jdrew1
02-25-2004, 02:53 AM
Hey guys, I've heard some talk about the Hurst short shfter for trucks. Sure, it seems like a good idea or whatever, but if you have any fabrication skills and a little imagination, (or a buddy with a welder) you too can have a short throw shifter for your 5 speed for as little as $0 plus a couple hours of your precious time! I have an 88 K1500 with a 305 and NV3500 5speed, and I only had the truck a couple of months before I started getting really sick of rowing that oar through the gears in town. I think the newer trucks improved on it somewhat, but the ole '88 had about a foot and a bit of shifter throw. Add to that a bench seat in a reg cab pickup, anytime I had 2 passengers, the one in the middle had to spread their legs so I could get into reverse! (not always a bad thing I guess.... ) Looked into Hurst etc. Couldn't justify spending $250 CDN on something I could surely engineer myself. Here's where I stop rambling and show something. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera at the time, but I snapped some pics of a spare stock shifter tonight to illustrate my story. Ok, here's a stock shift tower off a NV3500. They went into half tons, I think some 3/4 tons and I think s-series as well.
http://www3.telus.net/jdrew1/Pictures/Shifter.jpg
That little ring slides around, and when the opening in the ring is aligned with the pin, the pin will slide out. do this with both sides. Here's what you get:
http://www3.telus.net/jdrew1/Pictures/Apart.jpg
Now, you have to get creative. Cut the rod as square and straight as you can, around where I've drawn that crappy red line. Check out my mad photoshop skills!
http://www3.telus.net/jdrew1/Pictures/Modify.jpg
Now, find a chunk of steel bar approximately the same dia. as the shaft you just cut, and about an inch long. Go ahead and weld it up, as straight as you can. The idea is to lengthen the shaft BELOW the pivot point, to provide more movement for less action of the stick. Try not to leave a big ugly bead, cuz it just might interfere with the movement of the rod, it did on mine. The first time I put it together the trans wouldn't go into 1st at all. Ground down my welds a bit and it worked fine.
Now, find a piece of 3/4 to 1 inch thick aluminum plate, at least as big as the base of the shifter. You gotta make a spacer to compensate for all that length you just added to the shaft. Cut it out to the same profile as the gasket used for the base of the shifter. Find 4 bolts that are as much longer than stock as the plate you used, ie. 3/4 to 1" longer. The factory bolts in the NV3500 are M6x1.0, I forget how long. Seal it up with either a couple new gaskets or some silly-cone, bolt it down, and enjoy! This gave me about an 8 inch throw, a vast improvement, and also made it feel a lot tighter and a lot more fun to drive.
One word of caution though... those 6mm bolts are WIMPY!
If you really baby the shifter and don't slam it around, you might get by. Loctite is your friend here as well. Mine lasted about 6 months with the increased leverage, and one night leaving a party, I managed to rip 3 of them clean out of the case. Try driving around town in 3rd gear for awhile. Ever smelled a clutch burning? :( Got down to NAPA the next morning, bought a helicoil kit and rethreaded all 4 holes. And so far, it's lasted 3 years that way. The new trans I just built I helicoiled out to 1/4-28 fine thread. Just because I don't wanna do it again, and risk getting all kinds of shavings all over the gears. If you do have to do it in the vehicle, use grease on the drill bit, and on the tap that comes with the kit, to keep all the aluminum shavings from dropping inside and raisin' he!! inside your precious, expensive tranny.
And they are expensive, I spent $500 CDN on bearings alone for the new one, only available from GM, and that was jobber cost!
Hope this helps somebody out, it really is an easy way to make your truck way more pleasurable to drive, and it's a lot cheaper than buying an aftermarket shifter. When I have the trans out, I'll try to remember to snap a couple pics of the actual finished unit, but if anyone has any questions in the meantime, I'd be glad to help.
Drew
http://www3.telus.net/jdrew1/Pictures/Shifter.jpg
That little ring slides around, and when the opening in the ring is aligned with the pin, the pin will slide out. do this with both sides. Here's what you get:
http://www3.telus.net/jdrew1/Pictures/Apart.jpg
Now, you have to get creative. Cut the rod as square and straight as you can, around where I've drawn that crappy red line. Check out my mad photoshop skills!
http://www3.telus.net/jdrew1/Pictures/Modify.jpg
Now, find a chunk of steel bar approximately the same dia. as the shaft you just cut, and about an inch long. Go ahead and weld it up, as straight as you can. The idea is to lengthen the shaft BELOW the pivot point, to provide more movement for less action of the stick. Try not to leave a big ugly bead, cuz it just might interfere with the movement of the rod, it did on mine. The first time I put it together the trans wouldn't go into 1st at all. Ground down my welds a bit and it worked fine.
Now, find a piece of 3/4 to 1 inch thick aluminum plate, at least as big as the base of the shifter. You gotta make a spacer to compensate for all that length you just added to the shaft. Cut it out to the same profile as the gasket used for the base of the shifter. Find 4 bolts that are as much longer than stock as the plate you used, ie. 3/4 to 1" longer. The factory bolts in the NV3500 are M6x1.0, I forget how long. Seal it up with either a couple new gaskets or some silly-cone, bolt it down, and enjoy! This gave me about an 8 inch throw, a vast improvement, and also made it feel a lot tighter and a lot more fun to drive.
One word of caution though... those 6mm bolts are WIMPY!
If you really baby the shifter and don't slam it around, you might get by. Loctite is your friend here as well. Mine lasted about 6 months with the increased leverage, and one night leaving a party, I managed to rip 3 of them clean out of the case. Try driving around town in 3rd gear for awhile. Ever smelled a clutch burning? :( Got down to NAPA the next morning, bought a helicoil kit and rethreaded all 4 holes. And so far, it's lasted 3 years that way. The new trans I just built I helicoiled out to 1/4-28 fine thread. Just because I don't wanna do it again, and risk getting all kinds of shavings all over the gears. If you do have to do it in the vehicle, use grease on the drill bit, and on the tap that comes with the kit, to keep all the aluminum shavings from dropping inside and raisin' he!! inside your precious, expensive tranny.
And they are expensive, I spent $500 CDN on bearings alone for the new one, only available from GM, and that was jobber cost!
Hope this helps somebody out, it really is an easy way to make your truck way more pleasurable to drive, and it's a lot cheaper than buying an aftermarket shifter. When I have the trans out, I'll try to remember to snap a couple pics of the actual finished unit, but if anyone has any questions in the meantime, I'd be glad to help.
Drew