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Doubler cost vs. Atlas

Advanced Adapters says about the atlas 4 speed, "When all this is put together, you get a new legendary Atlas transfer case with the best combination of gear ratios
( 1:1, 2.0:1, 2.7:1 & 5.4:1 ) or ( 1.1, 2.7:1, 3.8:1 & 10.3:1 )."

What you choose? The 5.4:1 or the 10.3:1
 
10.3 has the most practical selection in my opinion, but thats for my app.

I have 4.56's with 40's and NP241 so 2.7 is what I have now and its hard to really crawl. I can't think of much use for 2.0 besides straight mud. Essentially I'd own another T-case in which I can only use one range except a lot more expensive! :p:

Now 2.7:1, 3.8:1 & 10.3:1 seems like a great group of options to me!
 
76zimmer said:
The cost factor is one reason why I'm keeping track of my expenses for my build, and breaking them down by major components, and the supporting equipment for those components....right now my doubler setup costs are a little over 1500$ which includes the twin stick, doubler kit, and the original purchase price of the 2 transfer cases of $200. In addition that sum also includes the extra $385 in shafts that might not be needed if the ideal cases where found to begin the process of doubling. Keep in mind my costs are for total costs, including the purchase price of the vehicle and all parts. Like you had nothing to start with, and just started shopping for the stuff.
So if you can get the right t/c cheap or in your truck already your half way there.

So what is an Atlas costing these days to actually get it functional in the truck?
Click to expand...

I'm now to the point of $1900 for my setup. I've upgraded everything I think....32 spline throughout, with 1410 yokes on both ends. Sure makes a 2200-2500$ atlas look good.
 
Yeah I was leanin' towards the 2.7:1, 3.8:1 & 10.3:1 myself buuuuuut at $3300 makes a guy think twice, or maybe 3300 times lmao.
 
Unless you run a stick shift trans I would not get the 10.3. The 10.3 is stupid slow and you will drive through the brakes. I can't wait to drop mine in low and try it out.
 
It just seems more practical to me to get the 10.3.

I imagine it's stupid low, but it offers my current reduction plus the 3.8 and 10.3.

The other option only offers once gear lower than I already have
 
A 465 with a 10.3 Atlas and 4.56 gears would give you better than a 300:1 crawl ratio. That is way more than anybody needs.
 
BGKYK5 said:
A 465 with a 10.3 Atlas and 4.56 gears would give you better than a 300:1 crawl ratio. That is way more than anybody needs.
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For sure, to be honest I think I would be pissed waiting on a trail for someone using gearing that low.

4 or 5 to one is more than anyone should need IMO
 
I can't imagine being lower than my 4:1 doubler. I can damn near go down an extremely steep hill and never touch my brakes. Anything more I would have to give it gas to keep it moving.
 
Ive never been crawlin' so I wouldnt really know. I was just thinking that by going the 10:1 route I could use a higher gear for better hwy travel but still have kick ass low gearing when needed. Hard to say when I have yet to scrape any rocks with my rig :)
 
doonjumper said:
Ive never been crawlin' so I wouldnt really know. I was just thinking that by going the 10:1 route I could use a higher gear for better hwy travel but still have kick ass low gearing when needed. Hard to say when I have yet to scrape any rocks with my rig :)
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That's the thing, 4:1 or 5:1 is really kick ass low gearing and you could certainly run highway gears and still have super low crawling gears via the t-case.

As far as my personal experience goes, I've run a 465/205, 4.56's on 42's in my buggy for a long time. I usually got by just fine, found myself slipping the clutch to help the gearing occassionally. So I built a 241/205 doubler which gives me the options of 2:1, 2.72:1 and 5.44:1. I haven't actually run it yet, but honestly I expect to be in 2.72:1 more than anything.

4:1 or 5.4:1 already seem silly low to me. I would never consider using something lower, and all I run are rocks :thumb:
 
Finally got to wheel the buggy today and use my atlas 4 speed for a decent amount of time.


I chose the 544 to 1 ratio for mine. Going down hills, it is stupid stupid slow.. 10 to 1 would be useless behind a v8 with that torque off idle.


If you were rocking a 4 cyl that could rev out a bit more I could understand wanting it, even then.. seems too much for the compromise it brings with it.

I found myself tooling around in 2 to 1 all day, leaving the front axle engaged and stayed in second gear for the most part being it was a tight switch back trail with many turns and stop and go.


For climbing the hills I put it in low low "544 to 1 " and 2nd or even 3rd gear. First in low low is just too deep for climbing up any type of hill with loose traction.. I also only run 4.56 gears in my axles being it was cheaper to run the gears the axles came with and keeps my pinion diameter's larger. If I were to have 5.38's in my axles I would not have been able to use low low at all on the hills.

For descending, I put it in low low and again... stupid slow even on a steep hill with lots of loose wet dirt. Wound up shifting to second on most of the down hills.

For the rocks, low low is damn fun though and is a nice deep crawl gear. Very controlled and shows me what I have been missing out on. Worth every penny.


So my advice.. if you have not yet upgraded to one tons.. or yet to regear the ones you have .. don't! The highway aspect of running 4.56 gears is very nice, and will make trail riding in long sections much more pleasant and sip the fuel better. I feel I could easily get away with just 4.10s being I will use 2 to 1 mostly anyways.

Use the extra dough for lockers or more gearing selection with your t-cases.


Shifting from low to hi on the fly was no trouble either and made going between low low or low high very nice.
 
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supersize75k5 said:
Finally got to wheel the buggy today and use my atlas 4 speed for a decent amount of time.


I chose the 544 to 1 ratio for mine. Going down hills, it is stupid stupid slow.. 10 to 1 would be useless behind a v8 with that torque off idle.


If you were rocking a 4 cyl that could rev out a bit more I could understand wanting it, even then.. seems too much for the compromise it brings with it.

I found myself tooling around in 2 to 1 all day, leaving the front axle engaged and stayed in second gear being it was a tight switch back trail with many turns and stop and go.

Great feed back thanks!

For climbing the hills I put it in low low "544 to 1 " and 2nd or even 3rd gear. First in low low is just too deep for climbing up any type of hill with loose traction.. I also only tun 4.56 gears in my axles being it was cheaper to run the gears the axles came with and keeps my pinion diameter's larger. If I were to have 5.38's in my axles I would not have been able to use low low at all on the hills.

For descending, I put it in low low and again... stupid slow even on a steep hill with lots of loose wet dirt. Wound up shifting to second on most of the down hills.

For the rocks, low low is damn fun though and is a nice deep crawl gear. Very controlled and shows me what I have been missing out on. Worth every penny.


So my advice.. if you have not yet upgraded to one tons.. or yet to regear.. don't! The highway aspect of running 4.56 gears is very nice, and will make trail riding in long sections much more pleasant and sip the fuel better.

Use the extra dough for lockers or more gearing selection with your t-cases.


Shifting from low to hi on the fly was no trouble either and made going between low low or low high very nice.
Click to expand...

Great feedback, thanks
 
I am running 4.10's and don't plan to change gears. My goal is to have the best of both worlds and be able to go fast and crawl.
 
if you were running a 454/400 with a 60/70 with 4.56's and 47's; would you go with the 5.44 or 10.3?
that is the truggy i am currently building. i am about to order the 10.3 case.
 
Technically it's a 4 speed t-case, but in my opinion there really aren't 4 different ratios that are actually practical to use with either option. With one version you have a 2.0:1 and a 2.72:1 that are close enough together to not make much of a difference, and the other version has the 10.3:1 that is too low for anything but showing off in a parking lot. I know several Suzuki Samurai guys using low ranges in the 5-6:1 ratio area because they only have about 20 h.p. (:p:) to begin with and they still rarely ever use 1st gear in the tranny. Another guy recently put the 10.3 Atlas in his YJ and has yet to find any practical use for it on the trail. Even with technical rock crawling it is slow enough to be annoying unless he puts the tranny in 3rd gear. It's to the point that the only advantage the 4 speed has over just a single low 3.8 low range Atlas is that you can get better tire speed in reverse if you use the 2.72 range. Otherwise just put it in 3.8 and you have 5 gears in the tranny to go from super low crawling to wild tire speed.
 
6.2Blazer said:
Technically it's a 4 speed t-case, but in my opinion there really aren't 4 different ratios that are actually practical to use with either option. With one version you have a 2.0:1 and a 2.72:1 that are close enough together to not make much of a difference, and the other version has the 10.3:1 that is too low for anything but showing off in a parking lot. I know several Suzuki Samurai guys using low ranges in the 5-6:1 ratio area because they only have about 20 h.p. (:p:) to begin with and they still rarely ever use 1st gear in the tranny. Another guy recently put the 10.3 Atlas in his YJ and has yet to find any practical use for it on the trail. Even with technical rock crawling it is slow enough to be annoying unless he puts the tranny in 3rd gear. It's to the point that the only advantage the 4 speed has over just a single low 3.8 low range Atlas is that you can get better tire speed in reverse if you use the 2.72 range. Otherwise just put it in 3.8 and you have 5 gears in the tranny to go from super low crawling to wild tire speed.
Click to expand...


Id agree to a point.


But for me using the 2.72 range was to low for driving around in and i tried it, annoyed me quick. However running 2 to 1 was perfect, and when needed I could drop the 2.72 on the fly on top of it and I had three more setting via the trans to find a sweet spot such as mentioned above 2nd gear low low or 3rd gear low low for descending.

With my white truck I would just leave it in 2 to 1 all day and stayed under 50 mph. My diff gears are 5.38's.. Driving around its perfect and the off idle tq and munching the pedal is fun. Crawling sucks though.
 
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