Fitting the 4 speed shifters to other gearboxes.

We frequently get asked if the 4 speed shifters can fit other 4 speed boxes than the Muncie/toploader/ tex/gforce 101. The answer is no and yes. They will not directly bolt on to anything other than what they are specifically designed for but if you want to fabricate modify the mounting plate, shift arms and rods they should work on all boxes with a similar lay out.  We cant help with these projects but this information is here to assist anyone who feels they have the mechanical skills to do so.

There is a few points to consider for anyone who wants to do this:

1. The mounting bracket: this should be straight forwards, Bolt it up in a position that every thing works.
2. The rods: anything that fills the gap and doesn’t get caught up will be fine but keep in mind that you should make sure there is minimal flex, try and keep the rods as straight as possible and use steel rod diameter similar ours.
3. The shift arms: This is the complicated part, you may be able to reuse the ones in the kit with modification or may need to make completely new arms. Shortening the arms will increase effective throw at the box. The interesting part is that although the shifter has the same throw in each gear you can accommodate a gearbox that has different throws by changing the angle of the arm on the box. This can all be calculated with a drawing or even easier you can put the box and shifter in each gear drawing an arc with a marker pen placed inside the rod end, where the points meet is where the hole should be.
4.  The reverse selection, If you use a v1 shifter there is no lock out or reverse switch, if your box doesn’t have a reverse lock out this could be a safety issue. If you use a V2 shifter there is a reverse lock out, with the toploader box you pull the lever back to engage reverse, on the 101 shifters you push it forwards. Check which will work best with your box and shift rod layout.