Novak shifter cable / NV241

Well I guess someone had to keep Novak in business. I had ordered it not long after posting, not that I regret the decision or anything like that. The linkage is pretty terriblle - I was incredibly gentle and careful removing it, but it just never seemed to want to seat back correctly after it had been removed. I'll file this as another improvement over factory equipment.

@Chris - feel free to close this thread before a flame war ensues!
No one really cares which one you have. I do care that you posted up some bullshit and have yet to substantiate it or give me the opportunity to correct the erroneous info someone put out there.
 
I'm not sure what improvements the Savvy shifter has over the Novak to be honest. I just know that that seems to be the word on the internet, so I went with the Savvy shifter. They look very similar, so I'd be curious to know what the differences are with the Savvy shifter!
Asked and answered.
 
Yep, I overlooked that.

Sounds like those issues you fixed aren't small issues either.
Not when they were charging as much as they were in quantity. At no point did Savvy want to be in the shifter business which is why they were purchased from Novak and why I installed so many of the Novak versions even when they didn't have both versions out yet. We were doing the mods here to make them work for both t-case options to complete the Under Armor installations.

I could and did easily make all the changes to each one but when Gerald asked me to develop them, there was no way it was going to be a Savvy product and still have the same issues. Just makes no sense. We had to drill the tub for each install and all I did to fix that was use a tub I have here to lay out the hole pattern as in hold a piece of metal up to it, trace the holes on the metal and drill the middle of the holes. It's not rocket science when you have 9 bazillion examples out there to go by. Borrow a tub or do an install. The issues are obvious after that and the reluctance to fix them was fairly baffling.
 
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Not when they were charging as much as they were in quantity. At no point did Savvy want to be in the shifter business which is why they were purchased from Novak and why I installed so many of the Novak versions even when they didn't have both versions out yet. We were doing the mods here to make them work for both t-case options to complete the Under Armor installations.

I could and did easily make all the changes to each one but when Gerald asked me to develop them, there was no way it was going to be a Savvy product and still have the same issues. Just makes no sense. We had to drill the tub for each install and all I did to fix that was use a tub I have here to lay out the hole pattern as in hold a piece of metal up to it, trace the holes on the metal and drill the middle of the holes. It's not rocket science when you have 9 bazillion examples out there to go by. Borrow a tub or do an install. The issues are obvious after that and the reluctance to fix them was fairly baffling.

I’m baffled by that as well. They (Novak) have got to be aware of this issue, and why they wouldn’t have fixed it is a bit troubling.
 
Not when they were charging as much as they were in quantity. At no point did Savvy want to be in the shifter business which is why they were purchased from Novak and why I installed so many of the Novak versions even when they didn't have both versions out yet. We were doing the mods here to make them work for both t-case options to complete the Under Armor installations.

I could and did easily make all the changes to each one but when Gerald asked me to develop them, there was no way it was going to be a Savvy product and still have the same issues. Just makes no sense. We had to drill the tub for each install and all I did to fix that was use a tub I have here to lay out the hole pattern as in hold a piece of metal up to it, trace the holes on the metal and drill the middle of the holes. It's not rocket science when you have 9 bazillion examples out there to go by. Borrow a tub or do an install. The issues are obvious after that and the reluctance to fix them was fairly baffling.
I’m baffled by that as well. They (Novak) have got to be aware of this issue, and why they wouldn’t have fixed it is a bit troubling.
And now they’ve just introduced competition. Tha’ts capitalism, and it drives better products and lower prices. I for one got the Savvy and love it. Although it was a fairly easy install, it would be good if they had a set of official Install Instructions,
 
And now they’ve just introduced competition. Tha’ts capitalism, and it drives better products and lower prices. I for one got the Savvy and love it. Although it was a fairly easy install, it would be good if they had a set of official Install Instructions,

I'm going to be installing mine this week with the belly-up skid plate. I've done enough research on it that it looks like it should be easy to install. The only issue will be doing it without a second person to help me to adjust the linkage. I'll have to improvise and find a way around that though.

I'm glad I stumbled upon the Savvy shifter, because at one point in time I wouldn't have known any better and bought the Novak. Sorry, but I feel that having to perform an extra step of drilling holes in the tub would be a waste of time, especially when there are holes already there.
 
I'm going to be installing mine this week with the belly-up skid plate. I've done enough research on it that it looks like it should be easy to install. The only issue will be doing it without a second person to help me to adjust the linkage. I'll have to improvise and find a way around that though.

I'm glad I stumbled upon the Savvy shifter, because at one point in time I wouldn't have known any better and bought the Novak. Sorry, but I feel that having to perform an extra step of drilling holes in the tub would be a waste of time, especially when there are holes already there.
I have heard that some folks haven't had to drill lately so maybe they got enough complaints or installed one to finally understand and correct the issue.
 
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And now another has tossed their hat in the cable shifter ring. Steinjager (parent company or very serious affiliation of/with Midwest Control) just released their version. It is poorly designed so far. The cable housing tab at the tub mount has no bracing, the tub side mount is a piece of flat plate and the tub is anything but flat in that area. There is no pilot bushing so there will be eventual wear on the clevis pin due to the narrow width of the hole in the t-case shift lever. When I questioned them about it by saying the main value of a cable shifter is the positive shift and you have to lock the cable housing down solid for that to happen. They replied that they were bulkhead mount cables which was obvious from the picture but ignored the fact that the tab is unbraced and will flex like crazy.
 
And now another has tossed their hat in the cable shifter ring. Steinjager (parent company or very serious affiliation of/with Midwest Control) just released their version. It is poorly designed so far. The cable housing tab at the tub mount has no bracing, the tub side mount is a piece of flat plate and the tub is anything but flat in that area. There is no pilot bushing so there will be eventual wear on the clevis pin due to the narrow width of the hole in the t-case shift lever. When I questioned them about it by saying the main value of a cable shifter is the positive shift and you have to lock the cable housing down solid for that to happen. They replied that they were bulkhead mount cables which was obvious from the picture but ignored the fact that the tab is unbraced and will flex like crazy.

I'm surprised they even bothered to release a TJ product. Seems like most companies are slowly moving away from the TJs as the money seems to be in the JKs and JLs now.

When I think of Steinjager, this is all that comes to mind:
https://steinjager.com/shop/Limb-Riser-Kit-1997-2006
 
I've ran the Novak cable shifter on both my cherokee and now my TJ, I love it. Fix it once and never look back

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Hi Steven,

My name is Sean, I'm an official representative of Novak Jeep Conversions. Just wanted to drop a line to say thanks for using one of our products.

Our primary purpose here is to answer any questions you, or others may have, and provide resources.

We love pointing out that we are a stateside company, and have been since 1967. We are in the middle of the rockies in a town called Logan, UT. Give us a call, or visit our website if you need help on anything.
https://novak-adapt.com/index.htm or 435-753-2513
 
It doesn't appear that either are a bad option, based off of what I have read. I have read that the Savvy contains Chinesium, I don't know if that is true or not - but I am flat out boycotting Chinese materials for my build wherever possible! I have had some craply luck even with overseas made bolts (had a new one snap in my rear DS when I was wrenching it down).

Either way, this linkage needs to go!!!

Hi Jeep_Boss, We had a good laugh in the office after reading your "Chinesium".

We at Novak are a stateside company, we are in a town called Logan, UT. We'd be happy to answer any questions you may have... Give us a call: 435-753-2513

Also, if any of you are ever in Logan, UT. Come visit us and we will give you a tour.
 
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There is nothing subjective about having to drill out the holes in the tub, altering the angle of the tub bracket, or fixing the pilot bushing so the ball stud tightens down and doesn't wobble. Nothing at all.

I know this thread is old, but since it has been bumped recently, I'll go ahead and respond as well because this is the most useful thread I've seen regarding the differences. I really wish that Savvy would more effectively communicate what their improvements are, instead of just "It's better, just trust mrblaine", which is most of what I've seen on this board in every thread I searched for.

That lack of communication about how their product is different is also in line with the lack of communication for install instructions. In the end, it wasn't rocket science, and now that I've done it I would call it easy, but it's nice to know what you're getting into before you start taking things apart. Things like knowing I need to have a stubby 15/16 wrench (Or maybe I don't? Maybe I should have tightened everything on the bench and just used the end pieces for adjustment?), or knowing which side of the bracketry the end links go on, or knowing whether to remove the rubber bushings would all be helpful so people don't have to crawl under their rigs as many times while doing the install. TJ owners are getting older and older, the less we crawl under our rigs the happier we are ;)
 
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I know this thread is old, but since it has been bumped recently, I'll go ahead and respond as well because this is the most useful thread I've seen regarding the differences. I really wish that Savvy would more effectively communicate what their improvements are, instead of just "It's better, just trust mrblaine", which is most of what I've seen on this board in every thread I searched for.

That lack of communication about how their product is different is also in line with the lack of communication for install instructions. In the end, it wasn't rocket science, and now that I've done it I would call it easy, but it's nice to know what you're getting into before you start taking things apart. Things like knowing I need to have a stubby 15/16 wrench (Or maybe I don't? Maybe I should have tightened everything on the bench and just used the end pieces for adjustment?), or knowing which side of the bracketry the end links go on, or knowing whether to remove the rubber bushings would all be helpful so people don't have to crawl under their rigs as many times while doing the install. TJ owners are getting older and older, the less we crawl under our rigs the happier we are ;)

Savvy will continue to dig it's own grave into irrelevancy.
 
Savvy will continue to dig it's own grave into irrelevancy.

To be clear, I'm happy that Savvy continues to make well thought out TJ products. I own 3 TJ's, 2 of which were built 2+ decades ago, and a new LJ I just bought, and the shocker to me when building the new LJ was just how much TJ's have become the ugly step child next to the shiny JK/jL/JT big spenders.
So, yes I have criticism about product communication from Savvy, but it's coming from a place of love, in the hopes that they will continue to make quality products for TJ's for a long time to come.

Also, @NovakConversions , thank you for having a presence here, being available for questions, and a part of the community. Because everything I said about hoping that savvy continues to support TJ users applies to you guys also :) Do you still have to drill out holes in the body to fit your adapter? Or have you resolved that? I bought a savvy, but future searchers would probably be interested to know if you've addressed any of the previous issues :)