Transmission / Overdrive: What Kind of Shifter is This?

[rrausch]

Is this a Studebaker factory shifter or an aftermarket job?
And what can I do about a shift lever for it? Anyone know?
It's for my buddy's T86E 3-speed OD trans that we're putting into his '49 Stude pickup.

[Jerry Forrester]

I think it's probably aftermarket. An Indy or something. You can weld a lever onto it.
Even better, I would suggest you go with something like this.

[kmac530]

No Idea what that linkage is, but it looks fabbed to me.
I know my '49 C-cab 3 speed OD T-86 top loader has fire wall and colum mounted linkage that shifts up and down from a forward angle. But my truck is modified as well so no telling what is correct for these until someone with more knowledge jumps in.

edited: My truck has column shift and your set up looks to be for a floor shifter. Different animals.

[rrausch]

Jerry, how would I go with that one? Cut the lever off and weld it onto the existing shifter?

[jclary]

I have had a couple of rods with aftermarket shifters that looked similar. Back in the day, many of them had cheap plastic bushings that would get brittle and crack. When that happens, they get sloppy and are subject to hanging up. I improved the ones I had by making my own copper bushings and keeping them lubricated.

[Jerry Forrester]

Jerry, how would I go with that one? Cut the lever off and weld it onto the existing shifter?

Ha! No, do away with the shifter that is bolted onto your tranny. Remove the top cover from the tranny and bolt the Jeep shifter on in it's place. Not quite that easy, but almost.

[PackardV8]

Never seen one like that. Over the years, I've probably installed, bought and sold twenty Studes with floor shift conversions, but that's a new one on me.

jack vines

[rrausch]

Thanks guys.
Jack, I was told the trans came out of a Hawk.

What year jeeps would I need to rob for this shifter?
And more importantly, would mounting the shift lever top-loader style move the shift lever too far forward so that it would bang into the dash in Rev. and 2nd?
Or would rebuilding this linkage I have and finding a shift lever for it mount it too far back so that 1st and 3rd would bang into the seat?

Is there anyone here who has a T86 with a floor shift in their '49-'53 pickup?

[Jerry Forrester]

What year jeeps would I need to rob for this shifter?

Not sure, but I'm thinking '70's. I have one but would have to check it's condition. I will take $50 for it if it's usable or repairable.

And more importantly, would mounting the shift lever top-loader style move the shift lever too far forward so that it would bang into the dash in Rev. and 2nd?
Or would rebuilding this linkage I have and finding a shift lever for it mount it too far back so that 1st and 3rd would bang into the seat?

Not if you have a torch. <G>

[Flashback]

It's a 3 speed early corvette shifter.

[brian6373]

Back in the 70's J.C. Whitney sold ones like these to convert a colum shift to a floor shift. My brother and I when we were teenagers put one in his '63 Nova. as I recall it was kinda clunky and it reveresed the shift pattern. Come to think of it, we may have installed it wrong!

[52-fan]

If the shift pattern was reversed you didn't turn the trans levers the right way. I drove a T cab many years ago that was like that.

[52-fan]

Thanks guys.
Jack, I was told the trans came out of a Hawk.

What year jeeps would I need to rob for this shifter?
And more importantly, would mounting the shift lever top-loader style move the shift lever too far forward so that it would bang into the dash in Rev. and 2nd?
Or would rebuilding this linkage I have and finding a shift lever for it mount it too far back so that 1st and 3rd would bang into the seat?

Is there anyone here who has a T86 with a floor shift in their '49-'53 pickup?

The first Studebaker truck that my brother rebuilt used the Jeep type shifter in the top of a T-86. The shifter comes through the floor where you would expect a truck shifter to be. No clearance issues with the seat or dash.

[Jerry Forrester]

I built a '50 Chevy in the early '60's that had two floor shift levers, one for first-reverse and one for second-third. Just couldn't afford a real floor shift conversion kit.

[rrausch]

Flashback, how do you know it's an early Corvette shifter?

Jerry, improvisation is the Heart and Soul of hot-rodding! Hopefully your girlfriend didn't kick the 2nd/3rd lever when you were backing up!