So I recently installed my Gen 4 shifter. As I was inspecting it after opening the box, I was thinking to myself this is a beautiful piece of work. :rock:
I took the time to do the "BeGood noise solution fix" to keep it nice and quiet since I've heard it was so loud. Went to a local window shop and picked up exactly what he recommended.
Installation went well, took me about 30 minutes start to finish to get the stock piece out and X-Metal in. Once it was in place I loved how it felt, firm and precise. The small "pivoting" of the shift lever didnt bother me what so ever.
So I put everything back together to go out for a test drive. While I was playing with it I never thought to try and get it into reverse since everything else was dead on. Well, sure enough, no reverse.
OK, so I pulled it back out to try and figure out what was going on.
If you compare the pivot ball on the very bottom of each shifter you'll notice the X-metal is almost 1" longer than the stocker. After enough confusion and cursing we came to the conclusion the pivot ball was bottoming out in the transmission (which generated a LOT OF NOISE despite the noise solution fix). We tried a few things to try and correct it, spacers, plates and even ripped the entire shifter mechanism apart. Before it was all said and done we ended up grinding down the bottom of the pivot ball almost an 1/8 of an inch.
That helped out a lot. From that point on I was able to get into reverse but it's still a fight. So now I have a truck I can drive and I was excited to go try it out in action. One other thing to note, once we ground down the bottom of the pivot ball and it wasn't bottoming out anymore, it's now quiet, very quiet.
Right now I can say I am disappointed. The shifting of the X-metal is precise, very precise. The thing Im disappointed with now is, Im missing 2nd gear. Maybe 1 out of 10 times i would miss 3rd gear with the stocker, but never 2nd. Ive noticed if I lift to shift with the X-metal it'll work great, but, I dont want to lift to shift!!! I don't know. Maybe I just dont have enough seat time with it. Ill give it another week or so, if I cant get this thing sorted out by then Im going back to the stocker.
I took the time to do the "BeGood noise solution fix" to keep it nice and quiet since I've heard it was so loud. Went to a local window shop and picked up exactly what he recommended.
Installation went well, took me about 30 minutes start to finish to get the stock piece out and X-Metal in. Once it was in place I loved how it felt, firm and precise. The small "pivoting" of the shift lever didnt bother me what so ever.
So I put everything back together to go out for a test drive. While I was playing with it I never thought to try and get it into reverse since everything else was dead on. Well, sure enough, no reverse.
OK, so I pulled it back out to try and figure out what was going on. If you compare the pivot ball on the very bottom of each shifter you'll notice the X-metal is almost 1" longer than the stocker. After enough confusion and cursing we came to the conclusion the pivot ball was bottoming out in the transmission (which generated a LOT OF NOISE despite the noise solution fix). We tried a few things to try and correct it, spacers, plates and even ripped the entire shifter mechanism apart. Before it was all said and done we ended up grinding down the bottom of the pivot ball almost an 1/8 of an inch.
That helped out a lot. From that point on I was able to get into reverse but it's still a fight. So now I have a truck I can drive and I was excited to go try it out in action. One other thing to note, once we ground down the bottom of the pivot ball and it wasn't bottoming out anymore, it's now quiet, very quiet.
Right now I can say I am disappointed.
The shifting of the X-metal is precise, very precise. The thing Im disappointed with now is, Im missing 2nd gear. Maybe 1 out of 10 times i would miss 3rd gear with the stocker, but never 2nd. Ive noticed if I lift to shift with the X-metal it'll work great, but, I dont want to lift to shift!!! I don't know. Maybe I just dont have enough seat time with it. Ill give it another week or so, if I cant get this thing sorted out by then Im going back to the stocker.
