After work today, I finally decided to tackle the short throw shifter install that came in late last week. I'll admit that I walked out there to do it this last weekend, looked at all the crap I was going to have to remove to make it happened, and walked away. lol But today I had the time and was looking forward to a little project.
I've wanted this shifter for a long time. Years. Sometimes when I shift too aggressively into first, I will bump the air compressor switch, and it drives me nuts every time. Plus, the super long throw on these Jeeps leaves a lot to be desired. Earlier this year when I went to make this purchase, I couldn't find the shifter for sale anywhere. I was pretty convinced that it must have been discontinued since my transmission is no longer being manufactured anymore (at least I don't think it is). So awhile ago I decided to resume my search. I found the shifter on the Holley website, but it was on back order. Because Holley is such a reputable company, I decided to gamble and place my order. Imagine my surprise when I got a notification that it had shipped! I refused to get excited until it showed up at my door.
View attachment 411332
View attachment 411333
So before I started the install, I decided to take some measurements and photos of the stock shifter. These two photos show my clearance that I started with:
View attachment 411336
View attachment 411337
I had about a half inch in first gear. Of course its going to bump that button occasionally.
Here is the measurement on the full throw of the factory shifter:
View attachment 411339
So factory throw is about 5 1/4" if you take of the 1/2" gap shown in first gear. That is the throw from first to second gear.
Next was the tear down and install. This consisted of removal and reinstall of the Atlas shifter knobs, the entire center consol, the hand throttle, the shifter boot, and the shifter access covers for the trans and Atlas. See the photos below:
View attachment 411340
View attachment 411341
I could have taken the opportunity to replace the inner shifter boot, but I decided not to worry about it for now.
View attachment 411342
View attachment 411343
This allowed very easy access to the factory shift tower, which I removed.
View attachment 411345
There was a plastic cup that needs to be transfered from the factory shifter to the new shifter, but I didn't think to take a photo of it. It is in the directions, and very obvious. So next, I proceeded with install of the new shifter. I put a bead of RTV on it and installed the new shift tower. I torqued the four bolts to 84 inch pounds per the specs that I could find online. Here are the reinstall photos:
View attachment 411346
View attachment 411347
View attachment 411349
When I went to install the transmission cover again, the new shift tower didn't allow it to fasten back down into the same holes. It was all held down with self tapping screws, and rather than modifying the cover, I just reinstalled it where it would fit. The only issue with this, is it doesn't allow you to replace the consol bolt next to the shift tower because it moves that bracket that it fastens to. I never had that bolt anyways, so this didn't matter to me. I fastened it down an moved on with my life.
View attachment 411350
Here is my final project. I'm not sure how long this project took, but it wasn't long. It was far more of a pain getting access than it was actually installing the shift tower. You may notice in the picture below that I added a litte metal bracket to hold my shift boot in place. This is because when I went to reinstall the shift boot, the plastic inner section that is suppose to snap into the consol broke at its thinnest point. The result was when I went to shift into first gear, the bottom of the boot came up. Because my consol has a ton of extra holes in it from previous modifications, it doesn't bother me to add a few more. I solve the problem by making that little bracket out of an old hose clamp I had laying around I'll show below how I fastened it.
View attachment 411351
View attachment 411352
View attachment 411353
OK, finally, here is the fun photos. The final measurements and results!
View attachment 411354
View attachment 411355
View attachment 411356
So, the final results were, I gained a 1/4" clearance away from the button. This surprised me. I thought it would be more.
AND I shortened the shift throw from first to second from 5 1/4" to 2 1/4". That shortened the factory throw by more than half! That is a huge improvement!! It feels almost like a little race car.