It’s time to quit drooling over the new Jeep Rubicon® and build up your Jeep instead, only better!
Sure the Rubicon® has a little lift and slightly larger tires, but the real “secret” behind the Rubicon®’s unparalleled out-of-the-box off-road success lies in two key areas – traction, and more traction. The Rubicon® not only has lockers in the front and rear axles, but it also has a very capable 4:1 low transfer case to boot.
So how do you transform your current Jeep into an awesome off-road rig that will even make Rubicon® owners green with envy? Add two Detroit Lockers and an Atlas II twin-stick transfer case from Advance Adapters, and you would not only be the envy of almost every other 4-wheeler on the planet, you’d be able to go dang near anywhere you could point your Jeep! All with one-stop shopping at Central 4 Wheel Drive.
As the Project Manager for Stubby,
I could not wait to pursue this path. And, since we already have Detroit Lockers and plenty of lift, all that was left was the need for a bullet-proof transfer case. For almost a whole second, we considered just adding 4:1 low and a slip yoke eliminator kit
to our current NP231 – I mean, why not? There could be less work involved, and it would probably cost less, too, right? But when we started doing the math, the Atlas II from Advance Adapters didn’t cost that much more, but it sure made a lot more sense. Even with 4:1 low and an SYE kit added, you still had the weak, chain-driven NP231 to worry about, and installing 4:1 plus the SYE kit generally takes more technical skill than installing the Atlas II, which means you can probably save a wad of cash by doing the install yourself. Other benefits of installing an Atlas II include room for a much-needed longer rear driveshaft, and the ability to use a CV-joint type front driveshaft, virtually eliminating any previous driveline vibrations. In our case, we were also able to remove the transfer-case drop kit, and put our t-case back up where it belongs, giving us more clearance and a better breakover angle.
After a quick visit to AdvanceAdapters.com to get the right part number for our 23-spline 3.8:1 Ultra-Low Atlas II transfer case with front CV output, oil-site tube kit, and a TJ shifter setup, all we could do it sit back and wait for it to arrive…
Shipping took only a few days – remarkably quick, compared to other companies we have dealt with – and installation at our local Central 4 Wheel Drive center took less than a day. Installation was fairly straightforward, with only one minor exception – during our installation we found it necessary to “customize” the rear shift lever by heating it with a torch and bending it into the desired shape to make it fit right, and move smoothly throughout all of the shift positions. The only part of the installation that might require special tools would be the modification of the stock skid plate, which requires that some of the inner support be cut away to make room for the Atlas II. With the Atlas II now in place, we could take the appropriate measurements and order our new Tom Woods’ rear driveshaft, and have our front driveshaft modified (shortened) to fit (see picture here).
All-in-all, the installation was much easier than expected, and the benefits we gained while off-roading were enough to have me grinning from ear-to-ear when we took the TJ to the test track.
Old TC Removed |
Clocking the Atlas |
Aligning Shift Levers |
Oil-Site Tube Kit |
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| Aligning the Atlas II to the transmission output |
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| Atlas II in place, putting on the final touches, adding the driveshafts. |
