• Help Support Hardline Crawlers :

Standard transmission in a rock buggy?

It was really handy. I haven't wheeled a manual since that Jeep, and I sold it in '08, but I wouldn't wheel one without it. I used the hand throttle a lot even in access trails to give my leg a rest.
 
Crawler cruise c

Crawler cruise control.
I use mine as cruise control a lot more than I use it on the side of a hill. We went to Hawk Pride last year and hit Merlin right off the trailer around lunch time Friday. I was still trying to get my bluetooth to connect to my phone and get everything situated. Double low, hand throttle idled up a little, hit the first big rock truck slid back off of it under power and grenaded a transfer case. That's the shortest riding trip I've ever been on.
 
The buggy I built has a 5.3LM7 stock/NV4500 with Advance Adapters bellhousing kit and D300 tail housing kit/ Atlas 4.3 with GM Dana 60 front & D70 rear geared at 4.56 since the D60 was a CUCV with factory spicer gears in it. Crawl ratio works out to be 110:1 with the 5.61 nv4500 version 1st gear.

If you looking for a whole buggy I could sell as I am planning to build another buggy soon. If not the whole buggy, in about a year I was looking to auto swap the current buggy so I would have a full trans setup for sale (LS flywheel/clutch, bellhousing, slave cylinder and mount, shifter, etc.
 

Attachments

  • F9C8CA71-20A6-428F-8DD6-7ECBA0D718D5.jpeg
    F9C8CA71-20A6-428F-8DD6-7ECBA0D718D5.jpeg
    233.3 KB · Views: 106
  • 71BF641A-D7B9-4258-8977-6CB53BE3348C.jpeg
    71BF641A-D7B9-4258-8977-6CB53BE3348C.jpeg
    331.1 KB · Views: 108
  • 7B07BA0D-1CA0-41EA-BF10-E56FD2CB5E4A.jpeg
    7B07BA0D-1CA0-41EA-BF10-E56FD2CB5E4A.jpeg
    539.8 KB · Views: 97
  • 56B4FD42-413A-4724-A136-BB44418686C5.jpeg
    56B4FD42-413A-4724-A136-BB44418686C5.jpeg
    212.5 KB · Views: 96
I use mine as cruise control a lot more than I use it on the side of a hill. We went to Hawk Pride last year and hit Merlin right off the trailer around lunch time Friday. I was still trying to get my bluetooth to connect to my phone and get everything situated. Double low, hand throttle idled up a little, hit the first big rock truck slid back off of it under power and grenaded a transfer case. That's the shortest riding trip I've ever been on.
Sounds like the occasional @Mattman347 trip with doublers.
 
Last edited:
The buggy I built has a 5.3LM7 stock/NV4500 with Advance Adapters bellhousing kit and D300 tail housing kit/ Atlas 4.3 with GM Dana 60 front & D70 rear geared at 4.56 since the D60 was a CUCV with factory spicer gears in it. Crawl ratio works out to be 110:1 with the 5.61 nv4500 version 1st gear.

If you looking for a whole buggy I could sell as I am planning to build another buggy soon. If not the whole buggy, in about a year I was looking to auto swap the current buggy so I would have a full trans setup for sale (LS flywheel/clutch, bellhousing, slave cylinder and mount, shifter, etc.
I guess I'll have to keep my eyes peeled on that. I've got a Nissan pathfinder with stock 5 speed and have debated using it with an adapter to an ls or lt engine. NV4500 would omit a pricey adapter to a transmission that may or may not be strong enough (same as the 300zx that people do big HP turbo builds in)
 
I run a stock 5.3 mated to a 93 nv4500 (from a commercial delivery truck) mated to a 4:1 dana 300. 4.88s in the axles and it crawls very well for east coast stuff. It is plenty slow for what we have out here, and I can go 80 on the interstate w/ the motor running not too fast w/ 39s. That being said for super technical stuff it could be slower, but if you are gonna run a doubler i dont see why you need the granny low of the rare nv4500s or the sm465. overdrive, and faster shifting transmissions are very nice for when you are between trails or on the road!
 
The only issue I ever had with my t18 was the gear spread. Trail riding up the long hills in a place like Harlan or Windrock it would either be screaming in 2nd, or lugging down in 3rd trying to keep up the pace. For crawling it was great. Drop the clutch and steer.

I gave it up for an aw4 several years ago. My left knee was not loving working a fairly stiff clutch pedal any more. I still get to manually shift, just no more clutch. Lol
 
Figured that I would revive this thread a little. I have the SM465/NP203/D300 in my CJ7. I'm moving forward on my tube buggy build and came home with two transmissions yesterday. An SM420 with a 7.06:1 first gear AND a light duty Chevy NV4500. I'm not sure just yet whether it has the 5.61:1 first gear, or the '93/'94 lower first gear ratio of 6.34:1, but either way, I will likely use this transmission in the tube buggy. UNLESS I find a Mercedes OM617 turbo diesel to swap into my CJ7. In that case, I may use the NV4500 in the CJ7, with the 4:1 Dana 300.
 

Latest posts

Top