Thread: 4-spd top loader shifter

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Some years back one of the rodder mags featured a company that made a 4-spd shifter that mounted on the top of a muncie and maybe other 4 spds. Does anyone know of that company and if they are still in business?

Jack.

i remember a shifter in the late 60's or early 70's that you just pulled back on the shift handle then let go and it would shift the trans. but it was side mounted. hurst made many different shifter handles and a couple were offset toward the passenager side which made it look like the shifter was mounted on the top of the trans.

Hotrodstude
Thanks for the reply. The problem I have with my side shifter is it is too far back and hits the seat in the 2nd and 4th position. I have been working on a home made top shifter for about 2 years now and it has gone thru 2 or 3 incarnations so far. I was hoping to get some ideas from looking at the store bought one. As it turns out I am putting the finishing touches on my latest version and so far it is shifting very smoothly. I have the reverse linkage to finish up today and if all goes well I will just need to fine tune one area. At that point I will either use it as is or make a new one without the cobbed up changes using the old one as a template .

Jack.

Hotrodstude
Forgot to ask. Is that Hotrodstude as in "stud" or as in Studebaker? I oniy ask because I used to run a 55 Studie first with a 51 Olds, then a 55 olds with 3X2s and lastly with a 57 Olds J2. Just wondering.

Jack.

I don't know about a commercially made shifter for the toploader, but there was a swap you could do using a Jeep four speed shifter and adapt it to the top of a top loader. There was a similar swap for the top loader three speed. I was going to make that modification to the three speed in my 27 but could never find the jeep parts I needed. Essentially the jeep setup bolted right on where the top plate is now. You needed to remove the side arm assemblies and block off the holes, plus some other mods.

Been a while since I saw that article, so my info is a little fuzzy. I also recall something called an X shifter that was sort of what you describe, but not sure what transmission it fit.

Don

Hi Don,
Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I understand your reply. It sounds like what you are describing is a shifter to mount on a trans. that has a top plate. What I am trying to do is make a shifter that mounts on the top of the Muncie that will operate the side shifter levers. The trouble with the standard shifters is they mount too far back on the tail shaft and the stick hits the seat in 2nd and 4th gear. The top mounted shifter will move the unit to the middle and forward and give the desired appearance of it being an "old school" floor shift 3 spd. This is in a 34 3 window ford and I am trying retain the "old school" appearance. I know someone made a shifter like this in the past and I was hoping get some better ideas to improve the shifter I am making. I completed the reverse gear linkage yesterday and all works well. However I will not be making any speed shifts with this unit; it will need some more refining.

Jack.

When I put the Muncie in my '59 Chevy pickup, I got a Hurst Competition Plus shifter for it. On the tailshaft housing, there are five bosses for shifter mounting, three above two, and they allow a forward or rearward mounting position. The Hurst was set up to use these mounting points, but when installed, even in the forward postion, the stick came through the floor just under the front edge of the seat, with the seat all the way to the rear, and the shifter was so far below the floor that I would have had to cut a hole a foot long to allow full stick movement. So I did a bit of old school hot rodder engineering, and made a bracket for the shifter that bolted to the three forward mounting points, and moved the shifter mechanism up and forward by about six or eight inches in both directions; the pivot bolt of the shifter body is just below the floor, now, and I set the point of forward mounting so that there was full movement of the stick mounting arm, and got a stick from Hurst that fit my needs; they sell them as aftermarket items in many shapes and lengths. I still had to reshape the stick a little, but it looks as if it was made for the application - well, I suppose you could say it was, couldn't you. Anyhow, I reworked the shift rods - cut, bend, weld, rethread - to work, for first/second and third/fourth, and made the reverse linkage with a single acting toggle or bell crank mounted on one of the mounting points on the tailshaft housing. I don't have any pictures, or the ability to attach them here, even if I had them (computer glitch), but if you would like to contact me by e-mail (should be in my profile) I will make you a rough drawing and mail it to you. It took a bit of experimenting and messing around with it, but it works like a charm; has for over twenty years, even under racing conditions.

Hi Rrumbler,
Thanks for the reply. I will send you a PM with my Email address as I would like to see your set up. I will probably use what I have made to this point however as one of my goals is to have the look of "old school". I think with a little more fine tuning It will be a smooth and quick shifter.

Jack.

I seem to remember a shift lever on the old Mopar (Road Runner, 'Cuda, etc..) that had a dog leg so that it would clear in 2nd and 4th gear.

As I recall, it looked some what like the sketch below. You may want to buy a chunk of 3/8" aluminum plate and try your hand at fabricating a piece that allows you to use stock Hurst shifter and linkage with your own "custom" handle. Aluminum is certainly easy to work and 3/8" would be strong enough. It will polish like chrome and add a real personal touch to your project.

Good Luck,
Glenn

studebaker,i'm build a 62 lark with a R-1 engine and 3-speed on the columb. it'll be a sharp little car when i'm done. go to your speed shop and ask to see there hurst catalog and they should have handles. there is one made for a cheevy 1957 with bench seat that might be your answer to your problem. good luck. hotrodstude

T & F Shifter
31799 Chestnut Lane
Lebanon, OR 97355
it moves the shifter to a 39 location

There was/is some confusion with the the term "toploader." To most in the hot-rod hobby, "Toploader" refers to 3 and 4 speed Ford manual transmissions with access to the "innards" via an access plate on top of the trans housing - as opposed to a shifter that mounts on top of the trans. I had a Toploader 4-speed trans in my 30 A-Bone sedan adapted to a 454 Chevy.

I don't remember exactly what trans it was --think a 3 speed overdrive--top loader--that I used a jeep shifter top on-only front two bolts wouldn't work as the Ford had a narrower top pattern








Seems that I recollect that it was on a 3 speed od out of a 6 cylinder car -I choose it for the gear ratios----I think first was pretty deep and also that I used it first, second, second OD, third, third od-was a hell of a drag race surprise to those chevy guys--------

The shifter I used on my Toploader transmission was a vertical gate shifter from Mr. Gasket. It was amazing for quick, accurate shifting. Forward for first, pull for second, push for third, pull for fourth. Note that it did center over the tailshaft rather than being offset to one side. I had the Toploader mated to a 454 Chevy with a Lakewood bellhousing.


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Linky to T&F Shifter. It ain't cheap.