That is ridiculous for a case. $2k for a set of 3-1 gears is dumb. But that is what happens when you are the only game in town.
4 speed atlas is less than $4k last I saw.
4 speed atlas is less than $4k last I saw.
NP231 doubler / crawlbox
- Thread starter LincolnJr
- Start date
These cases will fade away like others in the past once the wait time for an atlas comes back to earth.
I guess it all depends on what you want. The LowMax gears for the D300 aren't cheap either and they sell out all the time.
I'd disagree to a point. When STaK's started offering the D300 case it went over like gang busters and people were unhappy when they went out of business. So I'd say that there is going to be a demand for these cases even when the Atlas is available.
If you already have a D300 or NP205 with a busted case but you've already spent money on it then I see people buying one.
Yes folks may see this an upgrade option. There are not enough of folks upgrading to keep 2 aluminum case businesses moving.
Same with Stak. Yea some were not happy. But obviously not enough to keep a business moving or an investor from taking over.
Would you spend $5k on this case or less than $4 on an 4 speed atlas?
Or $3k on a 3-1 two speed?
Same with Stak. Yea some were not happy. But obviously not enough to keep a business moving or an investor from taking over.
Would you spend $5k on this case or less than $4 on an 4 speed atlas?
Or $3k on a 3-1 two speed?
If I had to replace my STaK's I'd look at building a NP205. Depending on how much I could pick up a used NP205 I think it's do able for under $4K if you don't get the 3:1 gears but go with the underdrive.
I haven't priced out a Atlas for a while so I can't say how much they are going for right now. STaK's died due to SHITTY customer service and the popping out of gear issues not from a lack of demand.
The under drive is a much better option than the crazy gears. One plus to the new boxes is They are using what looks like atlas style shift rails.
The benefit to an atlas is the improvements they have made to the 300 case over the years. Didn’t somebody buy the stak name and design? Why isn’t it back in production?
The benefit to an atlas is the improvements they have made to the 300 case over the years. Didn’t somebody buy the stak name and design? Why isn’t it back in production?
While I save for a MMW Dana 300 case, that may be time to see how the durability and customer service pans out.
$4800 for an Atlas with 18-22 weeks wait time.
Yes I listed it in a comment above. The new Hero 3 speed is $4999 but then you add on your options.
The BIG pluses I see to these aluminum cases are that they cand be swapped for a left or right drop, they are lighter than the stock case, and they have improved shifter design.
Ater having the choice of multiple gearing and LOW gearing I would buy the lower gears if possible but as I said you could build it in stages too.
Yes I listed it in a comment above. The new Hero 3 speed is $4999 but then you add on your options.
The BIG pluses I see to these aluminum cases are that they cand be swapped for a left or right drop, they are lighter than the stock case, and they have improved shifter design.
Ater having the choice of multiple gearing and LOW gearing I would buy the lower gears if possible but as I said you could build it in stages too.
I think the durability will be fine. The shifter issues will be fixed with the new case design. The 300 gears are around $850. That is far better than the 205 gears. I am running a 300, if it were to break I would buy one of these cases for sure. If I was starting from scratch I would go atlas.
I have around $2500 in to my doubler. Add in another $1700 for a case/$850 for gears and an atlas makes more sense with the added gearing options.
When I was building my case these were just being tested. I paid around 750 for my flip kit so this case would have cost me around $1k more.
When I bought my STaK's in 2006 the new 4 speed Atlas was like $3200 if that helps any but they weren't in production yet which is why I went with the STaK's. And I know I've said it before but I'm on #3 of the t-cases. I completely blew up the first one and it was popping out of gear like people were having issues with. The second Stak's I blew up the front bearing and it was making noises.
Then I bent the shift rails
The gears in it are HUGE
They came up with a new shifter.
But it is a huge t-case
Yes it's all EXPENSIVE. For some like me the D300 won't work due to clearance issues. I did talk with one person who said he used a D300 along with a 46RE but he had to run a small front drive shaft (1.25-1.5") diameter which placed restrictions on how fast he could drive in 4WD.
As I said if I blow up this current STaK's then I'll most likely look at building a aluminum cased 205.
Or the yellow-jackets knees, in my case…
One point to add on the alternatives discussion: I’ve been beating the crap out of my Atlas 4 for well over a decade with not a single failure. It’s one of the few things in my rig that I just do not worry about. And great customer service from Advance.
For a price even in the ballpark of an Atlas, I personally would not consider anything else.
The only issues that AA has are not enough time and folks to add some more great products to their line up. If they can put a planetary in a 42 tail shaft 4wd adapter housing, the one on the end of a 32RH isn't much different.
I strongly suspect they have a lot of great ideas, just no time and manpower to get it all done. I've installed many of their products, by and large, they are problem free with a few small exceptions like their cable shifters for the TJ Atlas. I do my best to avoid them if at all possible but that is the only thing that has given me grief more than a few times.
AA finds themselves in the same category as a lot of other companies who make good stuff in that they get avoided by the "anything but" crowd. That and some of the anything but stuff is just terrible like the Stak crap. I dealt with many of them back about midway through the life of company and I wouldn't take a truck load of that shit for free. I had about 5 or 6 buddies with them. We spent an inordinate amount of them trying to work through the issues and each one had a different one. Pain in the ass and a major time suck.
My favorite was the one that pumped the gear oil out the breather. Their answer was to put a catch can in the engine compartment with a bottom drain that would let it go back into the case. The big gotcha was you had to keep an eye on the level and stop driving it every so often to let the oil drain back into the case. Go too many miles and you ran the risk of burning up the case.
Everything I've ever bought from AA has always been top notch and I've bought a lot of stuff from them over the years. Sure not as much as some folks but for a guy building his own rigs I've had a few of their parts. And as Jeff said they have GREAT customer service.
Do I kick myself sometimes for not buying an Atlas instead of my STaK's? Heck yes but I have it so I'll run it until it explodes and when it does I'll have to buy something else. I have NO dislike for AA or the Atlas I just like giving the new guy a chance now and then.
And just to add to this here is my TAKE on STaK and my experience with them.
The news of this NEW fangled transfer case was released around late 2004 or early 2005 and I along with many others who read about it felt it wouldn't work and that we'd all rather have the doubler kit that was also released around the same time. But then driveshaft length became a issue for some of us.
Then when it came time for me to choose parts for my first build I needed to make a decision for my transfer case. At the time AA was talking about a 4 speed t-case but the release dates were later in 2006 and I was again worried about total length and driveshaft length.
This was early 2006 and STaK had released a few transfer cases for testing and all the reviews were good. I liked the idea of having the choice of more than one low range after having a TeraLow 4:1 kit behind my 4 cyl. So I decided to take a chance on the NEW guy on the block and ordered a STaK t-case. My first one was #13 (yep I know), and I installed it without much issue other than it was LARGE and heavy. I didn't have a trailer so I was going to flat tow my Jeep behind my camper. So I'd called STaK and they told me how to setup the t-case for towing.
I towed it maybe a total of 300-400 miles and after this trip which was Labor Day weekend 2006 I had to pull the STaK's t-case back out and send it into them. At this point in time I could call STaK and get someone on the phone without any issues. It wasn't until December that I got my t-case back and I'd also had to have my 44RE rebuilt which at the time I hadn't put two & two together but now I think the t-case caused clutches to burn up. I then flat towed my Jeep over to Reiter for a weekend event and that is when I blew up the front output bearing I'd posted.
So in Feb & Mar of 2007 I was installing the transmission & t-case before going to Moab in April. But now STaK had decided that you couldn't flat tow so I'd bought a trailer.
I broke my CRD60 gears on that trip so the Jeep was down again for a while. It was around the end of 2007 that you started having issues getting into contact with STaK's and had to call & email multiple times before getting an answer. It was around this time that they now had enough t-cases in use that all the problems cropped up. I never had the issue of it spitting gear oil out of the breather but I'd heard about it. And after my first t-case I'd never had the jumping out of gear issues either.
Then in 2011 my Jeep was parked so I didn't have any reasons to be trying to contact STaK and I kind of dropped off the forums and wasn't active online. So I missed the chance to buy a new intermediate shaft that had been made by a second party that was supposed to fix the jumping out of gear issue. My current t-case hasn't ever done this but you'll never know until it does I guess.
My take on it was that STaK was a good idea and the idea of a multiple speed t-case IMO is a good idea if you wheel in different types of terrain like in the PNW. They got in over their heads I think and then started having issues. This is when they should have stopped production and figured out the issues and then offered the fix to current owners and sell the improved version. I'd heard at one point someone bought into them and tried to help but it was too little too late.
Then the design was bought by Hero t-case and they fixed all the issues and now offer a 2 & 3 speed t-case but their prices aren't close to AA for the Atlas.
So I haven't delt with a TON of other options and have no experience other than folks I know who have doublers or the D300 case that STaK's sold.
In NO WAY am I knocking AA or the Atlas and it is a great t-case. It's a KNOWN fact that I'm an idiot sometimes and like to try different things. To be clear I am not anti-Atlas or AA.
The news of this NEW fangled transfer case was released around late 2004 or early 2005 and I along with many others who read about it felt it wouldn't work and that we'd all rather have the doubler kit that was also released around the same time. But then driveshaft length became a issue for some of us.
Then when it came time for me to choose parts for my first build I needed to make a decision for my transfer case. At the time AA was talking about a 4 speed t-case but the release dates were later in 2006 and I was again worried about total length and driveshaft length.
This was early 2006 and STaK had released a few transfer cases for testing and all the reviews were good. I liked the idea of having the choice of more than one low range after having a TeraLow 4:1 kit behind my 4 cyl. So I decided to take a chance on the NEW guy on the block and ordered a STaK t-case. My first one was #13 (yep I know), and I installed it without much issue other than it was LARGE and heavy. I didn't have a trailer so I was going to flat tow my Jeep behind my camper. So I'd called STaK and they told me how to setup the t-case for towing.
I towed it maybe a total of 300-400 miles and after this trip which was Labor Day weekend 2006 I had to pull the STaK's t-case back out and send it into them. At this point in time I could call STaK and get someone on the phone without any issues. It wasn't until December that I got my t-case back and I'd also had to have my 44RE rebuilt which at the time I hadn't put two & two together but now I think the t-case caused clutches to burn up. I then flat towed my Jeep over to Reiter for a weekend event and that is when I blew up the front output bearing I'd posted.
So in Feb & Mar of 2007 I was installing the transmission & t-case before going to Moab in April. But now STaK had decided that you couldn't flat tow so I'd bought a trailer.
I broke my CRD60 gears on that trip so the Jeep was down again for a while. It was around the end of 2007 that you started having issues getting into contact with STaK's and had to call & email multiple times before getting an answer. It was around this time that they now had enough t-cases in use that all the problems cropped up. I never had the issue of it spitting gear oil out of the breather but I'd heard about it. And after my first t-case I'd never had the jumping out of gear issues either.
Then in 2011 my Jeep was parked so I didn't have any reasons to be trying to contact STaK and I kind of dropped off the forums and wasn't active online. So I missed the chance to buy a new intermediate shaft that had been made by a second party that was supposed to fix the jumping out of gear issue. My current t-case hasn't ever done this but you'll never know until it does I guess.
My take on it was that STaK was a good idea and the idea of a multiple speed t-case IMO is a good idea if you wheel in different types of terrain like in the PNW. They got in over their heads I think and then started having issues. This is when they should have stopped production and figured out the issues and then offered the fix to current owners and sell the improved version. I'd heard at one point someone bought into them and tried to help but it was too little too late.
Then the design was bought by Hero t-case and they fixed all the issues and now offer a 2 & 3 speed t-case but their prices aren't close to AA for the Atlas.
So I haven't delt with a TON of other options and have no experience other than folks I know who have doublers or the D300 case that STaK's sold.
In NO WAY am I knocking AA or the Atlas and it is a great t-case. It's a KNOWN fact that I'm an idiot sometimes and like to try different things. To be clear I am not anti-Atlas or AA.
I like that the new 300 cases are available. They have increased the 300 interest and all of the internal pieces are now in production again, insuring parts Availability for a while longer. Something about that freshly machined aluminum calls to us.
Yep, it's a good thing that they are available again. The added PLUS is the ability for a left or right drop without having to flip the case. I just wish the D300 was a little wider so it'd clear my auto transmission.
The 300 case/gears cost is not near as bad as the 205. They cases make some sense if your already running the original case. Even then once you add new shifters due to the case change you quickly get to an AA case in price.
It is so easy to over spend or spend unwisely while building or rebuilding these things.
It is so easy to over spend or spend unwisely while building or rebuilding these things.