twin stick advice

[Hiker]

I remember some advice about twin stick shifting, but now I can't find it. I installed a JB twin stick in my 70 with an AOD tranny that had a J shift. It works better, but not what I was hoping. I can get it in all the positions, but it ain't easy. Any tips here would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JB Fab]

Do you have it in neutral?

 

[Hiker]

Do you have it in neutral?

Neutral, park, rolling....whatever seems to work without grinding.

 

[Viperwolf1]

There's an art to shifting a tcase behind an automatic trans. Key thing to remember is always try to have the tcase in a gear when the trans is in neutral. If they're both in neutral (and engine is running) the trans output shaft has nothing to keep it stationary and friction from the clutches will start it spinning. Then you have half the tcase spinning when you try to engage stationary gears. An alternate method is to put the trans in park before shifting the tcase. The park pawl will keep the output from turning.

 

[Hiker]

There's an art to shifting a tcase behind an automatic trans. Key thing to remember is always try to have the tcase in a gear when the trans is in neutral. If they're both in neutral (and engine is running) the trans output shaft has nothing to keep it stationary and friction from the clutches will start it spinning. Then you have half the tcase spinning when you try to engage stationary gears. An alternate method is to put the trans in park before shifting the tcase. The park pawl will keep the output from turning.

Thank you, this is the kind of info I need. However, it's still kind of a trial and error for me. Park will work some of the time but not all of the time. Are you saying use park until both twin sticks are in gear, then go to neutral?

 

[Viperwolf1]

Thank you, this is the kind of info I need. However, it's still kind of a trial and error for me. Park will work some of the time but not all of the time. Are you saying use park until both twin sticks are in gear, then go to neutral?

All you need is to have at least one side of the tcase in gear (hubs locked) to put the trans in neutral. You just have to work with it to get the hang of it.

 

[BroncoDawg]

Dana 20s are known for being harder to shift than other TCs, but just play around with different tricks and it will come to you. The high/low range right stick shifts better in park, but the left stick-front in/out shifts better for me when rolling slowly and if bound up, keep rolling while turning wheel back and forth to take out bind.
Sometimes a little gas, then let off and the moment of slack before decelerating often works well for the left stick.

Good luck.

 

[the-glove]

Being on level ground helps too. Sometimes you have to resort to turning the engine off and trying both park and neutral positions before you can get the t-case to shift.

 

[Hiker]

It really does sound like an art. More trial and error I guess. Thanks everyone for the input.

 

[jw0747]

My twin-sticked t-case always shifts best when my EB is on level ground or the front of it is pointing downhill. This removes or releases the bind from the drivetrain. Sometimes shifting the auto tranny more than once between park and neutral helps too.