Well I've searched the forums, only to find out "which shifter is the best for my car?" And then googled to find that Jeg's has rachet action for $179.

Yet I couldn't find the answer I was looking for. What does a rachet shifter do? I understand that it let's an auto shift gears, but how? Like a triptronic? Or like a smg type thing?

Basically what I'm trying to find out, is can a rachet shifter take an auto and make it preform like a clutchless m/t?

Thanks in advance.

 

A rachet shifter does exactly what your stock shifter does...plus some.

The ONLY advantage to a rachet shifter is:

1) it allows you to only go one gear at a time
2) you can hit the shifter hard and it will only go up one gear.

That allows you to manually shift an auto without worrying about going into N or worse park or reverse.

The best shifter for our cars is the b&m megashifter. Easy install and it looks very clean. I have one and love it.

 

So it'll hold a gear, say to give some third gear loving on the highway, instead of hitting the gas and waiting for it to downshift, you can keep it in third?

 

Same as the stock shifter in that regard.

FWIW, the Megashifter Console BMM-80692 is $165.88 at summitracing.com.

Along that line, did B&M discontinue the Hammer? Haven't checked for awhile, don't see it at Summit anymore.

 

If your transmission won't hold a gear until you shift up, neither will the ratchet shifter. That's going to depend on any transmission modifications you have. If your transmission downshifts now when in third gear, it still will when you change the shifter.

If you have a manual valve body or a shift kit then a performance shifter should be used. With a shift kit, you can usually still just put it in drive and go allowing the tranny to shift like normal but it should also allow you to manually shift through the gears, holding each gear until you shift.

A manual valve body means there is no automatic feature. You must select each gear. If you put the transmission in D, it will start off in high gear and probably burn out the clutches. You ratchet down to first and upshift when you want the next gear. Although some people don't mind this in a street car, it becomes annoying after a while. You might have the girlfriend or wife hop into the car, put it in D and drive away all day. That will mean a tranny rebuild.

For drag racing, a ratchet shift is nice to have although many still prefer a gate shifter. Both types prevent overshifting so it just depends on the style you like. I ratchet my shifter down to first gear to launch. When the shift light comes on I hammer it forward to the next gear. When I let the shifter go, it moves back to a neutral position waiting for the next shift either up or down. There's no chance of pushing it into neutral unless I'm already in high gear and it's impossible to move it into reverse since there's a lockout arm that needs to be moved before it can go from neutral to reverse. Each shift is exact. You don't have to look at the shift indicator to see if you went past the gear.

The shifter doesn't change how the transmission works. It just allows to shift through the gears with more precision.