Tony Hanna
08-04-2008, 01:19 AM
The reverse lockout broke in the Sundance so I took the opportunity to shorten the shifter a little and add an external lever to work the lockout. I didn't take much out of it because of the height of the center console, shortening it was more to keep it from ending up way too tall with the T-handle. To attach the T-handle, I bought a bolt that matched the threads for one of the bushings that came with it. I cut the head off of the bolt and positioned it inside the shifter leaving enough of the threads exposed and welded it in place.
To attach the new lockout lever, I removed the pin going through the lockout mechanism and replaced it with a machine screw. The lever itself is simply two pieces of round stock welded into a "T" with a short piece of square stock welded to the end and drilled for the machine screw. John fabbed the lever at work in his spare time.:) I welded a small washer to the shifter to act as a guide for the lever.
I was going for the automatic ratchet shifter look, and I think it comes pretty close though there are some changes I'd like to make eventually. Version 2 will have the reverse lockout bent to keep the vertical section closer to the shifter so the boot fits better and will be shorter and bent out at the top more to get it a little farther out of the way of the T-handle. I'd also like to do something a little cleaner looking for the guide or move it so that it's hidden when the boot is on.
Overall it was a pretty simple project and fun to build.:thumb:
To attach the new lockout lever, I removed the pin going through the lockout mechanism and replaced it with a machine screw. The lever itself is simply two pieces of round stock welded into a "T" with a short piece of square stock welded to the end and drilled for the machine screw. John fabbed the lever at work in his spare time.:) I welded a small washer to the shifter to act as a guide for the lever.
I was going for the automatic ratchet shifter look, and I think it comes pretty close though there are some changes I'd like to make eventually. Version 2 will have the reverse lockout bent to keep the vertical section closer to the shifter so the boot fits better and will be shorter and bent out at the top more to get it a little farther out of the way of the T-handle. I'd also like to do something a little cleaner looking for the guide or move it so that it's hidden when the boot is on.
Overall it was a pretty simple project and fun to build.:thumb: