Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Those who want a crawler box for the LT230 - start pestering Ray Wood from Rocky Mtn and Ashcroft. Ashcroft used to make a crawler and Ray makes an LT230 Overdrive. Ray thinks there wouldn't be enough sales of a crawler to justify building it - but if he gets lots of emails asking for one, who knows???

Gimme the emails to herrass - I need a crawler BAD.
Nadim

DiscoDino wrote:Gimme the emails to herrass - I need a crawler BAD.
Nadim

yes how do we contact Ray
the more demand the better the chance

all the info you need is here - http://roverdrives.com/Model%20DX2.htm
and install info is here - http://roverdrives.com/InstallDX2.htm

and not overly expensive for the overdrive... it says from $999 and I assume that is Canadian so by todays rates about AU$1040... plus shipping.... wonder if an underdrive would be more expensive.

Herrassment DONE

A good friend of mine used to work with/for Ray and spoke to him recently about building an underdrive version of his LT230 overdrive. Ray said it would be difficult to convert his existing design to an underdrive and didn't think the demand would justify the development cost (compared to the market for overdrives - I have no idea why anyone would want an overdrive for an LT230???). But if he gets LOTS of emails then who knows???

It will be expensive though - search for the prices for the Ashcroft one (when it was available).

A little closer to home, maybe someone like Mal Story from Maxidrive could knock up a conversion kit to adapt the Quadratrac planetary unit.
This would have to consist of the following.
1-aluminium adaptor plate between LT230 and Quady.
2-spudshaft connecting gearbox mainshaft to Quady input spline.
3- reworked LT230 mainshaft gear with longer,stronger PTO teeth that engage with Quady output spline.
4- adaptor to fit smaller series 2 or 3 handbrake assembly.
With this conversion kit , all you would have to do is source your own second hand Quadratrac reduction unit, which would keep the cost down. I would not be concerned about using the series handbrake. When in good order they are very effective, even with high ratio diffs. The only thing that let them down was the linkage which was bolted to the chassis which meant that everytime you hit a bump the handbrake would partially operate, which wore down the linings quickly. A cable linkage would solve that problem.
Bill.

Bill, by "smaller" handbrake you mean not as wide/deep don't you? because the series handbrake is a larger diameter (I think) than the LT230 one.

seeing as I was the one who hijacked this thread regarding the crawler box.... Perhaps the mods could move the NON NIGEL talk to a new post

sorry...
[/HIJACK OFF]

I don't mind it being on this thread Landy Man, if Ben doesn't. Its all related.
Ben, The LT95's in 110's and all Lt230's all had huge handbrake assemblies compared to the LT95's in most RangeRovers.
They are very good but they are overkill and prohibit fitting the Quadratrac. The series handbrake assembly allows sufficient clearance.
The unit that David Ashcroft used to make was smaller because it used the planetary gears from the Borg Warner Viscous Transfercase from later RangeRovers in a custom made housing.
Apart from size and strength, the Quadratrac has one major advantage over the Rangy type, and that is when in high range the planetary assembly is all locked together and simply revolves as a flywheel, whereas on the Rangey the planet gear and sun gears are all wizzing round, intermeshing and generating heat.
Bill.

AUS$ 1040 (Rocky Mountain) seems very reasonable for an overdrive, especially if it is of good quality and doesn't burn out in 3 months like some of the Faireys did. But even if the ratios were reversible it would not give anywhere near enough reduction ( about 27%} to be worthwhile.
Bill.

The RM overdrive seems pretty good. It uses the same oil as the T-case so shouldn't suffer from overheating like the fairey's seemed to. But yes, you are right Bill, 27% is less than Mal's current LT230 30% low range reduction and his forthcoming 40%.

If anyone out there with a reasonably well equipped machine shop genuinly wanted to do a small production run of adaptor kits for the Quadratrac units to LT230's, I would be quite happy to remove my own one from my series 2 for a couple of days, and discuss a few ideas I have.
I have no personal interest in making money out of it, But i don't want my truck out of action for long either as it is my only vehicle.
A couple of friends of mine do have well equipped machine shops at home, and I offered them the chance, but they can easily make $50 Hr machining fairly simple things like crawlertrack pins etc and don't need the uneccesary hassles, which I think is fair enough too.

Oh, I had better mention that I live in Melbourne.

Bill.

I would be very interested...

how much r we talking do u think to make them up?

mickrangie wrote:4' lift
35' Centipedes

That's one hell of a lift and some serious meat

red90 wrote:

mickrangie wrote:4' lift
35' Centipedes

That's one hell of a lift and some serious meat

2" body
2" sus

not too bad but does the job

What kind of axles are you using to turn those 35 foot tyres? Must have stretched the wheelbase a bit too, eh?

MickRangie, I really do not have a clue how much. that would really depend on the person, if any who would take the project on. there is quite a bit of machining involved. that is why it is so much easier to fit them to LT95 and series T/cases. most of the intricate work has already been done by Fairey with their overdrives.
I am not surprised you are desperate for lower gearing to turn those 35 foot tyres. A good set of reduction hubs of about 10:1 ratio would bring your engine revs back to normal. Bill.

daddylonglegs wrote:MickRangie, I really do not have a clue how much. that would really depend on the person, if any who would take the project on. there is quite a bit of machining involved. that is why it is so much easier to fit them to LT95 and series T/cases. most of the intricate work has already been done by Fairey with their overdrives.
I am not surprised you are desperate for lower gearing to turn those 35 foot tyres. A good set of reduction hubs of about 10:1 ratio would bring your engine revs back to normal. Bill.

Bill
i run 4.11 diffs and ZF and since i changed the engine computer my engine breaking is 100% better then it was before hand... and the speedo seems to be the same as the GPS by 1kmh engine RPM is 2200 @ 100kmh. The extra hight would be nice but i like the high way speed to get to and from. anyway i would like to keep my high range the same but I want to beable to select 2 different low ranges so that why i am interested but havn't seen/heard of anyone who does them for my setup
Mick

I am certainly no expert on planetary geartrains, and without seeing all the bits inside the Rocky Mountain overdrive it is difficult to be sure, but after studying their linedrawing of their overdrive it looks as though it may be possible to rearrange it to be an underdrive, and I think the reduction would be considerably greater than 28%.
Aside from that, it looks very well designed and beautifully made and would probably outlast the rest of the vehicle, unlike the old Fairey overdrives that barely outlasted the fuel you had in the tank when you installed it.
Bill.
Bill.

Has anyone who has contacted Rocky Mountain about crawler boxes received a reply yet?
Bill.

For anyone that is interested, I have had a look under a Defender and Discovery and have determined that I cannot space the crawlerbox back far enough to clear the large handbrake assembly. there is a crossmember preventing this on Defender and rear passenger footwells on Disco's. It is either a series handbrake conversion or nothing for the Quadratrac.

Bill.

what about a rangie....

Rangey footwells are in the way too I think.
I don' know why the resistance to fitting Series 2/3 Handbrake ! To make an omelet you have to break eggs.

Bill.

Bill I am ready to break some eggs


PM me about this as I would really like some sorta option for a lower h and lower low

Anthony, I am still nutting things out at this stage.It is very do-able, A friend is buying a Quadratrac planetary set in a couple of weeks, and I have to borrow an old LT230, and borrow the use of a lathe for a couple of days. I will let you know how things progress. I was rather hoping that Rocky Mountain Overdrives, or David Ashcroft Transmissions in UK would have done something, but obviously there haven't been enough interested party's pestering them. Rocky Mountain already make 90% of the components required to adapt the Quadratrac planetary box.

Bill.

Bill - You have PM