J Shifter Trivia???

[NGABronco]

Digging thru my junk and found these, first 2 pics are a 73' shifter, the next 2 are a 74' shifter and the last 2 are of a new after market shifter. The new one does not surprise me, but the difference in the 73' vs 74' I find amusing???

 

[MarsChariot]

So you know what posting all three of those means now, right? It means YOU must try each version and report back to us so that we know which version works best. Empirical data, the best kind there is.

 

[toddz69]

The literature over the years has highlighted shifter changes for '74 due to 'hard shifting' in the '73 models. I've always been curious what exactly changed.

Todd Z.

 

[NGABronco]

Mars, the 73' version got replaced with JBFab twin sticks, that will probably be what happens to the 74' version and I'm still trying to figure out how I got that after market unit???%)%)%)

Good info Todd, thanks!!;D;D

 

[phred]

The literature over the years has highlighted shifter changes for '74 due to 'hard shifting' in the '73 models. I've always been curious what exactly changed.

Todd Z.

Wow if the 73 shifted worse than the 74 it must have been nearly impossible to shift. My 74 j shifter sucks


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[englewoodcowboy]

I have a 76 and 77 here and they both shifted decent. After cleaning everything and rebuilding the T case the 76 shifts very nice. On a side note, does anyone reproduce the rubber dust boot that went on the shifter itself to keep debris out of the ball joint on it?


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[DirtDonk]

Wow if the 73 shifted worse than the 74 it must have been nearly impossible to shift. My 74 j shifter sucks!

Hmm, I wonder if yours was built prior to the running change?
What month was yours built in phred?

Paul

 

[Rustytruck]

When I got my 1974 Bronco it had 10,000 miles on it and was never in 4-WD because no one could shift it into 4-wd. The previous owner took it back to Ford twice because it was un shift-able to low range or transfer case neutral. The dealer gave up on it and so did the original owner. He traded it for a new Jeep CJ-7. That's when I got it. 2 high to 4 high and back to 2 high again was no problem if your in gear and moving but head down to low range was impossible.

I finally got the shifter to work by trading it in on the first production run of Duffy's redesigned shifter.

My original J shifter was the second version shifter. It was later slightly redesigned again late in 1974. My Bronco was built June 1974. Maybe some day I will get a newer model 75-77 shifter and take some measurements and see what changed.

The magazine reviews at the time were horrible complaints on the transfercase shifting in 1973 & 74 but the reviews in 75 said it was fixed. But then they started complaining about the unleaded gas and catalytic converters.

 

[DirtDonk]

So it sounds like they were a little optimistic with their claims of a "fix for the '74 model year" basically. They may have fixed it in '74, but it might not have made it into production until the '75's were practically in the mill.

Be interesting to hear how many similar stories.

Paul

 

[Brent13]

My 74 has the T-Shift case, not the J. Not sure why, but glad it does. I went twin sticks a couple months ago, and that is the cats meow!!!!!

 

[Glass Pony]

My 74' J shift is smooth shifting once you take the torque bind off the drivetrain.

 

[phred]

Hmm, I wonder if yours was built prior to the running change?
What month was yours built in phred?

Paul

According to ford it was produced 7/20/74. I can't tell you how many times it has been stuck in 4 lo. Everything has been rebuilt and it still shifts crappy. I'd go twin sticks but I really don't wheel it enough anymore to justify the hassle


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[AFLtCol]

I'm doing away with the j-shifter and having my 74 converted to the t-shifter....just think it looks better.

 

[MarsChariot]

The wife's '76 is yet again blessed. The J-shifter works better than any T-case shifter, including twin stick, I have ever used. Like Glass Pony said, all I do is unload the drive train and it's snick-snick, in and out. Way easier than any T-stick I have used.

 

[DirtDonk]

According to ford it was produced 7/20/74. ....

Well that puts it just about as close to the end of the production run for that model year it's possible to be and still be a '74!
Not sure what the last day was, but likely it was in late July to sometime in August.
Ford played with that habit some, as we've found for '76's and '72's and such, but August is generally considered to be when the changeovers started.

So I guess it wasn't much of a '74 thing after all.

And with all this, I did drive a beat to crap POS of a '73 recently and it had to have had the sweetest shifting J-shift I've ever experienced. Not sure what was different, other than extreme wear maybe?

Paul

 

[Viperwolf1]

The wife's '76 is yet again blessed. The J-shifter works better than any T-case shifter, including twin stick, I have ever used. Like Glass Pony said, all I do is unload the drive train and it's snick-snick, in and out. Way easier than any T-stick I have used.

There were some changes to the tcase gears in '76 that helped with shifting.

 

[half cab]

All this explains why I never understood the hoopla about the T shift being easier then a J shift. My '76 has always shifted pretty easy.

 

[Viperwolf1]

There were some changes to the tcase gears in '76 that helped with shifting.

Here are pics of the '76-'77 gears on the left and the earlier gears on the right.

 

[Rustytruck]

That's pretty interesting the change of gear cut. That is an expensive change so they must have had a good reason to do it.