My $35 Shifter Cable Replacement

[SacDoug]

First I want to say that I only did this because I am tight on money right now. If I had the money, I would have just saved myself the time and aggrivation and bought a cable from George Blake or Supersport10. Anyone that does not want to read about my journey can just skp the next 2 paragraphs. On to the journey:

I called all around town to find someone that would make a cable locally. After wasting a lot of time, I finally found someone that said they would do it. They held onto my stock cable for 3 days, then called me up to tell me they couldn't do it. Jerks :rant: So I asked who else could make a cable and I was given the name of an industrial supply fab company. I gave them my stock cable and they made one that seems to be right until I got home and learned where the difficult spots are. So I had to take the cable back and pay them $10 more to modify the cable.

Next I had to figure out how to attach the cable to the tranny and the shifter. First I went to a machine shop but they wanted $150 to make the end fittings. So I decided to just weld it up myself only to find my welder was no working because of a defective control board. Then I asked around to various welders if they could just weld the stock tips to two pieces of metal that I could drill and tap. They still wanted 1 hour minimum or $80. That was if I could even find a welder that would do stainless steel. I finally decided to make my own tips by just grinding a steel rod down until I have the fitting.


Special tools that I used (not found in a typical tool box):

Drill Press
Drill bits
Angle Grinder
10-32 Tap
10-32 Die
Big ass file (a small ass file would probably work)

Materials:
Morse 30 Cable cut to stock shifter cable configuration $27
3/8" steel rod 24" long ( you only need 1" but I could only find it in 2' rods) $5
Teflon end link $2.50
2 3/8" cut washers $0.34
Lock Nut + Bolt that fits the teflon washer and tranny bracket -- These I had laying around so I can't tell you what sizes they are or how much they cost. I just know that the ones I used were metric.


You have to find someone that can make the cable first. Call transmission and boat shops. If they can't do it, then they will usually know someone that can. You will need to take your stock cable in with you to have them pattern your new cable after. Here are the things to emphasize:

1. The throw must be close. Mine was 1/4" shorter which is about the most you can be short. Any shorter and you will start missing either park or 1st gear, or the tranny may just not fully engage those gears.

2. The side that goes to the shifter is the trickiest part. The distance between the end of the guide and where the fitting lock the cable in place is critical. If it is too long, you will not be able to use the stock bracket to hold the cable in place. In order to get it to the right length your cable maker will have to make it as short as they possibly can. Then, the Morse rod will have to be threaded back another 1/2" past the original thread and most of the original threads cut off. Even after do those things, you will barely be able to get a nut onto the threads but if done correctly, you will be able to get the nut fully engaged. Sorry, no room for a washer.

3. The tranny side has a lot more room for manuvering but you still have to be sure that the distance of 1/2" past the tip of the shifter rod to the middle of the threads that hold the cable in place is the same as the stock cable.

4. Make sure the entire length is the same. Do not accept a cable that is shorter by more than 1/2". A cable that is slightly longer is not too big of a deal.


When you pay for the cable, buy 1 teflon fitting too. That will go on the transmission side perfectly. Don't forget to put the rubber seal onto your new cable.

Now for the fun part. Making the fitting for the shifter side.

1. Cut off a 1" section of the rod.
2. Drill a hole into the end of the rod 1/8" from the edge using a #18 drill bit that is 1/3" deep.
3. Tap that hole using the 10-32 tap.
4. Time to act like a human CNC machine. Use the angle grinder and file to file away nearly 1/2 of the fitting long ways up to within 1/8" of the threads.
5. Grind/file the top side of the fitting on the opposite side of the fitting from the threads. File it down until it is the same thickness or slightly thinner than the stock end eyelet.
6. Next using a 5/16" drill bit, drill a hole into the middle of the flat part of the fitting.

When done it should roughly resemble this:

Hers is my first prototype that did not work because of the bulge on the bottom. Please excuse the blurriness. I have a very cheap camera:



The picture below shows the slight bulge on the bottom. You want yours to be perfectly flat.


Now that you have the fitting made, time to install the cable. Use common sense while installing the cable. Don't force anything and take your time. It is a tight corner from out of the floor to the shifter assembly but it can be done. You will need to use the 3/8" cut washers to hold the cable in the tranny bracket. That bracket is just slightly larger than the washers that came with the cable.

Here are a couple of my blurry images of the install. One of these days I'm going to buy a better camera:






Very important: Be sure that you adjust the cable correctly so that park is fully engaged with the shifter is in park. You don't want your truck rolling away later because you did not adjust the cable correctly!

 

[SacDoug]

Re: My $35 Shifter Cable Replacement

Better pictures will be coming after the holiday weekend. I had one of my friends with a good camera take some pictures today.

 

[SacDoug]

Re: My $35 Shifter Cable Replacement

I have the higher res and better quality images. Some of the pictures are still a little blurry but I can't complain since it is not my camera.

Here is a shot of the shifter area. This shows how tight the fit is there and gives a little idea of the fitting that I made to make the cable work.






Here is a shot showing the bracket that holds the cable on the shifter. As you can see, there is is just barely enough threads to fit the cable. There definatly is no room to use the washers. This is why it is very critical for the cable builder to get the measurement correct. You have very little room for error. I appologise for the crap all over the place. The previous owner of my truck was a smoker and I have never removed the center consul before.




Here is the shot from the tranny side. There is a lot more room to work down here. The teflon fitting that you can buy with the cable works just fine. You can also buy an aluminum one but my builder was out of them at the time. You need to use larger washers on the cable to hold it in the bracket. The ones that come with the cable will not hold the cable in place.

 

[SacDoug]

Re: My $35 Shifter Cable Replacement

150 views and apparently no one thinks anything about this. I guess I'll keep that in mind the next time I feel like sharing anything.

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: My $35 Shifter Cable Replacement

Someone rated thiais thread 5* which is why I read it. I think it is ingenious and useful! Lots of effort I suppose but definitely worth considering if on a budget!

If this is what you can do with a cable, I want to read about your engine builds / meth injection / trans builds!

Keep up the good work - seriously. Don't be disheartened if you don't get a lot of response. There are a few gems out there that only get discovered by guys like you.

Thanks,

Mark

 

[George Blake]

Re: My $35 Shifter Cable Replacement

You have so many days of work into getting the cable done and most guys don't have time (and gas) to run and do that. In the end, if something is 1/4" off, it still won't work right (as you have found). It took me the better part of a month to get a manufacurer to even listen to me on the quantities that syty/sonoma gt uses them. And then it took 2 more months of samples, testing, redesign, final approval, to get my cables done. So I have even MORE time in mine than you do. I do give you huge kudos for taking on what you did. And there will be those that appreciate it. Something that I have learned (especially being a vender)is that you may get 150 views, of that 20% will take what you did and apply it. The ones that apply it, most likely are not the ones that post about it.

I'm finding my diagrams and charts all over the internet. Even ones that were NOT supposed to go out and copied. So don't fret. Eventually your efforts will be on MANY hard drives helping people.

I gave you a "5" for rating. Big time effort. Make sure you check those engine grounds so you don't run the risk of using your NEW cable as a ground line and cooking it!!