duals for the man rig
single 4.7 case for the women.
duals with gearing and one rear locker is fun/challenging.
I am not quite sure what you are getting at here with your comment. The OP went with a single case for now; he's gonna have a ton of fun with it despite your perception of his rig's stronger identification with the female gender role, and he will maybe save for a dual case adapter, build materials or aftermarket parts for a dual case cross member, new drive lines, and possibly some suspension, too, since he may not want to or afford to mod the drive lines several times, first for duals, then for suspension, etc. Some posters seem to be throwing out answers here like there is a clear choice with no pros or cons for either option. My opinion: Ideally, you might consider saving enough money and carefully amassing enough parts to execute all-at-once a single build plan rather than spending possibly a lot more money, but in the form of smaller sums over time, while trying different set ups and build paths and then backing off to try other options; but that's fun, too.
I tried my hand at choosing a slow progression that would not require selling off any parts as I upgraded to stronger and better options. As part of this plan, I chose first to go immediately with an R151F and a 23 spline single 4.7 case as my first upgrade for my 1993 22RE 4Runner because I knew that eventually I would get a dual ultimate, and I would want a 23 spline 4.7 gear set in the rear t-case rather than the 21 spline that would be required behind a G or W tranny with a single case. Does 21 vs. 23 matter really in the rear case? I am thinking probably not, especially since many of us are just running 20Rs and 22Rs with 5.29s and Toyota-reasonable tire sizes (<38"ers) , but that's just what I went with since I wanted an R151F and eventually I would want a dual ultimate with 23 spline 4.7 gear set in the rear case.
When I modded my 1980 from stock, I just went immediately with a dual ultimate (21 spline 2.28 in the front and a 23 spline 4.7 gear set in the rear) rather than working a slower progression because, i knew I liked it already, and I had saved enough cash to execute all at once.
With regard to my rigs being manly or womanly, well, mine are totally wuss rigs, and I love them like that. I'd say for a man's rig you might want to try bald, patched, and plugged 28" off brand tires, open diffs front and rear with 3.90s, a worn out clutch, a manual steering push/pull box, no armor of any kind, a faulty weber carb, no gloves, no strap, no tools, no CB or HAM, and then wheel some hard and remote trails at night in early spring with some unexpected rain while working together or against some drunk wheeling buddies who never PM there rigs and envy yours because it's a 1979 SR5 4x4 first gen. "barn find" with nearly perfect paint, decals, interior, and sheet metal.
