241/205 crawler box

onepieceatatime · Oct 20, 2016

After blowing up my 241 housing earlier this year after beating on it pretty good for 5 years I decided to jump on a deal for a Ford 205 to replace. Started to think about it and wasn't sure I'd be happy with the gearing because when I swap it I figured I'd get rid of the 700r4 and put in a 400. Seems like I'd take a quite a hit in the gearing department and I'm not sure if my 5.13s would be enough to keep my crawling ability. Been shopping around and reading on different doubler ideas and these eco boxes that you just throw a 241 planetary in really peaked my interests because I'd get to keep the 2.72 gearing I love and add 2 to 1 for cruising that I'd definitely use and I might be able to drop it in that 5.44 to 1 when I really wanna slow **** down. Anyways the only thing that scares me about that idea is the intermediate shaft between the 2 cases, I really like the Titan boxes and Magnum boxes that just use a new input on the 205 and eliminates that weak link but damn those are expensive. I'd really like to see if anybody has any experience with the 241 style doublers and if they've had trouble breaking shafts before. I reckon I could go with a 203/205 doubler but I like how much better packaged the crawler boxes are. The other perk to a crawler box is I could the same unit and run my 700 until it finally quits and then when I go to a 400 just put a new input in it which seems pretty cheap. I hope that makes sense because I have a problem with rambling

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Eddyj · Oct 20, 2016

Been looking at these also. I'm interested what others think or who have tried these.

stuftmunky2k · Oct 20, 2016

Got a th350 and 203 sittin in my shop id almost give to you. Just an option

onepieceatatime · Oct 20, 2016

Re: Re: 241/205 crawler box

stuftmunky2k said:
Got a th350 and 203 sittin in my shop id almost give to you. Just an option

I'm listening!

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nhl_bullitt · Oct 20, 2016

Did you have a mount on the driver's side of your 241 (just curious).

onepieceatatime · Oct 20, 2016

Re: Re: 241/205 crawler box

nhl_bullitt said:
Did you have a mount on the driver's side of your 241 (just curious).

No. After I broke my first one I considered doing that on the new one but that part is broke off the housing. I think my driveshaft bottomed out because I put a new slip in and never took the stop out of it and I think that it jammed up and broke the housing because I never had problems before but now I'm scared. Blowing a tcase up sucks. I think a 241 case is a good case but now I'm gun shy of it.

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Ruff Cut · Oct 20, 2016

You can't run the 241 only (205 in HI ) with out the danger of twisting the shaft. The same goes with a 203/205 doubler.

onepieceatatime · Oct 20, 2016

Re:

If I had a 203/205 doubler it would be a lot easier to not run the front case in low with the rear high because it's the same ratio basically. I'd much rather have the 241 in low and the 205 high though because 2.72 is about ideal.

This would be so much ****ing easier if somebody would make a 3 to 1 for a 205 that was easy to get your hands on

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Ruff Cut · Oct 20, 2016

I here ya. I had a 203/205 and did not have any problems. But I wanted a lower crawl ratio and a in between ratio (2.72) so I took a loan and brought a magnum. It's been great. (Chevy engine, th400, magnum, ford 205)

pennsylvaniaboy · Oct 20, 2016

We have a black box that will go into a bronco based buggy this winter, it will nbe c6/BB/205. NWF advertises that you can run the box in low and the case in high for a 2.72 ratio.

As to the people who said that you cant run a 203/205 in lo/hi....ORD also says you can do that Too...

RustyC · Oct 20, 2016

I'm running something very similar in my Jeep. It's a 231 ford 205 combo. I originally had a 231/300 doubler and wanted more strength than the 300 could give. I kept the 231 planetary and had Hudlowe Axle build me an intermediate shaft to mate to the Ford 205. Granted the 231 case is not a strong as the Magnum box with the 241 planetary but the ratios are the same.
Running this behind a TH350 to 5.13 gears and 42's ratios are perfect for any wheeling out there.
In my case I chose to shift the Ford 205 from the rear due to one of the shafts being obstructed. I'll see if I can dig up some pics.

I buddy of mine runs a Magnum and Ford 205 behind a Jeep 5 speed AX-5 or 15. Works perfect.
It's hard to go wrong with them if you have the room to fit it.

Hucklebuggy · Oct 24, 2016

I'm running a Strong Box from Behemoth between my 4L80e and Ford 205. Buggy is on 39" reds with 5.13 gears. I love it. We do more slow technical crawling so the 5.4:1 in low/low is where I spend most of the time. The 205 rarely gets shifted into high. On access roads, I just shift the Strong Box section into high (2:1 with 205 still in low) which is perfect for getting from place to place.

The only problem is that last I heard, Behemoth sold out or something. (Lots of unhappy customers due to extended lead times) The Black Box from NWF is pretty much the same thing though with a couple hundos tacked on the price. They offer an eco box that you supply your own gear set for though, so that helps a bit.

As far as the intermediate shaft goes, I don't believe it to be the weak link in this set up. I believe the outputs on the 205 would actually be the weaker link because they are seeing 2X the torque when in low/low. I have had 0 trouble though in about 2 1/2 years. There is one little event we go to every year, that I usually do some spirited driving with it. The engine is a stock 6.0 with a little tune on it, so no big woopow here. But I have bounced the rig at pretty much WOT in low/low with good traction on a kind of stair step climb, and nothing broke. So, I'm not too worried about the shaft breaking.

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-ka1w4apq30" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is about as "spirited" as I get.

onepieceatatime · Oct 24, 2016

Re:

I'd think I'd spend most of my time in 2.72 which is when they say it would be hardest on that shaft. Although I guess if I put a manual valve body in the transmission I could have it down in low low and just pick a higher tranny gear. Talked to NWF on Facebook and they said with my rig and recreational wheeling that they would have no worries about it.

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jordan7118 · Oct 25, 2016

I wouldn't worry about the intermediate shaft. It's a fairly sizable chunk of steel.

Billcow · Oct 25, 2016

I run a klune-v / 205 and broke the coupler pretty easy. I got a 300m shaft from Branik and haven't had any more issues.

Welderd · Oct 25, 2016

my 2 cents

I have the titan black box from NWF, I was concerned about the intermediate shaft while in 2.72 only. I'm running 3.73 axle gears

pros - it's great and it's short and basically 3:1

cons - expensive

for the price I would expect perfection and it's not perfect. The detent for the shifter is weird and either non existent or way too stiff. I'm using an air shifter on it and if I back the detent off to allow it to shift it will go to neutral if I lose pressure.
no instructions for the most part, clocking was difficult to figure out. it leaks, from the shifter holes, from the detent. it pukes fluid out vent.

overall I think it's a great product but it doesn't live up to the price tag just yet