Installation of a 3 inch (short) shifter shaft. (Long)

[Rich Detert]

For those who haven't see my post in the New Products section of the board, I'm producing solid steel replacement upper shafts for the stock Viper shifter to replace the factory one with the rubber bushing in it. The rubber bushing causes about 3/4's of an inch of flex/sloppyness in the shifter at the top of the shift knob.

Post on Stock Viper Shifter Upgrade

I spent about 1-1/2 hours tonight trying out a few assorted combinations of shaft lengths with the stock shifter knob and with a MGW Gripper knob.

I took some pics so everyone could see the shifter knob heights you end up with the different combinations.

Pics of the Installation

A normal installation should take about 30-45 minutes.

The first thing to remove is the bezel around the shifter and radio, it just pulls/snaps out. With it pulled loose unplug the roadlamp switch, and unplug the cigarette lighter connections.
You can then set it out of the way (passenger floor).

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The next step is to get the shifter boot out of the way. It's held in place by metal tabs that are bent over (pinched closed)on the underside of the console. You can reach the ones nearest to where the ashtray was fairly easily to bend them to where they point down. Once you do that on the one side the shifter boot can be worked up out of it's recess/hole.

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With the boot pulled up you can easily remove the shifter knob using a 19mm (or 3/4 inch) and 17mm wrench. Then push the next rubber boot down over the shifter to expose the complete shifter shaft. You can then use the 19mm wrench to remove the factory shifter upper shaft.

The next step is to install the new solid steel shaft (a little thread lock on the bottom end threads is probably a good idea), thread it in and tighten it with the 19mm wrench.

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Thread the original lock nut from the factory shaft onto the new shaft. If you're changing to an aftermarket shift knob at this time, pull the shift boot off the original knob and install it on the new knob.

Thread the shift knob onto the shaft and line it up properly, then tighten the lock nut.

Push the shift boot down into it's recess/hole, lining the tabs up as you go and bending them back to lock the boot in place.You can pinch them tight through the leather of the boot with pliers or Vise Grips and not hurt the boot.

Snap the radio/shifter bezel in place and you're done.

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It's now time to go out and see how much tighter the shifter feels.
I have to settle on an in the garage trial for now, there a foot of snow outside right now. It hasn't been above freezing (mid 20's for highs) in over 2 weeks, but they are saying it will hit 50 degrees on wed.(hahaha) I sure hope they're right!

 

[Rich Detert]

Something I forgot to put in the original post was a description of how each length shaft felt with the different shift knobs.

The stock length shaft (4.75 inch) with the stock shift knob gives you a tighter feeling shifter by eliminating the 3/4's of an inch of flex. The length of the throw will only be shorter by the amount of the flex that was removed.

The stock length shaft (4.75 inch) with the MGW Gripper knob will eliminate the flex and noticeably shorten the length of the throw by about 2+ inches. This is a good feeling combination.

The 4 inch shaft with the stock shifter knob will shorten the throw by about 1+ inch. Feels tighter and shorter than stock.

The 4 inch shaft with the MGW Gripper knob will shorten the height very noticeably and shorten the throw by 2.5+ inches.
This is the shortest shaft I would recommend with a MGW Gripper shift knob.

The 3 inch shaft with the stock shift knob will shorten the height and throw length by about 2+ inches. This is the one I recommend with the stock shift knob. It really tightens the feel of the shifter (short throw with no flex).

The 3 inch shaft with the MGW Gripper will drastically shorten the throw length of the shifter, but it has a serious downside.
It shorten the shifter handle and knob height so much that you lose too much leverage for moving the shifter sideways. 1st through 4th are OK, but it takes sreious effort to go to 5th and 6th. It pretty much takes 2 hands to put it in reverse.
I would not recommend this combination.

Hope this info helps anyone out.

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[Performin Norman]

Rich,

Thanks for the detailed information. I have been eye balling that mod of yours since I first saw it. I don't like the sloppy feel of the shifter. I think I am in for one.

BTW, Happy New Year.