What is a ratchet shifter? I would appreciate any feed back, thanx in advance.

 

i just bought one of the megashifters. best way to put it is that it ratchets into each gear. if you try to slam it from 1 to 2 on the stock shifter, it slips right by and you can end up all the way in neutral if you're not careful. a ratchet shifter only lets you slam from one gear to another.

 

Does it allow you to shift gears even if you have an automatic?

 

by shifting gears i mean going from 1 to 2 to D to OD (1,2,3,4). i was a little confused about this myself before i looked into a year ago.

 

Can I shift gears with stock everything? Or do I need to install something special to shift gears with my automatic? I need help b/c I don't want to do that and then I end up blowing my tranny up!

 

yes you can switch gears when you want. downshifting is easily done. upshifting as well, just use common sense, and shift at a normal rpm. you can't put it in third gear at idle and expect it to be in third, it will still go through the gears like normal, just stop at third until you upshift. the main things it is good for is fun and keeping you outta reverse if you're driving like a madman and trying to slap shift your stock shifter. you just give it a little push and it shifts. oh yeah i have it my car and it looks a hell of a lot better than the stock shifter.-good luck

 

put a transgo reprogramming kit and you can hold any gear at any rpm>>

 

The idea of having a ratchet shifter is knowing that when you ratchet through the gears you'll know exactly what gear you're in. If you try to manually shift a factory shifter it's easy to go past a gear. With a forward pattern shifting tranny you can easily go past high gear into neutral.

Ratchet shifters only shift one gear at a time. When you push or pull the shifter it will ratchet to the next selection and stop until you let go of the shifter and it returns to it's neutral position for the next shift.

I "had" a B&M Megashift for a couple of years and didn't like it for drag racing. I now use a B&M Pro Ratchet shifter.

My tranny also has a manual reverse valve body (with transbrake). Instead of the typical PRND21 pattern it's PRN123. That way once I'm in high gear it's impossible to go into neutral without downshifting through the gears.

Typical valve body reprogram kits allow you to hold any gear to any rpm so that you can shift through the gears plus retain full automatic features when the shifter is left in D.

 

The TransGo he was refering to is the ever popular "Reprogramming kit" aka 700 2&3. The kit has two options: Automatic or Stick Shift. Stick Shift means that whatever gear you put the tranny in, IS the gear that its in. With the automatic option, if you put it in (D) (overdrive), the tranny will start out in first, shift to second, third and then into overdrive, just like any other auto. With the Stick Shift option, you put it in (D) and it will start out in 4th gear! You must manually put it down into 1st, then shift it into 2nd, 3rd, etc... same for downshifting. When you come to a stop, you MUST put it down into 3rd, 2nd and back into 1st, EVERYTIME! Its like driving a manual transmission, but instead of a clutch, you have a torque converter.

 

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What would an automatic 84 700r4 have? An manual reverse valve body or a typical PRND21 pattern? I want the kit you are talking about that can allow for normal driving, but when desired the shift option. I also want to install the b&m pro ratchet shifter. Could you help me out and tell me what will work? Thanx alot.

 

Contact Dana( probuilt) he will help you with what you need.

http://www.pro-built.net

 

No factory tranny came with a manual reverse valve body. It's an aftermarket part. Your factory valve body will be PRND321. Installing the shift kit mentioned to make it a manual shift means you can't pull the shifter into D and drive away. Well ok you can but you'll burn up the tranny very quickly. There are other shift kits or reprogramming options that allow manual shifting but also allow the tranny to work like normal when left in D. This is a better choice for most street vehicles.

I don't know how well the Pro Ratchet will work for you. To my knowledge they don't make a console model like the Megashifter. I have very little interior so it works for me but I do know that a couple of other members use them.

 

What would you reccomend then for a normal D, until manual shifting is desired?

 

Transgo..B&M Megashifter

 

Why not the pro-ractchet shifter, i think it looks way better than the mega shifter

 

In a race car......you good at interior decorating and fabricating?
For the street, The Megashifter works great.Only MHO...150.00 is a fair price, and it looks stock..its the shifter our cars should have been made with. You want a pic of mine? Ill have to go out and take one..let me know

 

Yea, I would appreciate it. I want to see how good it looks. Oh and btw, I looked into the transgo kit. But I didn't find the kit I want. Do you have a store or a website besides the other one you gave me that I could find it? Thanks alot for you help. I appreciate it!!

 

BRB

 

fresh off the press

 

and

 

Go here call and talk to dana..he will help you. He is "probuilt automatics" here on the board do a search with his name

http://www.pro-built.net
www.summitracing.com
www.jeggs.com

 

here is his 800 #...800 7763288 Mon-Sat 10-6 PST

 

Thank you for all your help, I appreciate it alot.

 

Hey I was just looking on B&M's website and they sell a kit that is exactly what I want. I am going to buy the megashifter from them too. Thanks for all your help, I finally found exactly what Im looking for .

 

Cool....But...B&M shift kits are pretty rough on your tranny, as well as other parts...do a search on B&M in this forum and see what ya see.

 

Yeah, don't buy a shift kit from B&M. But if you buy their trans cooler and Megashifter, and even their 4-3 kickdown kit, you'll be okay. I installed all of the above, including their shift kit, back in '97-- before I knew the B&M kit was bad news. When I rebuild this trans, the B&M shift kit is coming out, and a TransGo kit is going in. But I'll keep the shifter/cooler/4-3 kit!

Oh, and as to how it works; know how the stock shifter changes position? As in, the shifter points a different way if it's in 1st as opposed to OD? Well, with the ratchet shifter, when you put the stick into OD, it stays straight up. To go into D, you pull back on the stick. The trans shifts into D. Now, you release the stick. The stick snaps back upright. To go into 2nd? Pull the stick back, the trans shifts to 2nd, release the stick, the stick snaps back up. To go into D again, push the stick forward, the trans shifts into D, let go of the stick, the shift handle snaps back to being straight up. And of course, I don't literally mean "push the stick and let go"... you can't really baby this thing, be a man, slap the shifter around. It's fun.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I will put a trans-go in and put a b&m megashifter with it. Thanks alot, you guys saved me from making a mistake . Appreciate it alot.

 

Thought I'd add a pic.

 

how do you switch between the auto and stick shift ?

 

Put it in Drive and shifts normally.

Ratchet down to 1st and bang away as a stick.

Later