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4l80e swap, shifter questions

muddysub

muddysub

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if you were swapping a 4l80 into a truck that used to have a th400 or th350 what would you do about a shifter?

i don't think the original column shifter is gonna work. i'm cool with the idea of a console shifter like an art carr or something, in fact i'd lke to do something like that. is anyone running a lokar shifter? they come in a few different lengths, which art carr doesn't. but the competition shifters have cool gates that make that awesome noise when you shift them... ive heard of some issues with cable length with winters/art car shifters and issues with lokars not holding their gear selection out wheeling. anyone got any experience? opinions?
 
Not quite. You also need the piece in the column that has the "slots" for the gears. Probably easiest to just get a whole column out of a parts truck.
 
I use a B@M shifter for the trucks. Its taller and the base is adjustable. I really like it, its setup for a 3 speed but you just have to remove a dowl pin and it ratchets into a 4th gear. Very simple to do and easy to read instructions. The cable they sent me with it I broke the first day :rolleyes: , I ended up with something like a 11ft cable or so. Its been a few years.

The only downfall of it is its kind of a PITA to shift from forward gears into reverse. I was always used to throwing it from 1st all the way into reverse quickly with the column, now I have to ratchet all the way to 3rd, and pull the lever up and into reverse. I got used to it but it takes some time. Other than that I love it, it never has missed a shift, and I dont see any possible way of it changing gears or anything wheeling, as it has to be slapped fairly hard.
 
454Sub said:
I use a B@M shifter for the trucks. Its taller and the base is adjustable. I really like it, its setup for a 3 speed but you just have to remove a dowl pin and it ratchets into a 4th gear. Very simple to do and easy to read instructions. The cable they sent me with it I broke the first day :rolleyes: , I ended up with something like a 11ft cable or so. Its been a few years.

The only downfall of it is its kind of a PITA to shift from forward gears into reverse. I was always used to throwing it from 1st all the way into reverse quickly with the column, now I have to ratchet all the way to 3rd, and pull the lever up and into reverse. I got used to it but it takes some time. Other than that I love it, it never has missed a shift, and I dont see any possible way of it changing gears or anything wheeling, as it has to be slapped fairly hard.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. Ill look it up. I'd rather switch to a floor or console mounted shifter and just remove the column shifter all together.
 
Floor shifter. :D
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If you're not hard over on having the factory indicator in the dash, you could also rig up a bracket to hold a standard shift cable off the Column bracket.

That was my original plan, between my headers and pipes I don't have enough room for a linkage style shifter. Mines actually a cable with some custom brackets to hold it for the Lokar shifter.

Come to think of it, a 700R4 indicator would read correctly, assuming you could get the spring and cable setup in sync with the actual shift pattern..
 
I went with the lokar 16 inch floor mount. Left just enough room to install the Tripple sticks. Got plans for a plate that fits around all 4 levers so they don't overlap.

uploadfromtaptalk1378735272391.jpg
 
kauzenkaos said:
I went with the lokar 16 inch floor mount. Left just enough room to install the Tripple sticks. Got plans for a plate that fits around all 4 levers so they don't overlap.
Click to expand...

thats awesome! is it 16" from the floor or 16" from the trans housing? i don't want something too tall, not building a rat rod. how stiff are the detents? it doesn't bounce out of gear does it?
 
When I first installed the shifter I made the rod straight between the shifter and trans and that resulted in the trans being pushed into neutral under high flex. Lokar advised I put a bend in the shaft between the two. It took a lot of tweaking to get the detents to match but I haven't had any problems since then.
Think it measures 16 inches from the floor. I'll get a side profile for ya if you would like. As far as the detents they hold good. Good enough that the tire shop bent the fuk out of my floor pan and could only drive around in reverse. The button in the center of the shifter can be a little tricky. You have to push it in to shift the shifter. The main reason I wanted the floor mount was because I only had to cut a slot in the floor instead of a hole and that it could be mounted off to the side. As it sits it's pretty comfortable to shift manually trough the gears. As a side note I never could get the 4l80 to sync up with my factory shifter. The 700r4 detents were just different. Tried all the different levers I had even moded a few never liked the way it shifted.
 
i'm looking at lokar and american shifters. lokar has a floor mounted cable operated shifter that would eliminate the linkage issues you had. American shifters are trans mounted and i'm not sure how well they would clear the t-case shifter boot.
http://lokar.com/product-pgs/shifters/shifter-product-pgs/cable-op-shifter.html
http://www.americanshifter.com/cata...fter-Kit-~-16-Single-Bend-Arm-with-Delux-Knob

[edit: ironically the American Shifters one, is "designed in USA", Lokar is "made in USA" hmmm...]
 
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