broken

I just feel that the OEM shifter is too tall. Half the height would have been fine for my taste. Besides looking awkward, it impedes the reach to the drink holders in the center console.
Just my 2 cents.

melie

 

Just wanna throw my name in the want hat

Put me down for one if we ever get that far.

 

Someone who has actually taken one off their truck feel free to jump in here (blitzkrieg
or others). But I don't think this is an issue that can be remedied by changing the handle.

 

Good effort guys, keep plugging away, I said before I'd take one and still would like to have a new handle. But I trust your judgement on makeing it right and that may take some time.

 

IMO in order to shorten the handle you'd have to shorten the hollow shift rod and lockout rod.

Having had this thing apart, it is not something I would attempt.

 

Just thought I would bump this back up to the top and see if we could get an update. Thanks in advance

Steve

 

I would also like to do something about the chrome down there also. Numerous times I've been half blinded by the sun reflecting off of it. Not to mention that it scratches very easy.

 

I haven't e-talked to Broken in a couple weeks.

I think the status is he's working on the project as he has time on the side.

I'm sure he'll chime in once there is something to report.

 

I have seen folks talking about the clear plastic coating to cover the front end of the vehicles to protect the paint. It wouldnt do much good for the refection but I bet it would help with the scratches.

 

I don't mind giving updates as people want them, but this will no doubt require a large amount of patience on the part of those who are interested.

I now have the tooling, material for prototypes, and various small parts which will go into the completed assembly. I modified the internal design slightly to reduce my machining and I cut the first part this past weekend. I will continue to modify and cut parts as time allows. At this point I al already realizing what a large project this is but I'm still hoping for the best. The first couple complete shifters will be made in order to test the design. I then will really need to evaluate the design further and see what I can do to reduce the machining time.

Possible options to simplify the manufacturing
1) Sand cast parts and then machine only necessary mating areas. This is an upfront investment in time designing and machining the "as cast" parts but it will reduce the time necessary to machine these parts.

2) Reduce machining by modifying the design to have more small parts that fasten together.



A totally different approach to the design would be to just make a new top cap, handle cover, and button (all the external parts you see). It is possible that these could replace the current parts and be a much simpler design. The issue here is if the shifter can be taken apart without breaking it. If anyone is up to investigating this be my guest as the one I have is already apart and I didn't talk to Blitzkrieg about how exactly he went about taking it apart.




Issues that still need to be resolved
1) There is a spring inside the shifter that keeps the button from sliding to the totally out "install" position. I have a couple ideas for what I want to do here, but I wont know what's going to work until I get the rest of the button mechanism machined. If I cant find anything off the shelf to work this might require making a custom spring.

2) Attaching the lower (chromed piece to the bottom of the shifter). Currently it snaps together because they are plastic parts. At this point I don't plan to make that lower portion.



Additional issues
1) At this point the shifter will be just billet (no leather). Its probably going to be tough to get the billet shifter to come in under $100 and adding leather would only add to the price. If anyone has a contact that can get us a price on how much leather will add please speak up.

2) people have talked about the glare off the shifter. While a billet shifter won't take care of this problem, Anodizing it would. This is an option that I could offer if people were interested.

 

thanks for the update and hard work

 

I could possibly be interested, but i would prefer some kind a t type shifter that is angled down on the pass side. seems like it would be the most comfortable when you are just resting your hand on it. Like old Hurst shifters.

another idea would be to to have a square that is rounded alot with the top part larger then the bottom. if i get a chance i will try to render a 3d one. with enough rounding, it would be comfortable and the squarish design would go great with the interior lines.

Just another thought.

 

The 04' FX4 super crew is a sweet ride, the only knock on the design team has to be the gearshift and console. Brutal, what's cheaper than plastic? Throw us a bone here....If anything was available i would be all over it..



Jax

 

Just a quick update on the progress so far. I have completed the button mechanism it looks and functions great and I have started on the handle itself which should be done in the next couple weeks.


Zex, feel free to render up your design and post it. The good thing about the design so far is that once everything is figured out it will be possible to make different shaped handles that use the button mechanism that I have already redesigned.

 

Put me down for one.