Poll: Orion or Toybox or... (1 Viewer)

[bjowett]

Huh? I"m sorry I don't quite understand..
Orion $1505 with 4:1 on their website.
TOybox $1325 with 2.28 gears and $1799 with 4.7 gears. Even cheaper if you assemble it yourself..

Now.. The kicker is you have to re-do driveshafts.. REally not a big deal, I'd add about $200-$300 if you have to take them into a shop.. But I'd only take the rear in and sleeve the front.

Crossmember etc is hard if you can't fab but Marlin makes one now he sells...

You are hundred dollaring it to death, $100 $200 $300 for the shafts, $100 $200 $300 for the crossmember by the time it is shipped. Then to kick you in the balls the stock case is bound to need $100 $200 and so on......Yes money can be saved by doing it yourself, but then you are into time... it's easy to say I'll just whip up a crossmember in a couple of hours here... Then if you are like me, you get into making it high clearance, and a funky new design.. by the time it's done a day or 2 is gone.

Not that the Orion won't try to play the same game with new this and that to keep it from popping out of gear... It's all fun, though? right

 

[hatfieldcb]

But, for the wheeling your gonna do? Orion might be your best bet.. YOu probably are'n't gonna be doing hells gate and prichet canyon with a pig.. But I"ve seen Chris hatfield do some wicked stuff with his toybox in his piggy..

For a pig the 4.70 ToyBox is an excellent choice! Tub modifications, drivelines, etc. nonwithstanding. Look for my write up in the September/October Toyota Trails. I can't recommend the Toybox enough. When I get my project 40 running with the Orion I'll write up a comparison.

Here's where I really love the low gears, on a steep down hill grade. The picture doesn't do it justice. ;p

 

[CruiserMax]

Hey Chris,

I have the Orion and like it so far...

But I wanted to tell you I really liked that photo!

Cheers,

Max

 

[hatfieldcb]

Thanks Max! That was from CM2004, so I'm not worried about blowing my TT story. It's such a "target rich" environment out there.

Up hill I'm still kind of a horsepower fan. Probably from my old 4-banger mini-truck roots. But nothing beats the slow go down the big hill. I don't hate it as much as I used to before low gears.

Hard not to get enough pig pics.

 

[CruiserMax]

Another great shot Chris!

What suspension and tires are you running? I have been so focused on my 40, but seeing these shots of your awesome Pig makes me want to spend some time, effort and cash on my 55. Sweet!


Looking forward to the TT story. I hope to give another PNW story to Todd later this fall. I have the current cover story to the latest issue of the TT (the Fraser Island piece.)


Max

 

[hatfieldcb]

Hi Max,

I LOVED your story. Great job!! I sat in the garage the other night smoking a stogie and re-read your piece. It sounded like a wonderful time. Made me wish I'd been there. You have a way with words.

The suspension on this pig is "poor man's" lift on the front. A fellow club member (Mike Aaron, aka UGLIBUS) told me about Mark W's trick of adding the main leaf from another spring pack with a 2" add-a-leaf. I did that front and rear and the rear wasn't enough. I rubbed the rear fender wells real bad the first time out in Moab. So I went with some SOR rears. 2", I think. I can't remember. The fronts are still the "poor man's". Tires are 33x12.50x15 BFG M/Ts.

The best things I ever did on this 55 are the ToyBox, Dodge Caravan front buckets and rebuilding the front end. It rides pretty nice for what it is.

I put in an FJ60 AC compressor with a 3-groove crank pulley for on-board air. Pretty trick and it's all Toyota. I thought about writing that up for TT, too.

Once I get my 40 built I may entertain selling this one, but it will be very hard to do.

 

[FJBen]

For a pig the 4.70 ToyBox is an excellent choice! Tub modifications, drivelines, etc. nonwithstanding. Look for my write up in the September/October Toyota Trails. I can't recommend the Toybox enough. When I get my project 40 running with the Orion I'll write up a comparison.

Here's where I really love the low gears, on a steep down hill grade. The picture doesn't do it justice. ;p

I put in an FJ60 AC compressor with a 3-groove crank pulley for on-board air. Pretty trick and it's all Toyota. I thought about writing that up for TT, too.

I know in Moab that extra gearing for long decents would be killer. Guess I need to join to get my Trails! lol...I don't see the driveshafts really as a negative on a pig...yes the $$$...but pigs need that front d-shaft longer.

Would be an interesting comparison...What would be nice would be two pig comparisons...one with Orion, the other Toybox.. reason being the pig is definitly a different wheeling beast than a 40. Hmmmm....you did say you had an orion laying around for this test right??? Well, I have a pig here in colorado

Man, selling that pig would be hard. Sounds like it's getting built up nicely. Definetly would like to see the A/C setup...I have a 3 pulley in mine and was thinking about the FJ60 for on-board air.

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

Hmm. My driveshafts didn't cost all that much but I'm different..(that's why I put "if you have to take them to a shop) And yes I built everything myself so I didn't $100 myself to death.. I used Dana/Spicer tube that measured 2.75” outside diameter with .083” wall for sleeving the front shaft.. And my rear shaft is a minitruck cv with a slipjoint.. (no cost for me there)

I did however mess up one tranny hump installing mine.. My mistake, had a spare no big deal..

Any modification will run into serious extra expense and time if not prepared correctly.. Whether it's shifters, shifter boots, shifter knobs, reloacating the gas line, driveshafts, ebrake cables, etc.. Just gotta be prepared to pay to play if you go that route..
I've got 2 toyboxes myself, I know a lot about them and I'm vocal..

I can say this... If you wheel seriously in the rocks.. Gears will be your friend.. They are amazing and annoy your friends that are behind you all day..

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

" Late Model Suggestions for Gearing??
1982 FJ40 with stock 4sp. tranny and stock split transfer case.
The 82 has the large gas tank underneath, as well as stock 3.70 axles, and a split case.

I don't think you can use a Toy Box w/o modifying or relocating the gas tank. And I'm not sure the Orion is offered for this model.
------------
YOu are correct sir.. If it's a stock engine and tranny, you probably won't fit a toybox in there without flipping the springs and re-locating the gas tank to somewhere else..
You have options..
1. Get a 16 spline h42 or H41 and go orion (probably easiest, no need to reloacate anything)(or swap tailshafts in your current H420
2. go toybox, relocate gas tank, flilp springs, cut tub etc..

with option #1 you can sell your splitcase and re-coup most of the cost of the h42.. Heck I'll trade you straight up right now for an h42 16 spline..
With option #1, you can swap tailshafts in the H42 you have and put in a 10 spline tailshaft from Marlin and then put in an orion. I have one of those tailshafts sitting on the workbench right now..
Option #2. get the 19 spline input gear from Marlin which is used on the h55's and cut it down to go into a toybox..
It's only money.. Those are some quick options off the top of my head..

 

[RHINO]

i have the toybox in my piggy as well. the driveshaft mods are the real goody. when i did SOA i had always planned on the doubler so i did not cut-turn. the toybox really made that front shaft nice. the rear shaft doesnt hang out there quite as much either, clears this one step that it used to rub so now i can take the manly line up and not ruin a rear shaft. also i like that i can use ALL the gears in the tranny. i find myself using the 4.7 more than dbl low, but it sure is nice knowing i have it.

 

[FJBen]

i have the toybox in my piggy as well. the driveshaft mods are the real goody. when i did SOA i had always planned on the doubler so i did not cut-turn. the toybox really made that front shaft nice. the rear shaft doesnt hang out there quite as much either, clears this one step that it used to rub so now i can take the manly line up and not ruin a rear shaft. also i like that i can use ALL the gears in the tranny. i find myself using the 4.7 more than dbl low, but it sure is nice knowing i have it.

More great info...any pics...undercarriage...stuff like that? The rear d-shaft does hang low on the 55's...and SOA is already begun...(parts that is) so this may be a good reason to get the toy box.

 

[bjowett]

I'll ad this, do it once, do it right. If more crawl than the Orion can give is what you need, even with a different transmission, the decision is made. Save longer, do it once, do it right, it's cheaper in the long run. Dual cases can be fun, I ran them on my 4-Runner... For my 80 I'm going with a 6 speed Taco tranny with an Orion.

IMO the Orion behind the stock tranny would be best, tranny adapters will begin to show up for the Orion eventually, and then you can get a lower first and overdrive... something the toybox can't do.

Good chat, I love discussions like this....

 

[72cruiser]

hey tornado,

what wb are you running?



i'm already goin to pull mine out as close to 100' as i can get it (SOA, with 55 rears, hangers hangin off the ends...) but honestly could make it longer...

with all the stuff i'm goin to be doin, it wouldn't be that much more work to stretch the frame (and body) another 8 inches so i could gain some drivetrain length (for the now dreaming up h55f/toybox/splitcase combo)


malphrus

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

about 98" i think.. Just have flipped normal front and rear springs.. There are ways to go longer, will do that at a later date myself.. it works now.. gonna keep it simple the way it is.. Cause it's working..
If your going to H55f, toybox, split then your gonna be pretty tight..
My rear driveshaft is 18" and my front is 40".. If you have a v8 or v6 it probalby won't be as big of a deal but with a 6cylinder it's a whole lot tighter.. The H55 adds like 4-5" to a drivetrain.

100" to 110" is darn near perfect from what I've seen.. Doubful if I'll ever get there but we'll see..

 

[TLC Norway]

Now i'm aiming at h55f, toybox, and late splitcase... But the few pictures i've seen on the worn output shaft makes me worried. Cant find that thread back now, but it was ugly. Dont know how common that is.

Anyone with some toybox wheeling videos? Gotta ask in this old thread!!

 

[TLC Norway]

oh, one more thing... Anyone ever fabbed a linkage for the toybox shifter? so that it wont claim the space of the center console in a 60?