manual tranny...

[mbeach]

Still working on this (the driver adjustable TOD) -it's not as easy as you're making it out to be. I could build the circuit for myself and make it work, but it would be difficult for others to reproduce.

The DCCD in the Subaru STI and the "Grid Dancer" ATTESSA controller available for the Nissan Skyline have exactly NOTHING in common with the Borg-Warner TOD except for purpose.
Neither of those cars use a transfer case -they both have center differentials.

The manual transmission can be done in a TOD VX, it has been done by rally teams. Rather than re-invent the wheel, we need to get an undercar shot of a rally VX -so we can see if a custom adapter was made to match the tranny and transfer case together. I'm not even sure what kind of transmission it is -it could be a commonly available Getrag unit from the aftermarket -you can't tell just by looking at the stick. I had assumed that it was an MUA-5, but this seems to be unlikely.

Someone find an undercar shot of a 5-speed 'rally' VehiCROSS and we'll have our answer.

[mbeach]

Every 5-speed VX that I've managed to find pics of has skidplates covering the important bits.

The Ssangyong Rexton is available with a manual transmission and "smart" TOD.
Anyone in Malaysia/Korea/Japan/Australia able to comment?

[raver_boi_88]

indeed the tod would be a problem to by pass but it would be nice to by pass rather than get rid of it all together

[Joe_Black]

Some of the rally VX's maintained TOD with the 5-speed and had dash-selectable ratios as well, while others either locked it in 50/50 or some other ration suitable for the competition surface.

[MrCrowley]

To continue down this road we will definitely need some international input. I will do what I can to find out some info about the overseas manual and AWD system. I almost insist that it would be the same trannys used on US manual Troopers but we will need some type of proof, though. Its a shame that the Aussies didnt get too many of this truck as they would have already done this stuff for us by now. If folks down there have already done this to Troopers, it should be the same task.

As to what I was saying about the other AWD systems, I was speaking in general about the principle of having elecrical signals dictating the variable output.

[mbeach]

The 5-speed Troopers have an MUA-5 transmission which does not work with the Borg-Warner TOD transfer case. Ditto for the Opels and the Holden variants.
A peek into the cockpits of a few rally VXs (the one in the "Rally VX for sale" thread, the Bell Sports VX, the 98 Dakar VX) all show stick shifts, but no TOD interface (at least not one that I can see). These could all be MUA-5 trucks -no TOD.
Now, look at the Geolandar or Baja VX. This one has some serious work done to it everywhere. If I were looking for a high-speed TOD interface, I'd look on this one. Sure enough, a peek into the cockpit reveals a.) a stick shift, b.) a transfer case lever, and c.) a 4-position switch -hmm, I wonder what this is for?
Look here:

This is the guy we really need to look at. There should be hundreds of pictures of Hanawa's VX out there. We just need a picture of its belly.

For those who haven't seen the links, here is a great page -save it to your favorites.

http://park16.wakwak.com/~kero/vehicross/main.html

EDIT: I should note, there are two 4-position switches. The one that really draws the eye (and is labeled "torque xxx") is located next to the "fire" pull on the left side of the picture.

As for the TOD, I've decided to keep it (rather than go old-school T-case). The TOD has been proven to take a 500hp beating, plus it has a cool factor that a simple 2 or 4 T-case can't match.
I only want manual control of it sometimes.
The TOD controller (as it is coming to be known) is really not going to be that difficult to construct. We need:
A PWM generator (maybe a 8038 IC, old but effective),
A method for adjusting the frequency -we want 50 Hz, or cycles per second. This matches the TOD's 20 millisecond response time.
A means to vary the control voltage, and therefore duty cycle of the pulse width. 20% duration and lower = 2wd, 85% and higher = 4wd, and everything in between.
A nice interface to the dash display -this is proving to be the most difficult part, but it should be engineered in from the start.
There's a recent thread which outlines most of these requirements, I've just been forced to put my testing and prototyping on the back burner for the last month due to a heavier load at work.

[mbeach]

EDIT (again):
It is my belief that the above vehicle (Hanawa's Baja Geolandar VX) was converted to an automatic sometime before the 2002 season. A little Googleing will lead you to the JMOUSA (makers of hi-po torque convertors). This VX is featured with a JMO TC, meaning that the 5-speed was ditched at some point.