Custom T-Case shifter setup(s) and Behemoth

[thenag]

My Father in law has 2001 TJ with 33 inch tires, a 1 inch body lift and 2 inch spring spacer lift. He wanted to go a little slower and came across the ultimate un-seen trail bling; The Behemoth D300 Shortie box.

http://www.behemothdrivetrain.com/STRONG_BOX_UNDERDRIVE_KITS.html

So lets just say if you order one of these, it may take a while, I know that LifeLongJeeper and chicken77 had a similar wait for their box.

Here is a picture of it next to his stock np231. It is hard to say how much shorter the Behemoth/d300 setup is since he had a slip yoke, but it is shorter. (also a picture of my Duffy np231/d300 next to the same OEM case)





Notice that the front output does not change so no front drive shaft modifications will be required

The Shortie box replaces the input gear of the d300 and the Behemoth/d300 is a total of 18 inches.

A couple of pictures of the assembly, we really didn't take many it isn't too hard to assemble.



pressing the gear in



First lets shift the d300, the shift rails were not modified so it is twin sticked but will not go into Front High. In my bronco my 205 would do FWH and I never used it, in my XJ I don't miss having FWH so I don't think it is worth the mod. You still get FWL so you can do FWD just not High. We ran a 5/16 tap through the holes on the end of the rails this allowed a 5/16 bolt to thread into the holes.

Most people comment how the shift rails are pretty much straight down from the stock shifter hole. So here is a picture of looking down the shifter hole;


First thing is you need something to pivot off of. (The ax15 in the xj had some nice bolt holes, this NV-what-ever did not) so I used the OEM plate that mounts to the tcase as a template. (you could cut up the OEM one)



I then made some tabs for the d300 shift rails, this tcase is clocked nearly flat so the front shift lever is really really close to the drive shaft.



So then the creativity and patience and many many many test fits began.
In this picture the horizontal plate is the case bracket that the levers will pivot off of. the horizontal scrap is the beginings of the rear shift lever.


So here is the first lever sticking through the console, getting closer to a good fit.


After many many many test fits, and tweeks I had to move the rear stick over a little and just cut and welded it onto itself.




(10 pic per post limit...)

 

[thenag]

This is probably the best picture I have of the underside of the d300 shifter.




You can see the t-case bracket, we welded a 3/8 nut on it and use a 3/8 bolt for the pivot. There are washers in-between the sticks to space them out.

You can see a *glint* of a hole above the 3/8 bolt. Initially that was the pivot but it was way to high, the shifters had very little throw, and were hard too shift. I will check my notes (that are in the garage) I think we decided that about 4.5 inches between the upper and lower pivot is pretty good for stock-ish console. The xj is a little less and I had to notch the stick for the console.

This setup does clear the front drive shaft.

We cut a plate out of sheet metal and put foam in it to help keep the outside out and the inside in. (foam not pictured)


And a picture of the shifters in the cab, (my father in law wanted the front shifter shorter than the rear, it actually works out pretty well. In the xj they are identical) (I don't seem to have a finished one I will have to snap one next time he is over)



So now with the d300 shifting well onto the Behemoth.


Damn that thing sucks to try to shift. Looking back on it a cable shifter for the Behemoth would have been smarter.
In the xj the shifter for the np231 doubler is on the bottom and I ran an air shifter, it goes right through N, but it has worked well.


*never mind I was just informed that he is going to cable shifter anyway*
I will update some more in the next few days...

 

[UFAB]

All said and done, what't the actual cost of that T-case, fully swapped

 

[Pile of parts]

Please post more as I am contemplating this same modification.

 

[chicken77]

I have a strong word of caution, I have the 241 strong box and have had nothing but issues since day one. First off it took many months to receive all of my parts and when I did have all the parts I had to send the main shaft back to get reworked as it would not allow the selector gear to slide. The second problem I ran into was that the tcase would not stay in low range, I contacted Jacob about this and he said it was a known problem with the shiftfork so he sent me a redesigned shiftfork and that only made the problem worse. After more investigation I found that the strong box had so much internal slop that the planetary gears were moving enough to actualy slide off the selector gear. I have managed to make mine work for now but after jeep safari its coming out and going back to Behemoth.......... I hope Jacob can get it straightened out for me.

 

[thenag]

I wanted to include the shifter setup on on the XJ's 231/d300. This is in my build thread but here goes. (this was done years before the Behemoth/d300 in my father in laws tj)

Lets start with the d300

This was my testing, trying to find the shape. The tab with the twist in it goes into the d300 shift rail, the flat plate bolts onto the ax15


What it looks like sticking out of the console


and from the bottom


Here is what I use for pivots, it is a 1/4-20 bolt with a 3/8 spacer that is 14/ ID. I grind it so that the bolt tightens down on the spacer and allows the flat steel to move easily but without much slop. I have used this setup for years with no issues.


Here is both sticks made and sticking through the floor


And a shot from the bottom. This setup works great, the throw is a little longer than I would like. It is 3.75 inches from the rear shift rail pivot to the main pivot. Since this is all attached to the transmission there is no body flex binding or anything like that.


I put foam in the hole, it works ok. If you have a window down and are traveling at more than 40mph warm air from the engine compartment comes through the foam. My father in law says that on his tj it is "more noticeable" maybe because a 99 xj is sealed up a bit better than a 01 tj with hard top? (You could get some kind of boot, or make some kind of boot that would work better, this has been fine for me, I usually run the a/c so it isn't much of an issue)


I did have to notch the rear stick a bit and the plastic bezel, this is why I say that I would like to have the distance between pivots be a bit more than 3.75. On the tj we went with 4.5 and it still shifts nice but has much less movement.





Overall this has worked great in the XJ for over 2 years. Pulling the stick back is High and pushing it forward is Low, this is backwards of every tcase I am familiar with. Other than that there is technically an issue with a stick traveling in an arc putting force on a shift rail that does not move in an arc, but I feel the slop on the tabs in the end of the shift rail accommodate that small movement. It would also be nice if the nubs on the top of the shifters un-screwed so that the console could be removed without removing the shift rails. If I get ambitious I may re-design these to clean that up and I have a better idea for the tip of the shift rail.

One other thought on the XJ I used the Clayton lift kit that has a pretty low hanging belly plat, since I didn't re-engineer this I could have the d300 hang pretty low, this helps with the shift linkage clearing the front drive shaft.

Check post #17 for my 231 air shifter.
http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php?83436-Nathan-and-Tanja-s-99-XJ-Build-up

 

[thenag]

After more investigation I found that the strong box had so much internal slop that the planetary gears were moving enough to actualy slide off the selector gear. I have managed to make mine work for now but after jeep safari its coming out and going back to Behemoth.......... I hope Jacob can get it straightened out for me.

This might be an issue on this install, my father in law is reporting some noise, I haven't heard it myself. We did find that you can shift past High and cause some noise.

I don't believe that Duffy makes a Shortie but I wonder if his box has the same issue?

My other concern is that this shorty box only holds about 1/3 qt of (atf) fluid, that seems like not much fluid to me.

All said and done, what's the actual cost of that T-case, fully swapped

$300 for a d300
$700 for a Behemoth Shorty
$70 for parts from a junk yard np231
$150 for new rear drive shaft (and you lose the slip yoke)
$200 for gaskets and nickle and dime stuff...

so
$1400-$1500

Nathan

Nathan

 

[Pile of parts]

First off it took many months to receive all of my parts

This seems to be the common complaint.

when I did have all the parts I had to send the main shaft back to get reworked as it would not allow the selector gear to slide. The second problem I ran into was that the tcase would not stay in low range, I contacted Jacob about this and he said it was a known problem with the shiftfork so he sent me a redesigned shiftfork and that only made the problem worse.

I was not aware of this complaint.

[I hope Jacob can get it straightened out for me./QUOTE]

Hopefully he will. I haven't read any comments on any forums that say he is dishonest.

[$300 for a d300
$700 for a Behemoth Shorty
$70 for parts from a junk yard np231
$150 for new rear drive shaft (and you lose the slip yoke)
$200 for gaskets and nickle and dime stuff...

so
$1400-$1500
/QUOTE]

And then some - depending on what upgrades you make to the Dana 300.

I'm still open to any opinions and advice. I may just put this plan on hold until I have enough for an Atlas 4 speed.

 

[thenag]

[$300 for a d300
$700 for a Behemoth Shorty
$70 for parts from a junk yard np231
$150 for new rear drive shaft (and you lose the slip yoke)
$200 for gaskets and nickle and dime stuff...

so
$1400-$1500
/QUOTE]

And then some - depending on what upgrades you make to the Dana 300.

I'm still open to any opinions and advice. I may just put this plan on hold until I have enough for an Atlas 4 speed.

You won't need the 4:1 in the d300 with dual cases.... (well I wouldn't think you would) (of course you already have that)

Other than $800 for the 32 spline front and rear output what else would you want to add to the d300?

If you do HD outputs for the d300 you would have to do drive shaft work for the bigger ujoints. (you would also have to add the drive shaft upgrade onto the price of the atlas)

Nathan

 

[chicken77]

I talked with Jacob today and got some good news, and a direction to go with my strong box issue. I will pull my strong box and report back later maybe on my own thread ha ha.

 

[Pile of parts]

Nathan, I agree, the 4:1 wouldn't be necessary and I have a HD rear output shaft I could use. I would probably just want one for the front. I will have to modify both drivelines either way and don't really include that in the cost of the transfer case itself because it will have to change no matter what direction I go. That is why the behemoth/300 combo is so appealing - and not out of the running. It its certainly much more affordable than the Atlas and can be done a piece at a time. I just want to spend the money once even if I have to save over twice as much. I guess the only other upgrade - or concern - is case strength. I hear stories about cracked 300 cases and worry about that much torque going through it. I tend to drive with more finesse than throttle so it may not be an issue but I'd hate to find I needed a new case down the road.

Chicken77, I'm glad you got good news from Jacob. I'll be interested to hear about the repair and more of your experience.

I'd like to get a look at both of your setups. Hopefully you wouldn't mind if I PM you sometime to arrange a time to look at them and discuss more with you. Keep the posts coming - This has been valuable information.

 

[chicken77]

PM all you like, I'm in Sandy so not too far away if you would like to take a look.

 

[thenag]

I'd like to get a look at both of your setups. Hopefully you wouldn't mind if I PM you sometime to arrange a time to look at them and discuss more with you. Keep the posts coming - This has been valuable information.

This is in my father in laws jeep and it will be coming out after we get back from Moab (4/24) hopefully just to fix leaks. I will try to remember to PM you. Not sure if we will do it at my place in Kearns or his in Millcreek. Of course if he can't get his noise figured out we may drop it and go back to stock before the trip.

 

[thenag]

PM all you like, I'm in Sandy so not too far away if you would like to take a look.

When do you think you will have it apart?

We would like to check it out too

Thanks

 

[Pile of parts]

When do you think you will have it apart?

We would like to check it out too

Thanks

Definitely, let us Know.

 

[Lifelong Jeeper]

Is Behemoth perfect? Absolutely not, but for the price and quality you can't beat them. Jacob has always been responsive to me. The only negative mark I can give is the turn around time. Personally it wasnt horrible though. If I remember correctly he quoted me 8 weeks and I got everything in 10 or 12.
I love my Behemoth shorty strong box and the whole doubler Tcase.

 

[thenag]

So here is my np231 air shifter setup.

So there are a few problems with the np231 doubler setup (box4rox)

It is extremely oddly shaped, to use it in front of a d300 it has to be up-side-down, which puts the shifter on the bottom next to the exhaust. I did have to notch the floor of the xj for it to fit. Also it took me a while to actually figure out an acceptable place to put the oil fil plug, it now takes almost 3qts of oil, most of this is because there is a huge empty space that is lower than the planetary. I have also never gotten it it to completely seal.





Since I have OBA I got this little guy


My plan was that when it extended it would push the case all the way into 4L, going right through N, and when it contracted it would go all the way into High going right through N, so I would not be able to put the np231 into N.

I made a little bracket coming off of my rear t-case mount


I use a momentary rocker switch connected to a double air solenoid (of which I don't have an pics of). I have been meaning to order the generic ARB solenoids, I will use two for the air shifter and throw one in the parts box so I would have a spare solenoid that I could use on the ARB or the air shifter.

ARB, OBA, NP231 H/L


(I would imagine you could find a 12v actuator you could do the same thing with)

At the time I built it the air shifter setup cost a little less than a cable shift setup. I wanna say it was about $125 for the air actuator and solenoid together. I know that you can get cables for under a $100 so a cable would be cheaper but by the time find a place to put a handle in the cab maybe not. (we shall see what my father in law comes up with for his Behemoth)

This setup has worked quite well for years, the only potential issue is that it exerts a lot of force on the tcase when it shifts, so if you were rolling or it was bound up it may damage something. My air system leaks so bad I don't really have to worry about accidentally hitting the button while on the freeway or something (by that time there is no air in the system)

I have never had either case come out of gear unexpectedly.

As for use, I shift the np231 into Low when we air down, I leave the d300 in RWH until I get to an obstacle, I shift the d300 into 4WL go up the obstacle, shift the d300 back into RWH.

Dual case and twin stick is the bomb-diggity

Questions?

 

[thenag]

Is Behemoth perfect? Absolutely not, but for the price and quality you can't beat them. Jacob has always been responsive to me. The only negative mark I can give is the turn around time. Personally it wasnt horrible though. If I remember correctly he quoted me 8 weeks and I got everything in 10 or 12.
I love my Behemoth shorty strong box and the whole doubler Tcase.

Do you use yours on the highway? Just curious if it stays in gear etc.

You used a cable shifter as well right?

 

[chicken77]

After talking with Jacob earlier in the week I dropped my strong box and found my problem was a snap ring that had come out of its groove and was hidden behind the front input seal. I replaced the snap ring and took it out yesterday and it performed perfectly. I would like to thank Jacob for helping me to resolve this issue. Sorry I did not check the forum before I tore mine apart and reinstalled it. If any one would like to have a look at it in the truck just let me know, I will be heading to Moab on Thursday and playing until Sunday afternoon.
Jacob has always been good to work with just slow with parts.
I have driven my truck out to 5 mile pass from Sandy and it works good on the highway now that the issue has been fixed.

 

[Lifelong Jeeper]

After talking with Jacob earlier in the week I dropped my strong box and found my problem was a snap ring that had come out of its groove and was hidden behind the front input seal. I replaced the snap ring and took it out yesterday and it performed perfectly. I would like to thank Jacob for helping me to resolve this issue. Sorry I did not check the forum before I tore mine apart and reinstalled it. If any one would like to have a look at it in the truck just let me know, I will be heading to Moab on Thursday and playing until Sunday afternoon.
Jacob has always been good to work with just slow with parts.
I have driven my truck out to 5 mile pass from Sandy and it works good on the highway now that the issue has been fixed.

When I first built mine, I didn't read the part in the instructions that talked about that snap ring. I installed the input seal first and so didn't see the groove for that snap ring. I didn't like the in/out slop that I had with the input shaft and so called Jacob. He figured out right away what I had done wrong. Pulled the seal, installed the snap ring and then a new seal and it's been golden. I can imagine how that would have been problematic on the road. I seem to remember that the input gear was grinding against something inside the case. I was glad to have figured omit out before installing it on the Jeep.