Write Up: A Semi-New Shifter Mod

[LateOnTheBrakes]

I finally got to the point where the rubber bushing in my TRD SS got to have way too much play in it so it was time to tighten it up. I saw the options out there like Coupe's shifter mod and the guys that go the route of fully welding their shifter. I wanted the solid feel of the welded shifter with hopefully some reduced vibration. I started out by cutting the shifter and removing the rubber bushing. Coupe has an excellent write up that explains how to do this that:

http://www.xr-underground.com/vb3/showthread.php?t=31063&highlight=coupe+shifter

This left me with the lower portion of the picture looking like picture 1

Then I used the lathe at my work and turned down a piece of 416 stainless steel to fill in the inner tube portion of the top of the shifter and bored a hole through the center that was slightly larger than the lower shaft as seen in picture 2.

I then filled the top of the shifter with an industrial polyurethane adhesive. I am hoping that the extra mass from the steel round bar and the urethane will damp some of the vibration folks with the fully welded shifters have been seeing. The assembly fit together as seen in the pictures 3 & 4.


I then TIG welded the steel round bar to the top and bottom of the shifter as seen in the pictures 5 & 6.


I then spray painted over the welds with high temperature black paint and installed the shifter this afternoon. I have only driven it around the neighborhood up to third gear and the solid feel of the shifter without a rubber bushing is amazing. I did notice a little bit of gear noise in first and second gear and with my hand on the shifter, but it got better as I picked up speed. The vibration/noise is not bad in my opinion but I have not seen others' setups to see how they compare. I will drive it around for a few days and report back when I have been able to put it through its paces and do some highway driving.

 

[GR6RR]

sweet man! that looks nice!

 

[Coupe]

Looks good. Do a WOT test. That is usually where it will "talk" to you.

 

[Xrunner Drifter]

Good job................

 

[Radiant Runner]

I welded mine also and under wot it does have a rattle to it but it doesn't bother me too bad

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

It has a little bit of sound to it in 1st, 2nd, and 6th. But when I have my stereo on the lowest setting I listen to it on or the windows open halfway I can't hear the shifter at all. The shifting feels so much better than with the stock rubber bushing though, it's not even funny.

 

[OOsoBlueX09]

Very nice I gotta look into doing something like that when I get back.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

The noise seemed to be coming from the top of the shifter. I tried grabbing the TRD shift knob or further down where the plastic ring at the top of the boot touches the shifter with no results. For shits and giggles I swapped back to the stock shift knob and the vibration has all but gone away. I'll try to get some phone videos loaded on youtube later tonight for comparison purposes.

 

[Coupe]

Wrap the threads on the shifter with teflon tape & reinstall the shift knob.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

I'll try the teflon tape tomorrow and make a video of the TRD shift knob vs with stock one with audio. I have used blue loctite in the past, but the twisting to get the knob off is probably what ruined the rubbing bushing in the first place.

 

[Coupe]

I have one blue X-R, weighted shift knob left.

 

[LateOnTheBrakes]

No idea why, but the stock shifter makes all the noise go away. The following two videos are back to back runs at wide open throttle (1st, 2nd, part of 3rd) to 60mph followed by a few seconds of maintaining 60-65mph in 6th gear. For comparison of the sounds you can hear the turn signal, tires chirping, and keys jingling in the background. I think my phone made more noise vibrating in the cup holder on the second run than the shifter assembly made.

http://youtu.be/5ISa1_rG58s

http://youtu.be/11VSuUPGWzc