see binding occur is because the input speed (driveshaft) of the front and rear diffs are different as you take a turn because the rear tires do not follow the lines of the front tires. And that there is the key difference between AWD and 4WD. In an AWD vehicle there is an open differential in the tcase (or whatever is outputting power from the transmission) and that open diff tcase (like a Sequoia, some 4Runners, etc) is what allows power to go to all four tires even when driving onroad and not bind up. In a turn, all four tires are spinning at their own unique speed. As you start locking up differentials, you start getting increasing levels of binding.

So if you lock the tcase (ie make it a normal 4wd/2wd tcase like the Tundra has) you're now creating binding between the front and rear driveshafts. The tires connected to the diffs can spin independently, but the cumulative speed of the front end and the rear end wants to be different and is being forced to be the same---ie binding. Lock up the front and rear diff? Same thing to a more pronounced effect as you know. Now to get to the point I'm trying to make, is that if you install the land cruiser shaft and leave the hubs engaged, that is effectively like an AWD vehicle except that the front driveshaft has no power going to it! Thus no binding occurring. And actually to take that one step further, the people who have done AWD conversions (@Wynnded comes to mind) with a Sequoia tcase, they are running with the front diff in "4WD" all the time to get the AWD effect. The only difference is you (Cruzer) do not have an AWD tcase which allows differential speed between the front and rear driveshaft. So as long as you're in 2WD, the driveshafts and diffs are effectively like an AWD just with no power going to the front. Kick it into 4WD and now you will have your usual level of binding from 4WD.

Does that make sense? Don't take my word for it, understand it or point out if I'm wrong

 

I totally understand about the TC and binding issues in 4wd. I think I'm just overthinking things cuz if the AWD conversions (and other AWD yotas) are not having any problems with tire wear, then neither should I. I think I'm in a good place now

 

What a hideous truck!


Naaah. I’m just playin’. Truck is badass!

 

Any progress on the doubler?

 

Funny you ask. I was going to ask you earlier if you knew of anyone who’s had warranty issues with the Atlas TCs.

Last week I was in contact with AA asking them if they could make a 4 speed version of their Pro Series TC cuz they only sell it on their website as a 2 speed. The pro series is supposed to use stronger gear sets that should be able to handle higher horsepower and heavier vehicles. They said yes. I was so close to pulling the trigger but the only thing that stopped me was them saying that they would not warranty it because they’ve never installed one in a Tundra and because they don’t make an adapter for it. I was like WTF? So I put it on hold.

I stopped looking at the NP205 because I found out that the only gear set available is a 1.96:1 and if I got a doubler I would only max out at 93:1, which in my opinion sucks. The Atlas gives me the option of 143:1 or 182:1, which should allow me to really crawl.

Installing just a doubler would add over 15” of length, which would push the OEM TC into the gas tank AND the input shaft on the OEM TC is only 22 splines, which doesn’t inspire much confidence and has a high probability of breaking or stripping.

 

As long as your diff is unlocked, the tires will still spin independently like your rear axle. @snivilous is correct, only difference will be your driveshaft spinning.

 

The only warranty that I'm aware of for the atlas is a manufacturing warranty, ie it'll work and not spontaneously explode. I think you'll be hard pressed to get any real warranty (like RCV style) for a tcase. The one nice thing is you should be able to swap out individual parts if you do break something, so it's not like the whole unit needs to be replaced. I wouldn't get wrapped around the warranty, and focus on a product meeting your needs since your options are limited.

I also would be surprised if you have issues, you don't have a lot of horsepower and in the world of full size crawlers you're probably average weight wise. I think any tcase you end up with will be substantially stronger than the OEM unit.

 

I'll pull the trigger next week.

Next thing I have to worry about is explaining why I have triple sticks to the
You think I can hide it in the center console under the tray? I've heard that it could sometimes be difficult to shift the Atlas. Wondering if I shorten the sticks to fit in the console will I lose the leverage needed to shift?

 

maybe I can cut the sticks, thread both ends, and then use a coupler to reattach them when needed

 

Hahaha that would be excellent!

 

Or mount the levers parallel with the floor so you just pull straight up, then you could make a panel that sits on them so it just looks shallow

 

Mount them on the steering column like a 3 on the tree.

 

She might notice that one

 

So the SAS went in, for the most part, without a hitch. The diff seal that the shaft came with went in too easily, which could come out just as easily. Fortunately, I had an OEM seal laying around that I used instead. Just have to wait til tomorrow for the gaskets to fully cure before I can add gear oil and take a test drive.