Have a stak 3 speed that keeps popping out of low 3 and 5 under power. Has 40 miles on it. Cable shifter isn't hanging up or binding, adjusted detents (took washers out and stretched springs), also adjusted bearing preloads. Has this happened to anyone else? Got any ideas? :mad3:Thanks!
STaK 3 speed problem
snowman632
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Agreed.
I see this as more than simply an annoying characteristic of these cases, it has become a huge safety issue with me. Down at Harlan last month my case jumped out of 3low a couple of times on the steep inclines. If you have been to Harlan you know that in a couple of places there isn't much room for error on some of the shelf roads. It crossed my mind a few times how quickly things could go bad with no power to the wheels because my Monster box has a mind of its own.
I had my rig up on the Rubicon a few weekends ago and mine did the exact same thing as yours. Mine is the 3 speed mini box also. Nothing but unanswered e-mails from Stak. :mad3::mad3::mad3: I should have bought an Atlas.Not good.
I got through after like a million calls and talked with Kenn, e-mail him a few pic's of my shifter setup ( his request), but have not heard back and I have followed up a few times since too.
I'm going to add Mid engine mounting plate to help hold everything extra still. I already redesigned the shifter mounting to give me a nice positive shift. Basically I added a plate off the tranny to hold the front shifter nice and still.
I tried the 5:1 on the Rubicon this past weekend and there was no way it was going to stay in. I tried holding the shifter lever back but could feel it popping out even with me holding it back. :mad3: Not wanting to risk life and limb as my daughter was with me, I used the 3:1 to get up the hills. The 5:1 did hold so long as I was on level ground and just climbing over the smaller rocks. Mine pops out when there is a load on the transfer case.
It's a bit nerve racking to have the case pop out of gear, as your slamming on brakes as your rig is now in neutral and your half way up a rock ledge:barf:.
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Next time I have my boot off I'll take a picture of the shifter setup. I too have solid mounted both ends of the shifter bolt.
We are headed to Fordyce next weekend, so the plan is to drain and refill the box, reset the preload, and make some kind of device to lock it into gear.
We are headed to Fordyce next weekend, so the plan is to drain and refill the box, reset the preload, and make some kind of device to lock it into gear.
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4,683 Posts
Can you post pic of of your buggy and some spec's i.e. HP, etc. Thanks!
I like that Ashcroft was able to fix your box, and looking close at the pic, not sure if he made a new hub? It looks like he did, vs cutting the old one
Hi Guys,
the stock gear and shaft looks like this :
[URL="[/URL]![Image]()
the stock outer hub looks like this :
[URL="[/URL]![Image]()
there is no detail on the gear dog teeth or the outer hub to hold it in gear, it's no surprize it jumps out under load, there is only the detent ball on the selector rail to hold it in which is not meant for this job.
our fix is :
[URL="[/URL]![Image]()
the idea is that the inner row of teeth are thinner than the outer, when you engage gear the outside fat teeth go over the gear dog teeth then when loaded the fat teeth are in the air gap between the dogs and the gear teeth so they hook around the back of the dogs to stop it jumping out, then the inner teeth take the load.
the other row of fat teeth on the shaft side are too thin to take the load so we are making a groove in the shaft spline for them to sit in, if we have measured it correctly these will also sit in an air gap and make a seconary locking mechanism against the far side wall of the shaft groove.
just need to machine the shaft groove next then will assemble and test,
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We finally gave up on our 3 Speed Monster Boxes. We purchased two at the same time and they never worked from day one. Stak was impossible to get into contact with for months,:mad3: finally Greg stepped in and said he wanted to help. New gears were sent and installed, bearing preloads changed, oil drained out for regular GL-5 but nothing changed. He then suggested sending them back for an internal fix involving the shifter detents (that sounded like a patch to the problem). Shipping the cases back to Texas from Canada, (without a way to test them after the fix), was not a chance I was willing to take either. This problem wasted alot of time and funds:mad3:.We decided to cut our loses and purchased atlas cases to replace them and our clients love them! They are quite, shift perfectly and never pop out of gear. Atlas was awesome to deal with!
we made a new outer hub, fixed
it works great but was quite expensive and understandably you guys don't really want to pay me to fix it when Stak should be doing it,
in the UK if the item was 'unfit for purpose' as these are, we would just get the credit card company to revoke the payment and refund you the money,
I am astonished at Stak's lack of response and lack of willingness to address the issue and get them fixed or maybe judging by previous fruitless and pointless suggestions of altering proload etc they just don't know how to fix it.
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I had to pull out my 2 speed Stak tonight, after 2 years of success, to find out what is making the grinding noise in the front 4-high output (and a general grinding sound in all gears). Funny because I never use 4 high front... I have my fingers crossed that it is only a bearing replacement. I called Stak once and got through no problem. I hope they ship parts fast if my mechanic can identify the problem next week!
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I was able to a response from Stak by e-mail.
Kenn do you know if the hubs are the same between the 3 speed monster box vs the newer 3 speed mini monster box?
Thanks
They are similar, but not interchangeable.
The mini has a smaller tooth profile for more surface contact.
Why do you ask?
Kenn
As you know my 3 speed mini won’t stay in gear either, and have been looking for a solution. There’s a guy on the pirate that has been working on a fix for the STaK 3 speed monster boxes. Basically he machined a new outer hub and some shaft changes. Here a pic of how it’s different then STaK’s. I don’t have any specs just pic’s. If you look close you can see the inner tooth contact looks to be the same, but he has added an outer ring of teeth. I think Ford did something similar on one of their t/c boxes but don’t having any pic’s of the Ford box
What do you think about his idea?
No response from Stak, it been over a week. Suspect this has fall off the radar for now. Sent a followup e-mail to see what their take is.
I not trying to start a pissing contest, just looking a solution that will work.
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Damn I wish they would get their shit together. I want a 3 sp box but I dont want to buy a 3k boat anchor.
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A little off the title but... My new 2 Speed Monster is brand new and making some nasty noises when coasting in high range. I have re-adjusted preload and it did nothing. Customer service is not good, They answer most of the time I call but never call me back. Should have got an atlas!
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can we just make this a sticky already:flipoff2:
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My dad's mini was popping out of mid range, Wouldnt do it all the time but still did it. He called stak, they sent a truck and paid shipping to them. "fixed" it and sent it back. Its on a truck back to the shop now. Hopefully it works I will report back. Downtime was about 2 weeks. From what I have seen they have great customer service. Just need to work out some problems.
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So whats the word! I've been waiting to see how yours works to see if they have found a fix.
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Sorry, Before doing Fordyce I drained and refilled the box, reset the preloads, readjusted the linkage, made sure every thing was OK and did the no-problem-o-transfer-case dance. The times I used 5 low, it worked fine, while in 3 low I keep an eye on the sticks and when it started to walk out I would take my foot off the gas and push it back in. Is it fixed, no, but it's way better then what it was. My buddy, rockybar, did the same trip without any problems in his jeep equipped with a 4 speed Atlas.
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No shit!!
I have a 3speed monster that has been sitting in the garage for 2 years unused(projects been on hold a while! :laughing
. Never ran, not even fluid in it, just bolted to a trans. I hope get going again on the project after KOH. I pray I don't have any problems!!:shaking: I went with Stak because of the gear ratios...no has them....for my liking anyways. Fingers crossed!!
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Just to update this. My dad got his stak back. It took about 2 weeks from the day he sent it to them and the day he got it back. Got it in today and works fine. Going to smorr labor day so we will see if his is fixed or not. BTW stak paid for everything. We have never had a problem with the customer service and he went ahead and bought another mini 3 speed for his race buggy he is building.
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Post up when you get back. driving around the block is not much of a test, you need to go up a hill. not super big, just load it up.
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It might help out in this thread if you guys would post the build date of your cases....both monster's and mini's. Might find a common link (other than the obvious one "stak" :flipoff2 Would also be interesting to see if its generally the older cases or both early and later built cases having problems.
Would also be interesting to see if its generally the older cases or both early and later built cases having problems.481 - 500 of 1,071 Posts
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