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Winters AW4 Shifter-RADesigns upgraded

44K views 86 replies 34 participants last post by  bgredjeep 
#1 ·
So Winters is now selling AW4 shifters. I saw that these were going to be available right after the PRI Show I was at, so I had to buy one. I always like the Winters design.
So I made a Electronic Shift Control kit for my Winters shifter. No holes to drill, just bolt on a few brackets and a couple cams on, and wire in the 3 switches and go wheel. It's designed to give me 1-4 shift control electrically while using the mechanical shifter, this will help with downshifting and compression braking. Not what I need for snow wheelin' but here in the Midwest I think it will work fine.
Still have to get out and test it but at least all the parts are done.

I modified the side name plates for a little personal touch, yes crappy pic.



Parts



All the angles


 
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#4 ·
Yes, this is the New Winters #607-1 model they just came out with, same as the Jeep, instructions actually say, "Toyota A340 & Jeep AW4 Shifter"

When in 3 moving the shift lever from the left side to right side will shift to 4th, and of course moving it from the right side to the left side shifts to 3rd.

Sale of it will depend on if this is worth making many of. Not sure how many guys are really going to want to buy this as a kit. I'm hoping to be able to sell it for $140.00. It's time consuming building all those parts.
 
#19 ·
What do you have in mind? For an AW4 there is no reverse gate that I am aware of. So explain what pattern you are refering to and I'll let you know. :D

Side note: I sent a trial setup kit to a guy for testing, he thinks he'll have it going this weekend. Feedback from this is vital before I start producing kits.
 
#21 ·
My kit will work the Rock Crawler gate, but the AW4 can't be reversed patterned unless someone has a new valve body for this, and I was told by a large aftermarket auto trans company it can't be done. So not sure what Maverick Performance is up too with the reverse pattern AW4 gates. Maybe something new for the world.
 
#23 ·
i was with andrew at letzroll when you called him about what i assume is this kit. looks killer. im putting an aw4 behind a 2.7liter tacoma motor in my buggy and was going to use the rail2 kit i have, but this looks better. id buy one.---frosty
 
#84 ·
^X2
That was a very enjoyable video. Congratulations to the team featured and their well-built XJ.

On the subject of this Winters shifter that'll work for the AW4 ; aesthetically, I'd have to try to change the font on the 3 gates right-hand side to either "4" or "OD" as visual reminder of that but other than that, I'd buy a mod kit such as this . Thanks for sharin'
 
#29 ·
Testing

Well testing is underway and so far all looks good. I'll get more info after this next weekend. I feeling good about his kit and in my spare time I am building up a few sets just in case it's a go. We'll keep you all posted.
 
#37 · (Edited)
It's really lame if the AW4 can't be used with a reverse pattern. I'm a little confused though, if it is the electric switches that control the shift solenoids, and not the shifter, why would the transmission care what position the shift cable is in?

If I had a stock shifter and a rail2, the shifter could be in D,3, or 2-1, and still shift into any forward gear via the rail2 correct? Why would the Winters be different? Essentially the actual shifter would only be used for the "normality" of shifting, and for the detents' "feel".


If the AW4 can't be shifted from 1-R in one motion, it may as well be tossed back in the scrap pile.
 
#41 ·
That definitely gives better reverse availability than the stock gates, but I guess it wouldn't work any better than the rock shifter. For snow or rocks, where the ability to quickly grab R to save from an endo roll or rock it, the winters is no where near as nice as the rock shifter. It just really sucks you have to use two shifters.

Since I'm dealing with a YJ for this project, We'll probably just build a basic shifter similar to your rock shifter and use your rail shifter or build a button setup. We've done shifters with that gate style for years on our farm forklift trucks. It's pretty much the only gate pattern that makes any sense.
 
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