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Tacobox vs. Eco-Crawler

Sean

Sean

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Got a friend with a 2010 2nd Gen Tacoma 4 cyl 4wd. Gave him a 5.29 Detroit for his 8.4 and it's spiraled. He just bought an ARB/5.29 front diff and is looking at crawl boxes.

He's big on IFS (already has King C/Os up front and shocks out back) and will likely swap to the Marlin RCLT kit eventually.

He wanted to get a Tacobox and I always loved Marlin as a person and always got really good service from his company. I hear that's changed with his passing (and a bit before) and that saddens me.

I just recently found out about the NWF Eco-crawler for my friend's case....is it a better alternative than a Tacobox? Obviously, the Tacobox has deeper gearing options with the 4.7:1 where the Eco-Crawler is just a 2.57 doubler.

The Eco-Crawler seems to be around $1K less than the Tacobox ($3200) with the donor case and shifters.

NWF really plays up the fact that it's one adapter vs. two, but I never really had a problem with my MCs...but the Eco-Crawler does seem like a good design.

So, does anyone have an opinion based on real world experience with either or both?

Thanks!
 
Taco box is still a rf1a gear drive case? I'd rather rather have a planetary.
 
Does he need the 4.7? Or is 2.57x2.57 enough?

Anyone know if the 2nd gen 4cyl uses a w58 like the first?

If that was the case, he could do a W56, gear drive crawl box and 1 adapter to his stock case for probably less money.
 
I like stupid low gears so if the nwf stuff was available when I built my crawl box back in 2008, I probably still would have went with the gear drive stuff. But if he's not doing slow speed crawling I would get the nwf box. I wheel with a few people that have them and they seem to like them, no real comparison on performance as we are all way different builds/driver skill/stupidity levels.

Yea marlin has issues, they are like a crazy a gf, evreytime they fuck up and you want to dump them for good, they do something awesome and reign you back in.
 
05 and newer 4cyl had a r series transmission. Could mount a r150 with all gear drive cases
 
Sluggy said:
Taco box is still a rf1a gear drive case? I'd rather rather have a planetary.
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Yes. Still uses a gear driven 23 spline case. Why would you rather have the planetary (though I realize there's nothing wrong with them...just wondering your position)?
 
Actually Sean I was just thinking about it and one of the guys I wheel with has a 2nd gen 4cyl, 5spd, LT Tacoma with the NWF box that he drives to and from the trail on 37s. He loves it, definitely not as slow as mine, but he has been crawling with a stick for years pre crawler and knows what he's doing.
IMG_20231028_133833108.jpg
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Does he need the 4.7? Or is 2.57x2.57 enough?

Anyone know if the 2nd gen 4cyl uses a w58 like the first?

If that was the case, he could do a W56, gear drive crawl box and 1 adapter to his stock case for probably less money.
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Depends on 'need'. I didn't need my 4.7 case in my original MC with the 2.28s in the first case....but it sure was nice to have really low gears to squeeze past body panel eating rocks back when I was full bodied.

His trans is a R155F I believe.

I think he likes this option for the 'plug and play' nature of it....even though he's formerly a tuner guy, super bright ME, and has built all sorts of stuff like custom turbos. .
 
Dirtyjed said:
Atlas :flipoff2:
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I said this. I think front dig has become almost a necessity...though I'm building a 3rd gen 4Runner....and right now, I've got a dual cased MC with 4.70s in the rear most case sitting in the shop waiting to go in it. Maybe I should take my own advice, lol.
 
Slander said:
Actually Sean I was just thinking about it and one of the guys I wheel with has a 2nd gen 4cyl, 5spd, LT Tacoma with the NWF box that he drives to and from the trail on 37s. He loves it, definitely not as slow as mine, but he has been crawling with a stick for years pre crawler and knows what he's doing.
IMG_20231028_133833108.jpg
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Yeah, I think the super low gears are very helpful for control, but I found I used them less and less as I learned how to drive better and use a little bit of momentum to carry you over an obstacle rather than really slow crawling stuff (at least in part b/c I think I felt I was holding other people in the group up with how long it would take to get over something). That was clearly my own issue mentally, not anything wrong with the gears. It's probably better to have too much gear and not wad up your sheetmetal (and hopefully keep the shock loading on parts down) with the extra gearing.

Mainly I was just trying to find a way to save him some money. I'm shocked at what dual MC is going for now. Of course, I'm also shocked by the pricing on an Atlas II. Inflation is beating my ass.
 
Sean said:
Yeah, I think the super low gears are very helpful for control, but I found I used them less and less as I learned how to drive better and use a little bit of momentum to carry you over an obstacle rather than really slow crawling stuff (at least in part b/c I think I felt I was holding other people in the group up with how long it would take to get over something). That was clearly my own issue mentally, not anything wrong with the gears. It's probably better to have too much gear and not wad up your sheetmetal (and hopefully keep the shock loading on parts down) with the extra gearing.

Mainly I was just trying to find a way to save him some money. I'm shocked at what dual MC is going for now. Of course, I'm also shocked by the pricing on an Atlas II. Inflation is beating my ass.
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Yea I wheel 99% of the time in 4.7:1 3rd or 4th gear it seems and really only use the 2.28:1 to double it up. The bump factor is real, but it's still cool smoothly crawling muddy/wet rocks and ledges down here in double low after some yokle is telling me that low gears don't work in the south post V8 tire smoke show:laughing:

Toyotas definitely aren't cheap to build anymore. I find my self looking to sub in domestic or even jeep parts where I can as they are more readily and cheaply available.
 
Nothings changed with Marlins passing. Marlin crawler has been shit for easily over 10 years now. They haven’t had a dual case adapter or a set of 4.7 gears in stock since 2010. His dickhead kid ran the company into the ground selling his $20,000 IFS lifts.
 
Slander said:
Yea I wheel 99% of the time in 4.7:1 3rd or 4th gear it seems and really only use the 2.28:1 to double it up. The bump factor is real, but it's still cool smoothly crawling muddy/wet rocks and ledges down here in double low after some yokle is telling me that low gears don't work in the south post V8 tire smoke show:laughing:

Toyotas definitely aren't cheap to build anymore. I find my self looking to sub out domestic or even jeep parts as they are more readily and cheaply available.
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Same here. I lived in Oklahoma for a while and ran into that a lot with the fullsize crowd, so yeah....

Hear you on the parts availability and cost too.... I love Toyota, but there are better options out there if you're building from scratch in terms of power for the money and being able to get the parts anytime/anywhere in the US.
 
Aisin said:
Nothings changed with Marlins passing. Marlin crawler has been shit for easily over 10 years now. They haven’t had a dual case adapter or a set of 4.7 gears in stock since 2010. His dickhead kid ran the company into the ground selling his $20,000 IFS lifts.
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They really missed the mark by focusing on late gen IFS kits rather than planetary gear reduction systems like NWF. Now they are losing at the game they started and making an IFS kit that doesn't really fit into any category that's useful IMO.
 
Aisin said:
Nothings changed with Marlins passing. Marlin crawler has been shit for easily over 10 years now. They haven’t had a dual case adapter or a set of 4.7 gears in stock since 2010. His dickhead kid ran the company into the ground selling his $20,000 IFS lifts.
Click to expand...
Well, to be fair, I last dealt with the company in 2015 (when I ordered the dual cases and 3rds for this 4Runner project)...and it was an absolute shit show of endless fuck ups that they eventually made right...but by that point, you couldn't even talk to Marlin. Too bad, b/c his expertise, memory (mind like a steel trap) and personality is really what made the company what it was.
 
I've sheared multiple inputs on gear drive cases that were in the rear, yes 23spline. 4.7 gears before the main case is way hard on stuff. I've also had issues with the idler needle bearing failing. Nwf runs a way stronger intermediate shaft.

Just my .02

Sean said:
Yes. Still uses a gear driven 23 spline case. Why would you rather have the planetary (though I realize there's nothing wrong with them...just wondering your position)?
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Sean said:
Well, to be fair, I last dealt with the company in 2015 (when I ordered the dual cases and 3rds for this 4Runner project)...and it was an absolute shit show of endless fuck ups that they eventually made right...but by that point, you couldn't even talk to Marlin. Too bad, b/c his expertise, memory (mind like a steel trap) and personality is really what made the company what it was.
Click to expand...
When I was building my lefty/dual "most expensive and dumbest dual case setup in the world" in 2010, I used to call Jim at inchworm to get me parts from malrin that were out of stock and on "backorder" on marlins site for a markup:laughing:
 
Slander said:
They really missed the mark by focusing on late gen IFS kits rather than planetary gear reduction systems like NWF. Now they are losing at the game they started and making an IFS kit that doesn't really fit into any category that's useful IMO.
Click to expand...
Yeah, they've dropped the ball on the planetaries....seems like a very good option frankly.

As for the RCLT, I haven't seen one in person or seen it work, but it looks like a very good compromise for a certain market. Is that market big enough to really need the support? I don't know. I also know that by the time you're done, you could've put a SD60 under the front for the roughly $13K it costs, so unless you're just really enamored with IFS, I'm not sure that makes any sense.
 
Only $6300 now for his lift kit. He could have done much better. His biggest mistake was letting his cocksucker kid run the company. I don’t know anything about the old man but I know from dealing with his son personally that he’s a piece of shit.
 
Sluggy said:
I've sheared multiple inputs on gear drive cases that were in the rear, yes 23spline. 4.7 gears before the main case is way hard on stuff. I've also had issues with the idler needle bearing failing. Nwf runs a way stronger intermediate shaft.

Just my .02
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Exactly the kind of experience I was wanting to hear about. So, IYE....would you recommend he go with the 2.28 gears rather than the 4.7s in the front box of the Tacobox if he does go that route?
 
I also have run lots of technical trails with 2.28x2.28 is still 5.1 to 1 reduction

Edit 2.28 x 2.57 is 5.85 to 1 in just the cases
 
Slander said:
When I was building my lefty/dual "most expensive and dumbest dual case setup in the world" in 2010, I used to call Jim at inchworm to get me parts from malrin that were out of stock and on "backorder" on marlins site for a markup:laughing:
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Uggh....that kind of stuff would irk the shit out of me.

Ah...the lefty. I actually thought about that for this 4Runner, but kept coming back to just doing an Atlas. Now, I'd probably do a Behemoth D300 for what a billet cased Atlas goes for.
 
I would run stock 2.28 in the front case and only use it when you need something lower than the stock rear case.

Edit: sometimes not being low enough will kill the engine and not the ifs or other parts. food for thought
 
Sluggy said:
I would run stock 2.28 in the front case and only use it when you need something lower than the stock rear case.
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Thank you for the info. I'll be sure to pass that along. IMO, with what you're saying....that would put the Eco-Crawler at the top of the list.
 
Sean said:
Exactly the kind of experience I was wanting to hear about. So, IYE....would you recommend he go with the 2.28 gears rather than the 4.7s in the front box of the Tacobox if he does go that route?
Click to expand...
I fretted and stripped out the stock input on my Tacoma case running a crawl box in front of it. That's what led me to the lefty with the 23spl total input. With everything being more supported with the NWF setup, that would be a more logical solution for a jack of all trades type of rig that this sounds like.
 
Slander said:
I fretted and stripped out the stock input on my Tacoma case running a crawl box in front of it. That's what led me to the lefty with the 2spl total input. With everything being more supported with the NWF setup, that would be a more logical solution for a jack of all trades type of rig that this sounds like.
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Yeah...he's new to any sort of 'trail' wheeling. He may get bit by the bug, he may not. I'm trying to avoid having him get deep in financially before finding out if it's his thing. He may prefer prerunner type shit or getting into SXS instead of crawling for all we know.
 
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