OK, had a great conversation with the folks @ StellarBuilt who did the install on the white 4runner in the video. Some info on mods needed/no needed and approx costs

>>rear driveshaft shortened,
>>front driveshaft lengthened,
>>no underbody mods,
>>bolts right up to the A750F 5th gen 5speed auto,
>>doesn't mess with ATRAC/Crawl control,
>>requires mods to the crossmember/mounting,
>>requires mods to your skids if you have a full belly skid like i do (but mods are very doable/reasonable).
>>Cost from TrailGear is $2800-ish for the crawler box for either a 2.8:1 or a 4.7:1 ratio
>>Labor based on their rates currently is probably in the $2000-2500 range (don't quote me- completely depends on your setup/build list/specific rig)

We had a good discussion about the cost vs. benefit of this mod for a rig that isn't running 37-40" tires or isn't running the most extreme trails. The gent i talked to made it clear he wasn't trying to dissuade me, but also wanted me to consider 4.56's/4.88's as a Stage 1 mod, if I was looking for a deeper crawl ratio without the list of modifications that the crawlbox requires.

The benefit being that maybe we find the lower ratio (via diff gears only) is enough, and get to stop there with mods, for a lower price of entry. At that point, if we wanted to go deeper/lower we could still always drop a crawler box in.


Great food for thought and puts it back on our plate to decide where we want to end up capability-wise.