T-case lift FAQ (transfer case questions / answers)

[scrap487]

I've been considering modifying the front suspension on my brown wagon and one thing I'm trying to figure out is what to do with the steering once I put the engine cross member back up in its stock location, and the knuckles being about 7 inches lower and about 1-1/2" further out. I guess some pictures would probably be most helpful, can the steering hold up to extreme angles like that?

[Scott in Bellingham]

I've been considering modifying the front suspension on my brown wagon and one thing I'm trying to figure out is what to do with the steering once I put the engine cross member back up in its stock location, and the knuckles being about 7 inches lower and about 1-1/2" further out. I guess some pictures would probably be most helpful, can the steering hold up to extreme angles like that?

 

drop the crossmember with the steering, use a second crossmember either homemade or another subaru crossmember to hold engine

[crazy D]

well this seems to be the thread to talk on so im gonna ask some questions..... the mounts that you make to hold the case and the diff. placed up front, are those welded to the frame or body? or are they just seperate mounts that bolt on?... oh and if i use a samari t case do i use the stick mount from it?

[Turbone]

drop the crossmember with the steering, use a second crossmember either homemade or another subaru crossmember to hold engine

 

Thats my setup. Theres a frame that bolts to the x-member that holds the motor. Nice to have it at stock level, plus it stays drier going thru deep water.

 

If you fab a sub frame it can bolt to the frame rails on the car. Then you can fab mounts or use existing mounts or both to bolt up the t-case.

The front diff has a fabbed mount off the x-member to hold it.

Just wait, in a week and half you'll get to see it close up....and in action:headbang:

[Scott in Bellingham]

Just wait, in a week and half you'll get to see it close up....and in action:headbang:

 

mine too:banana:

[testy]

Bump for good thread with great info.

[The Beast I Drive]

Indeed, Great thread, this is very helpful as I am building a T cased EA car as well...

[subaruloverbrad]

ive built both an ea81 and 2 ea82 t cased cars i still own and drive my ea82 tcased sedan. I have used bothe the samuri and the datsun and aggree with almost everything said so far. i have lost zero ground clearance on my sedan but it took a lot of trans tunell work to make it fit. If there are any specific info you need or want even certain pics of anything about my car i.m. me At subaruloverbrad on yahoo messenger anytime. I am more than happy to help. And btw if ANYONE needs help and is reasonable close i will help you do any of the conversions i have done so far. Which are

ej swap WITHOUT adaptors

ea spfi swap Wiring only

t-case conversion 3,4,6,and current 8" lift(s)

6 lug conversion

disk brake swap

390 and 411 lsd swap there are probably more just ask and ill try to help as much as i can.

[Scott in Bellingham]

heres mine

 

[AndrewT]

Is there an alternative method to using an EA subaru gearbox permanently in 4x4 mode and connecting to a transfer case behind?

 

I ask because I run an EJ20turbo engine, and I fear with all that power running through an old EA gearbox (obviously adaptor plated) it will continually blow that gearbox or at least the low range gears.

 

Has anyone tried running a gearbox from a larger 4x4 and adapting that to the Subaru engine? Perhaps the matching gearbox to suit one of the popular transfer cases used?

[Scott in Bellingham]

Is there an alternative method to using an EA subaru gearbox permanently in 4x4 mode and connecting to a transfer case behind?

 

I ask because I run an EJ20turbo engine, and I fear with all that power running through an old EA gearbox (obviously adaptor plated) it will continually blow that gearbox or at least the low range gears.

 

Has anyone tried running a gearbox from a larger 4x4 and adapting that to the Subaru engine? Perhaps the matching gearbox to suit one of the popular transfer cases used?

 

 

you could use any EJ tranny and weld up the center diff wouldnt have as low a gear , the EA tranny is used cause it all bolts up

[Phizinza]

Your standard Subaru low range gears are very unlikely to fail as they are at the front of the box and don't have much torque on them due to no previous gearing. The only thing to worry about is the 4wd gear.

The EJ box would fix this because there is no synchros to fail there but you then get lack of extra low range and its no stronger elsewhere in it.

I would look at Nissan boxes. Basically the Subaru family and people seem to think they are tough. Same output splines on the rear too I think.

[AndrewT]

yeah I was thinking a gearbox which is designed to be just RWD from the beginning would be better. But I guess this would require a gearbox from a road car like a Nissan (possibly Toyota Supra, I hear these are very strong) but then you would not have any low range.

Would the low range from the transfer case alone still be a decent enough reduction? (ie, much better than the standard reduction you get with a plain old EA subaru gearbox) ?

 

note that adapting an odd gearbox to my engine is not a huge concern for me, I'm reasonably confident in making something up to suit.

 

Really interested to know if somebody has used an actual gearbox from a larger 4x4 vehicle adapted to a Subaru motor. I imagine this would be quite good to use in conjunction with it's matching transfer case if you could get the gearbox adapted to the motor and mounted in the car okay.

[AndrewT]

Anybody have any decent photos of one of these setups?

I'm interested to see what (if any) transmission tunnel cutting/welding was required to get the t-fer case mounted up nice and high.

Also very interested to see how people have gone about mounting the R160 diff at the front end.

 

With regards to the front end, my L series is 6" lifted...if I'm now going to run my engine crossmember and engine back in the stock location, surely this is too high up for the front control arms to mount? Wouldn't I need to run a second engine crossmember spaced down 6 inches for the control arms and steering rack to sit on?

[monstaru]

With regards to the front end, my L series is 6" lifted...if I'm now going to run my engine crossmember and engine back in the stock location, surely this is too high up for the front control arms to mount? Wouldn't I need to run a second engine crossmember spaced down 6 inches for the control arms and steering rack to sit on?

 

 

yes, yes you would.

[Hawkwolf223]

Anybody have any decent photos of one of these setups?

 I need to run a second engine crossmember spaced down 6 inches for the control arms and steering rack to sit on?

OK, resurrecting an old, old, old thread.

 

Have a Gen 1 BRAT with a locked up engine and single range trans.  Found an 82 Gen 2 wagon with severe cancer issues so bought to use as donor for engine/trans upgrade.  So i have: EA81 engine, DR trans, Rear diff, all wiring, all connectors, exhaust, steering, blah, blah, blah.  (Also have all side glass, front fenders, bumpers, window regulators, etc. if anyone is restoring a Gen 2, EA81 car. PM me)

 

So, I am looking at divorced t-case options.  I like the Spicer 18 personally.  Well familiar with them, have multiple options if used.  Side drive, so clocking to vertical would allow front to rear drive without offset.  Since I have the EA81 crossmember, I was thinking I could mount the 81 engine/trans to the 71 crossmember, add spacers/weld/fab brackets for T-case, then make brackets for the EA82 crossmember to fit under the EA71 crossmember with the difff mounted in between.  Allows the use of EA81 steering gear, EA81 CV shafts, provides an additional "skid plate", and adding a lift in the rear would level everything out.  Obviously fabricate brackets to hold the front diff in place...

 

Thoughts?  If anyone even sees this old thread?  Anyone know if there are air struts with enough travel to feasibly make a long-travel suspension setup? 

 

Really crazy thought: Has anyone tried adapting/fabbing the lower control arm from a 2000 forester (or similar) as an upper control arm?  Maybe designed to bolt up like the current strut with a heim joint as upper "ball joint" with the bolt in the center to connect.  Add a shock mount to the control arm just inboard of the heim joint.  That would allow for a long travel or air adjustable shock.  Adjustable ride height and wheel camber with consistent wheel camber over long travel of the wheel...

 

BTW, has anyone considered the possibility of power take-off from the stock transaxle?  If going divorced transfer case, the front CV output is no longer used.  Maybe drive a high output generator (trail welding) or compressor (old AC compressor) to fill an air tank for trail use...  Just an additional thought.

[Scott in Bellingham]

Use a 720 nissan t case or a Sammy behind the stock dr many have done it works well

[Rnasty]

Anyone have pics or instructions for one of these 8-12 inch lifts? Just got an 84 ea81 GL i wanted to make into a bogger, and this Tcase thing looks pretty badass.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Rnasty

[Scott in Bellingham]

Anyone have pics or instructions for one of these 8-12 inch lifts? Just got an 84 GL i wanted to make into a bogger, and this Tcase thing looks pretty badass.

Here's a 8"

 

http://www.sjrlift.com/index.php/catalog/lift-kits/0-8-lift-kit-ea82-detail

[Rnasty]

I should have specified it's an ea81 GL. Could that lift be modified to work?

[Scott in Bellingham]

I should have specified it's an ea81 GL. Could that lift be modified to work?

Here's a EA81 , I build these lifts I can make it as high as you want

 

http://www.sjrlift.com/index.php/catalog/lift-kits/0-6-lift-kit-ea81-detail

[Uberoo]

here is a pic of my old 8" lifted T cased ea81 hatch on 31" tires. (RIP)

 

Basically use 1/4 wall steel rectangular tubing 3" wide and whatever height you want the lift to space down all the suspension points away from the body.In the front I used a stock cross member to hold the suspension and front diff, then I built mounts for the engine off that.

Any lift over than 3" and the blocks need to be tied together,at 8" of lift there was enough room to tuck a 2x3" piece of rectangular tubing up to the body and link the front and rear blocks together forming a subframe. Then you can mount the T case to that subframe. Depending on which T case you use you will probably need to cut the floor to get the T case to tuck up high.That car used a datsun 720 case that was clocked as far to side as I could without the shifter hitting the seats, then the floor was cut so the T case mounted 1/8" below the seat rails.

I shortened the shifter until it was basically just the handle to get as much room as possible.

 

Make a cradle that drops the rear diff down, don't try to just space the rear diff down like any other lift.That mustache bar bends if you look at it funny on stock ea81 power offroad,Throw in twice the torque from the transfer case + bigger tires+ possible engine swaps and your just asking for trouble.

 

Eventually, I added some tube to the body to support a rear mounted winch,

 

It is worth noting that the engine/transmission can be moved up and BACK to give a better center of gravity seeing as the CV axles are no longer tied to the transmission.I didn't do that and my hatch was very front heavy,even after relocating the battery to the trunk, and mounting a spare tire and my tool box in the trunk as well.

[Uberoo]

One thing worth noting is AFTER the T case is completed you will explode the factory EA81 rear cast CV cups with alarming frequency. So you will need to make some hybrid axles.Use the rear inner DOJ from a early legacy on both ends of an ea81 axle shaft.The legacy doj cups are forged and longer than the ea81 ones so they are much stronger and the CV joint is running in a much stronger area of the cup rather than right at the edge like the factory ea81 setup.