In my quest to make my mpfi MG413W a very capable and a 'Camel Trophy' worthy off-roader, I had given 2 doses of 'Steroids' to my Gypsy.
Dose #1: Dose #2:
I also did away with the 'anti-sway' bar and that has improved articulation to a great degree (a very handy thing to have in off-road scenarios).
As I had mentioned in other posts, I have a long lists of mods that will achieve my dream of building my MG413w the way I want it to. However, before each set of major mods I need time to test my MG413W extensively in both on-road and off-road situations. Now, after testing all the above mods extensively and fully satisfied with the results it's time to move on to the next set of mods.
This one is the killer w.r.t off-roading scenarios especially rocks and slow speed off-roading. Not many mods for a MG413W can be better than this one. This is the one that should make the MG413W a true rock crawler at nearly stand still speeds -- a characteristic that the stock high revving MG413W does not possess natively because of the petrol engine block & the gearing ratios. (NOTE: Rock Crawling is very different from hill climbing/inclines which my gypsy is able to do very easily)
I had various choices to make the MG413W a capable rock crawler:
- Plonk a ultra low t-case gearset in place of the stock 2.268:1 gearset
- Do mods to change the axle ratio from 3.73 to something even more lower (both front & rear)
After months of research and interaction with Samurai owners from other parts of the world, I decided on taking option #1.
Here also, one could go way way low. I decided to keep an optimum balance of on-road manners & good +ve effect on off-road manners. Hence I settled for a 4.16:1 t-case gearset. This will give 84% low range reduction and 12% high range reduction -- a massive performance boost compared to the stock 2.268:1 t-case capabilities.
This is what it looks like:
To give another perspective on what this means in off-roading & rock climbing, let me explain on what this will do to the 'crawl ratio' of my MG413W
The stock crawl ratio of MG413w is:
3.652 * 2.268 * 3.727 = 30.869
With the 4.16:1 t-case gearset, the crawl ratio would become:
3.652 * 4.160 * 3.727 = 56.621
To put this in perspective, the crawl ratio of a CL340 & CL340 Classic is:
3.986 * 2.460 * 4.880 = 47.851 (CL340 Classic)
3.986 * 2.460 * 5.380 = 52.754 (CL340 )
Will get this installed very soon in my MG413W. Will keep you updated on the whole install process (this will also require some more mods to handle the increased torque).
Cheers,