Now that I'm gonna have a Marlin Crawler dual t-case set up, I'm thinking I will need some sort of crossmemeber support. AA has a crossmember (#716022) that looks like it may work. It bolt up on the back of the t-case. I saw an earlier post somewhere where he was using an AA crossmember.

Any thoughts?

Also, just made a PayPal payment to Don for a T-case Saver for those that were worried!! :D

Use it, they work great.

Or just make one yourself. It really is not that hard.. Plus you are going to have to fabricate another x member anyway...

Also, I would get Pardi's support too.

You are putting a good deal of money into keeping the stock tcase. Might as well make sure that it lasts...

:D

IMHO

Just to let you know, I think that there is one of those AA cross members over in the for sale section. I have one that I use for my rig, and it works fine. Pretty nice since it is so beefy. But since you are going with dual cases, I would fab up a cross member to go under one of them and also have the AA cross member. If you are using a AA adapter, they usually have a provision for mounting up a cross member to it. HTH Thomas

Id figure out a cross member that rode under the tranny or the reduction box...It seems like a lot of weight suspended but the bolts in theback of the case, especially with the reduction you'll have, which will try to twist the transfercase. It may possibly loosen the bolts/studs in the tail end of the case, which were only desgined for a PTO...

Another item of concern would be whether the Marlin reduction box changes the cloking of the t'case at all? If so the crossmember will be twisted at an angle too.

The last issue I have with the rear of the t-case mounts and any other system that mounts the engine/tranny/t-case combo on four points is the effect of frame twist on the drivetrain. I KNOW people have been doing this for a long time in some pretty harsh trails, but having a setup where the front engine mounts on the frame and the rear crossmemebr mounts twist with the frame could be an issue, since the tranny and case are not"flexible" and the mounting plane remains parallel while the frame twist allows for the frame brackets plane to twist. I know the mounts can flex, and the rubber isolation can help too, but that seems like a good way to break adapters or lossen hardware on longer drivetrains... My $.02

Sounds like I need to wait until I get everything dropped into the frame and see what I need. This'll be easy since the tub will be off when that happens!!

I agree with cruiserbrett on this one. I think there are bettter ways of addressing the t-case support. You're still running the 2F right? So you already have four mounting points up front supporting the majority of the drivetrain. I don't like the fact that there are two long lever arms imobilizing the t-case by the rear output cover bolts. It seems to me that this has the potential to create a lot of stress on the t-case when the frame flexes. Years ago when I was installing my drivetrain I called AA to ask about the transfer case support and the tech there actually recommended a support under t-case adapter rather than their t-case mount. That was enough to convince me.
I am running a 2F / sm420 with an AA adapter between the sm420 and the 3 spd t-case. There is a flat mounting surface on the underside of the AA adapter which can accept a support. I built a tube frame skid plate which also acts as a frame crossmember and supports the adapter/transfer case. There is a soft rubber mount between this crossmember and the adapter.
Is there some way of mounting a crossmember and support under Marlins mini truck reduction box?

I am gonna weigh in with Cruiserbrett and Shipwreck on this one - the problem we have had with the AA rear truss is that it effectively tore itself and the motor mounts apart. Under "aggressive wheeling" the frame flexes quite a bit and if you have these four points connected via the motor/tranny/tcase it does not allow the frame to flex properly - or in our case it just ripped the mounts apart. This is more true when you have a long drive train, as with the 2F and the other stuff you have. Butch Lewis (ace fabricator in Napa CA) noticed the tendancy for the AA truss to tear apart some time back, and now makes a truss that incorporates a typical tranny mount in the center that supports a bracket bolted to the back of the tcase. The point is that by supporting the motor etc in three places rather than four, there is improved allowance for frame flex. Personally, I do not like supporting the back of the tcase using any of the AA or Butch brackets - I feel that the Cruiser tcase is designed to be cantilevered off the back of the tranny, and that by using the tcase to support the tranny you have transfered the load to the tcase and it is not designed for this (note the array and location of the tcase/tranny bolts) I much prefer using a traditional Chevy style tranny support under the tranny/tcase adapter - I am quite sure tha a single tranny mount is sufficient.

Jeez, now my fingers are getting tired!

Krusty...
That being said, let's see a pic of your setup, if you mind :D

I'm going to be doing this and i dont like th idea of paying AA for a peice of plate with some holes, and since i'll be making my own i'd like to see what other ideas are out there.

Matt:emb:

Originally posted by Fixxxxer66
Krusty...
That being said, let's see a pic of your setup, if you mind :D


Cruiserbrett, Shipwreck and Krusty,

Thanks for your thoughts and inputs. It all makes sense to me. Lets see some pictures if you've got them!

Thanks

Hi guys! I'm an escapee from the mini truck side of Toyotadom. We make crossmembers that use the stock rubber mounts and have a nice skid plate. Our site is in the sig line, it may give you some ideas. We don't make them for cruisers ( yet) but would love to talk about it, if someone is interested.
Hope this might help with some ideas...;)

Originally posted by budr
Hi guys! I'm an escapee from the mini truck side of Toyotadom. We make crossmembers that use the stock rubber mounts and have a nice skid plate. Our site is in the sig line, it may give you some ideas. We don't make them for cruisers ( yet) but would love to talk about it, if someone is interested.
Hope this might help with some ideas...;)
Escaped from COSEB, hey Bud? :) Question for you. I know nothing about minis, but have seen your crossmember and am impressed. My question is where does the crossmember mount to on the mini tranny/transfer? Sean is using a mini reduction unit in front of a cruiser transfer, and I am wondering if your crossmember could be adapted to fit it? Are mini frames similar in dimension to a cruiser FJ40 frame? Bueller? Bueller?

Ross

Could not keep mine tight so it leaked gear oil all the time. Got tired of changing gaskets so I had Wayne Percival 707-678-1882 fab me up a mount that went under the 2nd t-case. Love it.

Dan

:blender:

Sorry for the crappy picture, but it's the only one I have. This is the tube skid plate / crossmember. At the red arrow is a flat plate where the 'transmission mount' style transfer case support is.
http://home.pacbell.net/ckpark/skidplate1.jpg

I run the Advance Adapters crossmember and when I do my doubler someday, it will be replaced with a true under-case custom jobbie.

However, the Advance product can be made to work. First off, they have 6 holes for the case mounting bolts and one large one for the output shaft...there is no small hole in there for the oil drainback (see your metal cover and the t-case)....drill a ~1/8" hole here and you'll solve 95% of your seepage problem. Then be careful with the RTV here or you'll plug it back up again.

The 2nd solution is to use STUDS and not the bolts to mount it. I constantly had bolts coming loose....and with 6 studs in there I've had no problem. Install the studs with red locktite and the nuts with blue. The problem is you can't tighten the bolts enuf since your pulling/threading into the alum case. My local TrueValue hardware store had the right metric studs, believe it or not.

My frame is seam-welded, so frame flex has not been much of an issue. I have mine mounted high on the frame too, high enuf that the bolts actually poke thru the body!

Couples pictures I got from Bob Brown of how he had his Marlin crawler, pretty sweet. Bob Brown is on the LCML.

http://www.employees.org/~dirttrak/crawler1.jpg
http://www.employees.org/~dirttrak/crawler2.jpg
http://www.employees.org/~dirttrak/crawler3.jpg
http://www.employees.org/~dirttrak/crawler4.jpg

/td the newbie

I forgot to mention that you can see the cross member underneath the crawler box.

/td the newbie

Here's a shot of my x-member for the NV4500/split case. I know they are not the same mounting provisions as the minitruck t-case but it may give you an idea of an under the tranny style.

-Brett

Great pics!! Thanks guys. I've been talking with Bob via email as well. He's been real helpful!!

Thanks,