"NEW" shifter from "Raceway", TWD and re

[mr. cob]

Howdy All,

Most of you are already aware of a fine product made by Jim at "Raceway" his tank shifter that will shift the forward gears and reverse. I have been bugging Jim for over two years to make a shifter that will shift the two wheel drive instead of the forward gears. My wishes have been answered.

I just had the "CC" checked out by Sergey after it's abuse in Death Valley, while there we installed this new shifter that Jim made, there were no installation instructions but none were needed it's a very easy to install system. It does take a bit of tinkering with the adjustments to get everything to shift smoothly but nothing the average Ural pilot is not capable of.

I have had the shifter on the rig now for about a week, it works VERY well and is super smooth in it's operation. The shift into and out of two wheel drive is easy and fast this is very important when riding off road where you want to be able to get into and out of two wheel drive while on the move and in a hurry.

I have not yet been able to test how this works in very rough terrain but I do not anticipate any problems. The materials this shifter is made from and the workmanship is top notch as are all of the products that come from Jim's shop. I highly recommend this shifter. I do not know if Jim has these for sale or if this is the only one that was made for test purposes. Contact Jim for price and availability, tell him "Cob" sent you.

Contact Raceway here.

2700 19th St SE Unit#3, Salem, OR 97302
Phone: (503) 588-7227
Fax: (503) 363-6952
racewayservices@cs.com
www.racewayservices.com

Here is the shifter.



The rear bell-crank assembly.


Reverse.


Two wheel drive.

[DirtyDR]

They work great in rough off road Dave, I've had mine on for over a year.

[mr. cob]

Howdy Dana,

I know that you have had this shifter for a while, I have been asking Jim to mass produce it ever since I heard about yours. Before I heard that you had one I had been asking Jim if he could modify his shift to be used with two wheel drive. I think that there is a market for this shifter, hopefully he will make it available for sale now or in the near future.

[pidgey]

If they made a dedicated reverse only tank mount lever I'd order one in a heartbeat. I have always forward shifted with my left foot and am too old and ornery to learn anything different.......

[mr. cob]

If they made a dedicated reverse only tank mount lever I'd order one in a heartbeat. I have always forward shifted with my left foot and am too old and ornery to learn anything different.......

Howdy Pidgey,

This is what I made for my rig about a month after I bought it, it's cheap and easy to build.

This is the neutral position.


This is the reverse position.


To be perfectly honest about it, I like my reverse shifter better then the one on Jim shifter, it's just easier to use and much easier to reach.

It also makes finding neutral so MUCH easier.

[pidgey]

Mr Cob, thanks for that, looks good.
I will fabricate something along those lines, that is if I can refine my welding skills sufficiently......

[mr. cob]

Mr Cob, thanks for that, looks good.
I will fabricate something along those lines, that is if I can refine my welding skills sufficiently......

Howdy Pidgey,

It's hard to see in the photos as I had just painted everything after I first installed the shifter, look close and you will see that the shifter is spring loaded at it's pivot point. I did this so that the shifter will move "sideways" this allows it to move around the stop that keeps it either engaged in neutral or in reverse. I found that with out the hard stop the shifter would move in hard off road use, this was NOT a good thing.

That is my only concern on Jim's shifter, the weight of the shifter possibly causing movment while running in rough terrain. Apparently Dana has not had a problem with this so I am not to concerned about it, but not having made it myself I havn't any data to go on other then what little I have used it.

[redflasher]

I've got the one for forward gears and reverse/neutral on my GearUP. I agree that the workmanship and materials are first rate. I had to retighten and blue loctite a couple of the mounting bolts but no other problems.

It ain't cheap but I like the setup very much.

[S 854]

It ain't cheap but I like the setup very much.

I've seen this quote many times regarding Raceways shift kits...

Like many things in life... cheap is relative... or the lack of cheap...

I've searched the website, but Raceway doesn't advertise this setup....

Approximately how not cheap are these things... tens... hundreds... thousands of dollars?

[JohnBG]

I called Jim once looking into it. I think it was about $200 IIRC.

I'm a cheap-o. I'll keep shifting with my foot for now...

[DirtyDR]

Dave,
When I called Jim and wanted the reverse and two wheel drive shifter all he said was "sure I can send you one". I just thought he was selling them all the time, didn't realize I was unique. That two wheel drive shifter is sweet though isn't it?

[mr. cob]

Dave,
When I called Jim and wanted the reverse and two wheel drive shifter all he said was "sure I can send you one". I just thought he was selling them all the time, didn't realize I was unique. That two wheel drive shifter is sweet though isn't it?

Howdy Dana,

To the best of my knowledge "you" are the only other person that has one of these particular shifters. Like I said I had been asking Jim for over two years to modify his shifter so that it would shift the TWD as well as reverse. Personally I don't like the hand shifter for the forward gears, I much prefer to shift the forward gears with my foot.

[DirtyDR]

Gee, I'm special.

I do agree with you on the forward gears though, my toes are quite happy changing those gears.

One tip on the shifter is to put some thread locker on the lock nuts on the ends of the rods. I had a couple of them that just would not stay tightened without it.

[redflasher]

It ain't cheap but I like the setup very much.

I've seen this quote many times regarding Raceways shift kits...

Like many things in life... cheap is relative... or the lack of cheap...

I've searched the website, but Raceway doesn't advertise this setup....

Approximately how not cheap are these things... tens... hundreds... thousands of dollars?

I think I paid around $350 + shipping for the forward gears/reverse setup. Call Jim and he will tell you all about it or email and you"ll get all you ever want to know about it.

I use either the shifter or my foot depending on the circumstances or my mood. I think my hand shifts are smoother, albeit slower, as I can feel the gears better with my hand than my heavy riding boot.

[uraldog]

have any of you thought to price the reverse shifter and linkage for a Retro and shorten the vertical rod and mount it off the top engine mount with a piece of plate steel or angle iron extending out from under the tank--the shift actuator would bolt to that ----welder with a thought