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The Atlas is IN! (7 pics less than 60kea)

DaffyXJ

NAXJA Member #929
Location
southern MD
Did it over a 2 day period, pretty straight forward. Only a few mod points. Still have a few things to clean up as usual.. Here's a few pics. Planning to do a writeup on www.hardrockcrawlers.org check tomorrow for details if interested.
Atlas is a thing of beauty. But HEAVY. Invite a friend or 2. I had 5 show up for the Clinic.
01Atlassm.jpg

The 4 speed is a bit longer than the 231, and the ouputs are shifted rear 1.75 inches.
03Atlas3sm.jpg

Here's one of the test fit pics. It went in 4 times including the final assembly. Note the floor panel mods to get it up and in there. This is clocked all the way up. IF you replace a 242 it would be higher than stock with it clocked down one position.
07Testfit2sm.jpg

Modified the shifters that came with it. Shortened them by over 2 inches. This allowed me to keep the shifters in the console hole without cutting too much. Here's the third shifter. Had to cut a bit, and placement decision was the longest part of the whole thing. Had to remind a buddy with a YJ that is was a unibody, every 3 square inches that was cut from the floor made the truck less strong. :laugh3: Actually it has an 8 point cage, so no concerns there.
093rdshiftersm.jpg

Here's the Atlas installed. Trick here was the exhaust hanger. either had to drop the cross member, reclock, or cut the floor to get the trans mount and exhaust hanger back in. Dropping the cross member is reserved for the tranny change in the future, (It's welded:shhh: ), Reclock? NO. Cut the floor, not my first choice, so I cut the exhaust hanger off the trans mount plate. Put it in and then rewelded the hanger back on. (Welds are accessable to cut off to remove the atlas if needed.) Clearance doesn't show up too well in this pic but it's about 1/2 to 3/4 around the atlas and floor. And the skid plate needs extended to cover the thing.
10Atlasin1sm.jpg

ANd finally the interior. A major consideration of mine. My truck is beat to death on the outside, but the interior is 90% intact. Wanted to keep it clean and comfortable. Here's how it came out. Still have to put the trans temp gauge back in, like I said a few things to clean up. The underdrive shifter does not contact the Mastercrafts. Actually everything fit well.
143shifters3sm.jpg

123shifters1sm.jpg

This thing is 'Stupid Slow' as said by a friend with an Atlas II 2 speed in his YJ.
(01 XJ 2.8 AW-4, 2.72 Atlas underdrive, 3.8 Atlas II, 5.38 R&P's = 155:1)
Watch for the DaffyXJ on the trails as you pass it.....:eyes:
Hope the pics are worth the bandwidth.

Derik
 
interior looks very clean...just a couple of quick question as i'm sure you did some groundwork before doing this...I was thinking on going to a 4 to 1 terra low...it seems like it would lower my gearing and still keep the street drivability (I have an ax-15, 373's and 32" tires)...what made you go with the atlas???(I am trying to keep this on a budget)... any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have been getting into wheeling my xj for about a year, twice to moab and half a dozen times around CO...My first passion (besides family) is mt.biking...thats how I found this crazy sport.......
dbswede
 
Yeah, the Tera Low is a good choice, or the Rubicon T-Case as well. There is no impact to street driving with any of them. The Atlas allows for front or rear independent engagement as well as being gear driven as opposed to chain driven. With the AX-15 the down side of the Tera Low would be the frequent shifting from 1:1 to 4:1. In 4:1 and say third going down a fire road, you'd be pushing the temps in the Tera low and it'd be noisey. Can't speak the the Rubicon case as I haven't had one, but I did remove a tera low for the Atlas.
 
BrettM said:
why oh why would you ever want 155:1 with an auto!? that's a large pricetag for novelty...
houserock1.JPG

Going over this earlier this year I was doing about 7 miles per hour when I landed on the other side. 60:1 Just didn't cut it. And the Atlas gives me the option of 15:1; 41:1 57:1 or 155:1. For those that have done things like ET at Gore, or the rock creek at Rousch, control of your speed as you drop into a hole is critical. Momentum is NOT always your friend. Anyone can climb a 4 foot rock, it's the 3 foot hole behind the rock that will get ya.

Overall Brett, that's a pretty silly question. I suppose you think 3.07 gears and say 33's are okay as well? Or perhaps the weight of the vehicle does not matter?
Novelty would be a computer Joystick for a shifter. :thumbup:

Can't wait to see what you have to say about the cutting brakes when they go in.
:wave1:
 
DaffyXJ said:

i would probably move out of the fall line if i were him...........


i dunno about low with an auto, its been my experience especially in the southeast where the trails can still be wet a few days after rain that wheelspin can be a friend. in fact the last time we were out there was a rubicon with 33's that had a lot of trouble simply because he couldn't get the wheels spinning as fast as i could. i know for dry crawling low gears are great, but here i like to be able to heat up the tires and get them spinning fast. just my 2 cents
 
You're right, depending on the obsticle, one would want more or less wheel spin. It's selectable. Not like the Tera Low where it was 4:1 or nothing. It's about options to match the terrain. I've gone up a few hill sides here on the east coast where 4:1 and 3rd gear were necessary to get through the mud and slick rocks.
And that's another nice thing about the Atlas, you can hit 3k RPM with out fusing a thrust washer to the input shaft.
 
DaffyXJ said:
http://www.hardrockcrawlers.org/Portals/0/NTForums_Attach/houserock1.JPG
Going over this earlier this year I was doing about 7 miles per hour when I landed on the other side. 60:1 Just didn't cut it. And the Atlas gives me the option of 15:1; 41:1 57:1 or 155:1. For those that have done things like ET at Gore, or the rock creek at Rousch, control of your speed as you drop into a hole is critical. Momentum is NOT always your friend. Anyone can climb a 4 foot rock, it's the 3 foot hole behind the rock that will get ya.

Overall Brett, that's a pretty silly question. I suppose you think 3.07 gears and say 33's are okay as well? Or perhaps the weight of the vehicle does not matter?
Novelty would be a computer Joystick for a shifter. :thumbup:

Can't wait to see what you have to say about the cutting brakes when they go in.
:wave1:

cutting brakes make more sense to me than 155:1 with an auto, I just hope you have a D60 front for front digs.

Little Sluice on the Rubicon, many sections of Fordyce, and many trails at Johnson Valley require very, very slow crawling. At 37:1 with an auto I sometimes found that a tiny bit lacking, but anyone around 60:1 I have never heard a single complaint. Plus, with that much reduction are your brakes even strong enough to stop you? There was a big thread on Pirate about best rock-crawling crawl ratios with automatics, and most people said between 50 and 60 and I dont think a single person said over 90.

it's your money, but if it were mine I would just get a 3.8 Atlas, maybe a 4.3 Atlas, or a 1, 2.3, 4.3 Stak.
 
Brett, its a selectable transfercase.

he can CHOOSE from 15:1 41:1 57:1 155:1
so where you say anyone around 60:1 you havent heard complain, he can say, ok ill just put it into 57:1
hes saying the lowest crawl speed he has is 155:1.

some times you NEED to go really slow, if you want to keep the rig on its feet...
 
rocklandxjer said:
Brett, its a selectable transfercase.

he can CHOOSE from 15:1 41:1 57:1 155:1
so where you say anyone around 60:1 you havent heard complain, he can say, ok ill just put it into 57:1
hes saying the lowest crawl speed he has is 155:1.

some times you NEED to go really slow, if you want to keep the rig on its feet...
I know it's selectable and he still has a mid-range. My point is that it's extra money and weight that I would never use, and I see only disadvantages.
 
BrettM said:
I know it's selectable and he still has a mid-range. My point is that it's extra money and weight that I would never use, and I see only disadvantages.

Im Kinda a new guy here but, I think the whole purpose of his post was to share with everyone else the news of his new "toy". No different than the "I got new tires, check em out" posts. And as far as "it's extra money and weight that I would never use"....he had the money and thought that the benifits outweighed the drawbacks (to me price is the only drawback) so he decided to get one...... Price is relative also, different incomes=different acceptable costs. To each their own.
 
savage1978 said:
Im Kinda a new guy here but, I think the whole purpose of his post was to share with everyone else the news of his new "toy". No different than the "I got new tires, check em out" posts. And as far as "it's extra money and weight that I would never use"....he had the money and thought that the benifits outweighed the drawbacks (to me price is the only drawback) so he decided to get one...... Price is relative also, different incomes=different acceptable costs. To each their own.

Yeah! Dammit Brett! This is a TECH-FREE ZONE!!
Billy :D
 
savage1978 said:
Im Kinda a new guy here but, I think the whole purpose of his post was to share with everyone else the news of his new "toy". No different than the "I got new tires, check em out" posts. And as far as "it's extra money and weight that I would never use"....he had the money and thought that the benifits outweighed the drawbacks (to me price is the only drawback) so he decided to get one...... Price is relative also, different incomes=different acceptable costs. To each their own.

posting to share on a forum is inviting both praise and criticism. if you can't handle that, don't post in the first place.
 
rocklandxjer said:
Brett, its a selectable transfercase.

he can CHOOSE from 15:1 41:1 57:1 155:1
so where you say anyone around 60:1 you havent heard complain, he can say, ok ill just put it into 57:1
hes saying the lowest crawl speed he has is 155:1.

some times you NEED to go really slow, if you want to keep the rig on its feet...
STFU troller, your just rephrasing what i said!

skyjackedxj96 said:
its a 4 speed , he doesnt have to always be that low. nice job daffy

BrettM knows WTF he is talking about! and you never do.
 
I think what was in Brett's mind is the way the torque converter works in a auto trans...you don't need nearly as much gear as you do with a manual tranny when it comes to crawling...due to torque multiplication.
 
savage1978 said:
Im Kinda a new guy here but, I think the whole purpose of his post was to share with everyone else the news of his new "toy". No different than the "I got new tires, check em out" posts. And as far as "it's extra money and weight that I would never use"....he had the money and thought that the benifits outweighed the drawbacks (to me price is the only drawback) so he decided to get one...... Price is relative also, different incomes=different acceptable costs. To each their own.

Actually I posted this up as a complimentary thread to the earlier question about a stak install. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=89554 and http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93406&page=2
If my intent was to just show the thing I would have put it into the picture showcase.

I thought this would generate more thoughtful issues such as a second cross member, drop below the frame rail, skid plate mods to cover the whole thing, or perhaps at least let some who plan this in the future see a few pics.
But to my surprise it has degerated into an issue of acceptable crawl ratio for an XJ, from someone running 37:1 !! Come on. :huh:
 
DaffyXJ said:
I thought this would generate more thoughtful issues such as a second cross member

actually i was going to ask what you were going to do about the extra weight of that bad boy stressing the tranny housing, but after i looked at your rig and you sounded like you knew what you were talking about so i figured i wouldn't point out the obvious :D
 
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