6R80 vs 4R70W swap

[nvrstuk]

That would be great. I'll text him to see if he has other customers that have dressed it up (or how to keep it looking clean).

 

[rcmbronc]

I love my VX shifter for the 6R80. Works great. I would like to build a console for it with a boot. Only thing really needs to be added is a gear location indicator so the kids know what gear the truck is in when they drive it.

 

[hossbronco]

No leather boot, but here are the photos. There’s no way this can house the switches for bump shifting. I see an M on the indicator, so I’m not sure if he replaced the switches or just can’t do manual.

 

[nvrstuk]

Very clean, professional looking install. Nice job.

 

[77BroncoWag]

Good to know. The VX mounting looks better to me too. Not a deal breaker, but like you said, a factor.

gotta link?

 

[nvrstuk]

Here's Rory's site:

http://www.radesignsproducts.com/vx-floor-shifter.html

Good guy. He borrowed my 4rf70 for prototyping shifter linkage ratios and fitment... and brought it back! lol

Nice shifter.

 

[hossbronco]

He recently posted this prototype cover to his Instagram page. I don’t see how it will cover the bump shift switches, but maybe he’s still working that out.

 

[nvrstuk]

What if in the pic above in the brown leather looking interior if all you changed was the shifter handle itself? Mounted a different handle with a SPDT mini rocker on it. Need a hollow shift handle but I have that on my Winters.. Run a couple wires inside it, mount the switch and it's working.

 

[hossbronco]

That may be the fix. I really like the nostalgia of shifting with the shift lever and not my fingers, but I may have to get over it. My though is that if Lokar and many other companies can figure out how to bump shift in a small package there’s got to be a way with the VX.

 

[hossbronco]

Here’s a new photo of the prototype covers, hot off the press. Notice this photo has a cover on the lower portion. He said he hopes to have them available in early April.

 

[nvrstuk]

I need to call him up and go visit again!

Remember that the 6r is a full electric 6 speed. You can't shift it by moving the lever like the old skool tranny's we grew up with! lol

I'm liking Rory's cover. I told him a couple years back that to get a larger market share he would have to make his shifter "look cleaner" for all the non racing, 100% practical types.

When visiting I'll also re-emphasize the need to be able to lock out P when wheeling. With his cover he needs to do something that would still allow us to easily push a pin thru all the cool holes in his shifter to block out P when wheeling. Nothing like starting to feel your rig going over backwards, grab that shifter and hope that you can gently shift it into R in your 1/2 second of panic and not shove it into Park guaranteeing an endo and a miserable day.

I'll text him now and call tomorrow.

 

[hossbronco]

I made the same suggestion about the cover to him in December. I guess he’s doing it now. After he started his prototype I suggested that he make the cover easily removable so that I could just remove the stop at neutral before I go wheeling. I’d surely welcome an easy adjustment to switch into wheeling mode, but I’m also fine using a ratchet. I’ll always have a stop that blocks out P, but when I go wheeling I’ll remove the stop at N so I can shift directly to R. But yeah, with the right push pin I wouldn’t even need to remove the cover.

 

[nvrstuk]

He replied to my text saying " It has a stop at Rev, you do have to do a lot to go around it to Park, it's what the Rock crawler guys use, no problem."

That being said, I can't remember the number of direction changes it takes on his VX to go from P to D or "M" with our 6r's.

I know that for the amount I dirve my Bronco I can't deal with the 7 direction changes it used to take EVERY TIME I go from Park to D with my Winters before I modified the shift gates. Repeat that for every time I go from Drive to Park... get's OLD fast when you make let's say 10 stops every day. Quick math works out to 140 back and forths and ups and downs....

No wonder I almost cut the shifter handle in two after a few years and Winters gave me a hardened shifter shaft as a replacement because I use my Bronco a lot.

 

[hossbronco]

I may be wrong, but I think the VX can have as many and as few stops as you’d like. That’s the beauty of the shifter. So I can keep it safe for the road and then remove one or two stops and I’m ready to crawl.

Here’s a YouTube video of the reverse crawler setup. It’s not for a 6R, but same concept.

 

[nvrstuk]

Drive to Rev or Rev to Drive is straight w/o any possible way to prevent accidently bumping into one or the other.

There doesn't seem to be any way to protect an accidental shifting from D to R since the VX automatically centers itself after each shift. I can take my Winters and move it to the side to make sure a coat, passengers arm, dog... nothing can accidently move the shifter forward to rev when in drive (or 1st).

 

[hossbronco]

Why can’t you just put a stop at Neutral? Am I missing something?

 

[nvrstuk]

Neutral won't help it you are at the tip over point already whereas, Reverse can often help.

You want to be able to actually try to force the frt tires back down to the grd by being able to quickly shift into reverse which will force the frt end down to some extent, many times keeping the frt end from going over the top preventing an "endo".

The faster you can shift from D to R the better as that extra second it takes to work a shifter handle around one or two gates can make the difference in the ability of Reverse being able to bring the frt tires back to earth.

 

[hossbronco]

Got it. What I’m saying is put a stop at Neutral for when you’re on the highway. Then your shifter is safe. When you hit the trails, remove the stop. It’s a simple bolt. Then you’re safe for rock crawling. When you’re done, put the stop back in while you’re filling up your tires.

 

[nvrstuk]

For me about 20X/day I'd have to put a pin in. Dog moves when cruising across the parking lot, down my driveway, out chasing cows in the pasture and pops it accidently into reverse - ouch.

Agreed it would work OK on the trail with the same potential issues when bouncing around tho.

I have my Winters set up so I can pull it from Rev to Drive and then shift it to the side (still in D) to lock it out from potentially knocking it into Rev accidently. When on the rocks where I might need to have quick access to reverse, I can shift it to the side and be ready, straight back and forth D to R. Then shift it to the side again for the other 99.99% of the time I don't need it.

 

[hossbronco]

Could you post a photo of your modified Winters shift gates?