Lokar-Shift Gate Modification

[charlieboyd65]

I recently picked up a TF 999 to swap into my CJ. I'm trying to decide shich shifter to go with. I have no room for a center console mounted shifter and I really like the fit and finish of the Lokar shifters. Plus, I've heard good things about them.

I searched but couldn't find much info on this... My question is whether you can modify the shift gates like you can a B&M pro stick shifter. Billavista's article was very insightful and I like the way he was able to modify the gates to his first to reverse, etc. So, can you make similar modifications to the lokar gates?

For reference: http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/shifter/

Thanks,
Charlie

[dboy]

Lokar shifters arnt a gate style shifter, so basically, no.

[charlieboyd65]

I read somewhere that you can grind a spot on the shift gate to skip neutral and go to reverse. This made me wonder if it had gates you could modify.

[dboy]

I’ve never installed a Lokar shifter so I may not be the best guy for info on them but I have modified 2 B&M's per the Billavista article.

Sure doesn’t look like it has a gate.


I’m going to ASSume that the button on the top is to go from drive gears to neutral/reverse gears. So there has to be some sort of detent that you could grind to make it go from drive to reverse without the button but it would have NO lockout anymore making it pretty dangerous at anything over a crawl speed. Think of a duffle bag or lunch box sliding forward causing the trans to shift into reverse at speed =

The thing I love about my B&M is that in order to go to reverse I have to grab the handle and stuff it forward, seems safer to me.. Beside my doubler the B&M was the best Mod Ive done to my crawler, Love it for trail wheeling.

My .02

[4xcrawler]

It has gates that can be modified, that's what the push button on the top is selecting and getting stopped on. Check out Jesse Haines 2010 promod build on here and there is a good picture in there somewhere of the gate where you can see all the stops and clearly see were you need to grind out a couple of them. The gate is located at the bottom of the shifter handle, you can kinda see it on the picture posted above, it's the middle zinc plated plate that's in the center of the zinc plated triangular mounts, it kinda looks like slice of pie.

[4xcrawler]

Here's the post I was talking about from Jesse's thread,

Originally Posted by korda

Not like a cable shifter but there's a plate on the inside of the inside of the left side of the shifter that is cut for the shifting. It's the "groove" that requires you to push down the button on top the shifter to shift gears.

Is it still there? (It looks like it is in the pictures) If so, did he modify it in anyway? Some people mill them out to make it possible to do a 1-R shift without using the button for example.



Edit: I guess that answers that. I actually drew it up to have Dallas cut me a new one and I was just going to cut the Lokar one off and weld on the new one. Too bad my computer took a shit before I got the chance. I need to redraw it.

I'd be interested in seeing how it ends up.

[dboy]

Originally Posted by 4xcrawler

It has gates that can be modified

I stand corrected, thanks for the pics and info!

[charlieboyd65]

Awesome! Thanks for the info. It would be awesome if we could get some folks to thow in some tips and tricks to modifying the gate.

I'll check out Jesse Haines' build.

Thanks again!

[Dynatrac]

I had a Lokar shifter and changed it out for an Art Carr. It lacked the positive feel I want for wheelin'. There are times you want reverse NOW with no guessing and, for me, the Lokar didn't have that feel. I didn't do any shifter plate mods to it before is was swapped out. It's a beautiful piece that looks very classy and I'd install one in a hot rod in a flash, but as a wheelin' shifter it wasn't the right fit for me.

[dobsogj]

Originally Posted by Dynatrac

I had a Lokar shifter and changed it out for an Art Carr. It lacked the positive feel I want for wheelin'. There are times you want reverse NOW with no guessing and, for me, the Lokar didn't have that feel. I didn't do any shifter plate mods to it before is was swapped out. It's a beautiful piece that looks very classy and I'd install one in a hot rod in a flash, but as a wheelin' shifter it wasn't the right fit for me.

Same here. I purchased an already built rig a while back. It had a lokar shifter. It is a nice shifter, but I didnt like it for quick shifts to R. I passed R and got P on a panic shift one time, and almost went over backwards. I replaced it with a winters (art carr) before the next trip. Another thing I didnt like, was there was no indication of what gear you were in. Maybe theres an adder for that Im not sure.

I wouldnt put a winters shifter in a hot rod either.

[charlieboyd65]

Thanks for the feedback. I don't think I would want it without a modded shift gate. That's why I am wondering how that mod has worked out over time.

I don't really care about the look, but the packaging works better for me because my interior was set up around a manual.

Thanks again.

[4xcrawler]

I've had both the lokar and art carr/winters shifters. The lokar was in a Toyota truggy with a swapped in 350/th400 that originally had a toy 5 speed in it so the lokar was a much better fit since it was in the exact same spot as the manual shifter and functioned pretty similar. I absolutely hated that shifter though! You never knew what gear you were in and since the lever arm is so large you can barely tell when you are in the detent in the tranny so with the gates removed it was dang near impossible to tell where you were at, at all. It sucked. As mentioned above too, it's kinda easy to pass reverse and go all the way to park, I did that several times. My lock button on the top would also get stuck down occasionally causing it to not stop on any gates which will let it go all the way to park with out you even touching anything which can get interesting. All in all I don't care how well it fits and how much easier it will be to install that thing is not worth it and sucks for a wheeler, it's perfect for a hot rod though.

[red-gt'r]

Originally Posted by charlieboyd65

Awesome! Thanks for the info. It would be awesome if we could get some folks to thow in some tips and tricks to modifying the gate.

I've been running my modified Lokar shifter for a year now and I love it! At first I had a hard time remembering what gear I was in, but after driving it for a couple weeks I had a good feel for it. I could judge by the rpm and position of the shifter (only 2nd and 3rd were hard to determine, first was obvious and I definitely knew when I was in OD).

The thing I didn't like about the shifter before I modded it was that 1st to 2nd would easily skip up to 3rd. (I like to chirp 2nd gear sometimes and this cramped my style ) So I added a stop there that only worked when I held the detent all the way down. I also added a reverse stop. In an emergency I just have to hold the button and slam it forward.

To determine exactly where to put the stops I just used a small bar that was the exact same thickness as the detent and transferred the mark down to the lower side.

[charlieboyd65]

Thanks for the tech red-gt'r!

I wonder if anyone has a CAD drawing of shift gate pattern options (like Billavista had a couple options).

I've always ran a manual, so I won't pretend to know anything about auto shifters. Hoever, it seems that with a properly modded shift gate and a selector pin, it should be possible to have a successful crawler setup.

I'd love to see more pics, drawings, tech regarding the shift gate mods. If Jesse Haines ran a modded Lokar in his Pro Mod build, I have to belive it can work well if done right.

Something to think about... What would the pattern need to look like with a RMVB? Seems like if someone nailed down a good shift gate pattern for the Lokar and had it CNC cut, there might be a market of it. Just a thought.

Keep the tech coming! Thanks!

[korda]

I looked at doing this and found some pics on here a while ago. I think these were posted by "Chris" and show a modded Ford gate:




I drew up the 700r4 gate and was going to have have Dallas cut me ones to play with but I never did. Here's the file:

http://www.kordatron.com/temp/lokar/...hifterGate.dxf

Found anther from a discussion on a different board this is what LAME said he did with his:

[mudtruck44]

Mine worked well after modified. I've got the same thing in my new buggy as well. I used a die grinder with a pointy bit to get in there all the way. It may take a couple tries to get it perfect.

[charlieboyd65]

Originally Posted by mudtruck44

Mine worked well after modified. I've got the same thing in my new buggy as well. I used a die grinder with a pointy bit to get in there all the way. It may take a couple tries to get it perfect.

Good to hear. I don't suppose you have any pics of your finished shift gate?

Thanks!

[mudtruck44]

I don't. Sorry.

[charlieboyd65]

No worries. I appreciate the feedback.