O R I O N (1 Viewer)

[orangefj45]

The recent orion kits come with sealed bearings. That pic was taken before final install ( obviously ). I usually pop the seals out of the bearings.
I use Loctite 518 gasket maker on both sides of all gaskets on transmissions and transfer cases.
Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[pbgbottle]

cool ! thanks , good to know .

The recent orion kits come with sealed bearings. That pic was taken before final install ( obviously ). I usually pop the seals out of the bearings.
I use Loctite 518 gasket maker on both sides of all gaskets on transmissions and transfer cases.
Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[TwelveGravity]

Just recieved my Orion from Georg @ Valley Hybrid. Very Pleased!

From This......


To This!!


Now lets get it together.

 

[batcon]

Your rig looks great. You will love the Orion.

 

[orangefj45]

Valley Hybrids ........ more Orion Rehab going on!

Haha

Georg

 

[orangefj45]

It's been a busy week ......

Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[mdsims]

no kidding, busy week for sure!

 

[cruisermatt]

Anyone ever put an H41 (out of a 40) and an Orion into a 60?

Or should theoretical person just buy 4:1 split-case gears and keep the current 60 series H41?

EDIT Just saw the price difference and it wouldn't make sense to buy a second transmission/case Time to budget!

 

[rusty_tlc]

Anyone ever put an H41 (out of a 40) and an Orion into a 60?

Or should theoretical person just buy 4:1 split-case gears and keep the current 60 series H41?

EDIT Just saw the price difference and it wouldn't make sense to buy a second transmission/case Time to budget!

Keep the split case and add a toy box, you will be happy happy.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Are Toyboxes still available? I have not heard of a new install in awhile.

In my 60, I have H41 gears form a 40, inside the stock FJ60 H42 case, then Toybox, then standard split case.

If I ever build another wheeling truck, I'm doing SM465/Atlas. Keep it short and strong with no nonsense or extra shifters.

 

[orangefj45]

The H41 with a 4:1 tcase behind it is a great setup. Still very street able due to the "useable" gear splits compared to the domestic granny 4-sods.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[orangefj45]

Ok. Time for some bad news. It seems that there's a rash of Orions lately that have the "popping out of gear" issue.......
Turns out the design of the high-low shift rail was changed and causing problems. If you have an Orion that was purchased in the last six months, you may want to consider changing the shift rail. AA is working on an updated design that should be available shortly. I have a few on order to fix 3 cases that are having issues........
If you have an Orion that I built, then please contact me so we can plan accordingly.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[rusty_tlc]

Are Toyboxes still available? I have not heard of a new install in awhile.

In my 60, I have H41 gears form a 40, inside the stock FJ60 H42 case, then Toybox, then standard split case.

If I ever build another wheeling truck, I'm doing SM465/Atlas. Keep it short and strong with no nonsense or extra shifters.

Still on the web site
https://www.marlincrawler.com/transfer-case/line-ups/toybox

The Orion / Toybox combo has been working out pretty well for me. Given the choice between one or the other I'd take the Toybox and a split case.

Which Atlas would you do? I can't imagine having to chose just one low range after having three choices. The four speed Atlas is some $$$$$ though.

 

[Fast Eddy]

Still on the web site
https://www.marlincrawler.com/transfer-case/line-ups/toybox

Marlinspeak: "Pricing and information coming soon!" seems to translate to "Dream on!"

 

[rusty_tlc]

Marlinspeak: "Pricing and information coming soon!" seems to translate to "Dream on!"

Maybe so, they were available at one time because I own one so it's not a pipe dream. If someone wanted one bad enough they could find a second hand unit.

 

[spotcruiser]

So Georg, about the new shift rail. Mine is an older box, 039 IIRC, with the original style shift rail. You say they changed the design and that was causing issues, so they're going to redesign it again? Does that mean that the original shift rails had issues also?

My Orion has worked great for the past several years, but just a few weeks ago it started to pop from high into neutral on a wheeling trip. A lot. It popped into neutral several times in a row on one relatively minor downhill gravel road. I thought it was going to give me a lot of trouble on the long drive home, but it didn't have any issues once on the pavement. I just now dropped the box out of the truck and it looks great inside. The one possible issue might be the high-speed gear end-play being .006" rather than the spec'd .008-.012". It's hard to imagine that being the cause of it popping into neutral. The shift fork appears to have little wear and the shift collar doesn't press against the high-speed gear when in the high detent (I do have the undercut high-speed gear). I've checked the motor mounts and tranny mount good and I found no interferences with the shift mechanism. Any thoughts on why it might be popping out of high into neutral? Thanks.

Ok. Time for some bad news. It seems that there's a rash of Orions lately that have the "popping out of gear" issue.......
Turns out the design of the high-low shift rail was changed and causing problems. If you have an Orion that was purchased in the last six months, you may want to consider changing the shift rail. AA is working on an updated design that should be available shortly. I have a few on order to fix 3 cases that are having issues........
If you have an Orion that I built, then please contact me so we can plan accordingly.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[orangefj45]

The "recent" shift rail issue was well after case #600 and started a little less than a year ago. It's been taken case of with a revised design. If you ask me, the new rail is pretty much identical to the generation previous to the troublesome unit.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[orangefj45]

Popping out of high range isn't very common. I've only seen it on a handful of cases. A couple of those were due to the early gear design. We switched them over to the undercut gears and haven't had a problem with them since. A couple more were due to linkage interference issues.
0.006" clearance is fine if you ask me. Obviously it's a little tighter than we'd like to see but it's lasted this long. If you set them up any tighter than that, the surface between the gear and main shaft will gawl up when the tcase is operated in the other gear. In this case that would be while the case is in low range.
I would have a really good look at the fork, high-low sleeve and detent setup. AA did switch to a firmer detent spring a long time ago and if you have case #39 then you have the early detent. So I would start by replacing the rail, fork, detent kit and high-low collar.
Also, when I build the cases I put the fork in all 3 positions to check how everything lines up. I then screw in the detent plug and watch where the fork centers itself for that particular detent groove in the rail. See if the fork is hitting the inside of the case. If so, then the detent ball may not be allowed to settle all the way into the detent groove. You can grind the fork slightly so it can move closer towards the case. Also make sure the fork and collar do not bottom out against the gear since that might keep the detent ball from settling into the groove as well.
Hope that helps.
Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[orangefj45]

One more thought .......

Check the bushing in the high speed gear, the bushing surface on the main shaft, and the splines in the high-low collar and counterparts on the main shaft.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[spotcruiser]

It turns out I do have the later shift rail. I didn't build my case until other people had experienced problems, so I waited further until the fixes were developed (undercut high speed gear, undercut spacer washers, and shift rail mods). I guess I'll pull the gears and have a look, but I'm not expecting much since the case and oil are pristine.

I do recall seeing details about set screws for the shift rail and that I don't have. I can't imagine that being a problem, though.

Thanks.