B&M auto shifter 81187

Hesher

Hesher

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I thought I’d share some pics of this, as I hadn’t seen any pics/reviews of it yet.

Background: this is my fourth CJ/Wrangler but my first automatic. Although the auto is well worth it for both city traffic and my wife’s bum knee, I kinda miss the manual shifting. To try and scratch the customize itch and fix the annoying issue where the stock handle popped off constantly, I got the B&M Magnum Pro Stick shifter part number 81187.

Install was smooth enough and I love both the look and the feel. Completely unnecessary, but hey…oh well.

Let me know if you have any questions.

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Hesher said:
I thought I’d share some pics of this, as I hadn’t seen any pics/reviews of it yet.

Background: this is my fourth CJ/Wrangler but my first automatic. Although the auto is well worth it for both city traffic and my wife’s bum knee, I kinda miss the manual shifting. To try and scratch the customize itch and fix the annoying issue where the stock handle popped off constantly, I got the B&M Magnum Pro Stick shifter part number 81187.

Install was smooth enough and I love both the look and the feel. Completely unnecessary, but hey…oh well.

Let me know if you have any questions.

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It looks cool, what's the trigger for?
 
That is a nice and clean install and looks really good. I think you did a great job on it.


The reason you don't see a lot of installs of aftermarket shifters is that for us Jeep/Dodge/Mopar people the aftermarket seems to have forgotten us. The other thing is that many of us with automatics who rockcrawl do not want a auto shifter that requires you to have to grab a trigger to be able to shift it.

Is the trigger only required to shift out of park & reverse or to shift from any gear?

I have a V-8 swapped into my TJ and have a 46RE auto in mine and have a Sidewinder gated shifter.

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Hesher said:
This gate has “off road” in mind according to B&M’s blurb. You can actually shift from R to D without the trigger. You can also go from 1 to D without the trigger. You do need to engage it to get in and out of park, though.
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It's being able to go from D or even 1st gear and slap it into R that is a big thing many times. I have what they call the Rock Gates shift pattern on my shifter so I can go from D to R without having to stop or move around the detents. And I'm going to cut the gate from 1st to D so I can go from 1st all the way to R in one motion.

I'm not ragging on your install so please don't take this wrong. I think it looks really clean and it's a nice install and looks close to factory but loses some of the plastic look.
Did the kit come with everything to install onto your transmission?

WOW I just went and looked at it. It's nice that someone is FINALLY actually making a shifter for out Jeeps. And that it fits the 32RE and 42RLE and AW4 and 904 is pretty cool. I had to make everything to make my shifter work in my rig. The install kit I had was for the old TF 727 and they don't offer a kit for any of the new transmission. So it's nice to see B&M stepping up.
 
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@Wildman no offense taken - yeah, this was a whole kit. I didnt have to fab anything! It even comes with various adapters for an XJ, etc.

I had looked at other options and I agree - it was gonna take a ton of custom work to get a good solution. This one is ready out of the box and was extremely simple to install. Its super new and I couldnt find many real world reviews online…hence this thread!
 
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Hesher said:
@Wildman no offense taken - yeah, this was a whole kit. I didnt have to fab anything! It even comes with various adapters for an XJ, etc.

I had looked at other options and I agree - it was gonna take a ton of custom work to get a good solution. This one is ready out of the box and was extremely simple to install. Its super new and I couldnt find many real world reviews online…hence this thread!
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Well thanks for sharing and I hope other TJ owners who have wanted to swap shifters for their auto will see this. It does seem to fit 90% of the needs of someone when off-road.
 
Looks great, got any pictures of the gear indicator on the drivers side? I'd be curious to see what that looks like. The pictures on the Holley site are pretty poor, just show some red lights.
 
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pagrey said:
Looks great, got any pictures of the gear indicator on the drivers side? I'd be curious to see what that looks like. The pictures on the Holley site are pretty poor, just show some red lights.
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Really hard to get a good photo in the dark of my garage, but here you go. It is a bit hard to see the slider unlit, but I’ve also included some lit pics (and i will splice this in to a hot wire to be lit with the ignition)

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pagrey said:
Those are great, thanks.

Edit: nice write up by the way, I think some of your pictures are better than the instructions I saw from B&M
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Thank you…I struggled with their instructions. Pro tip: the instructions online are in color, unlike their b&w ones that come with the kit.

They also dont mention that you have to splice in the reverse lights separately, which is what those red wires are in my photos. You need to purchase B&M 130-80844 (and space it up to hit the correct spot) for that.
 
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Hesher said:
Thank you…I struggled with their instructions. Pro tip: the instructions online are in color, unlike their b&w ones that come with the kit.

They also dont mention that you have to splice in the reverse lights separately, which is what those red wires are in my photos. You need to purchase B&M 130-80844 (and space it up to hit the correct spot) for that.
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Why do you have to splice into the reverse circuit? That isn't done at the transmission Park/Reverse/Neutral switch? I wonder if that is only on some models?
 
Wildman said:
Why do you have to splice into the reverse circuit? That isn't done at the transmission Park/Reverse/Neutral switch? I wonder if that is only on some models?
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Which brings up another point - you remove the shift interlock with this kit…so maybe that also controls the reverse lights?

Full disclosure: my PO had already wired in a janky reverse circuit and weird NSS wiring before I bought it. So this made it an easy transition for me. Your results may vary!
 
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Hesher said:
Which brings up another point - you remove the shift interlock with this kit…so maybe that also controls the reverse lights?

Full disclosure: my PO had already wired in a janky reverse circuit and weird NSS wiring before I bought it. So this made it an easy transition for me. Your results may vary!
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OK.

I have a 46RE transmission so mine is a totally different animal but this is still KEWL that they have finally offered something for Jeep Tj transmissions. A little love goes a long way.
 
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Hesher said:
They also dont mention that you have to splice in the reverse lights separately, which is what those red wires are in my photos. You need to purchase B&M 130-80844 (and space it up to hit the correct spot) for that.
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I just installed this shifter this weekend...I didn't have to do anything (extra) with my reverse lights to get them to work.

I will say, a couple other things that help with the install...1) need to drop the from driveshaft 2) need to drop the transmission cross member, or in my case, I have the poison spyder belly pan with built in transmission support. That thing weighs a ton! I=

I do like the shifter...very very solid!
 
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At least its cable goes in the correct direction, forward, which makes the cable route the same way the OE cable does. I installed an earlier B&M shifter when I converted to a 32RH automatic and its cable exited toward the rear which made it require an extra long shift cable to get it to work. Even then it shifted like crap and I hated it. I liked its looks a LOT, and more than I like the above, but it shifted so badly I regretted having installed it.

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