Shift Cane Question (1 Viewer)

[DoubleNickels]

Heya

Just finished converting from the auto A440 to manual (H42) tranny in my 1989 FJ62. Hell of an upgrade, loving it. My question is in regards to the shift cane. It seems really far up and is quite the reach. Look here:

Did they make a longer/ more bent shift cane... did I get the wrong one? Or is this just how it is? Thanks for the help.

Calvin

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Heya

Just finished converting from the auto A440 to manual (H42) tranny in my 1989 FJ62. Hell of an upgrade, loving it. My question is in regards to the shift cane. It seems really far up and is quite the reach. Look here:

View attachment 2501922

Did they make a longer/ more bent shift cane... did I get the wrong one? Or is this just how it is? Thanks for the help.

Calvin

jimmy will know all .

@CenTXFJ60

 

[Skniper]

What gear is it in, in that photo? Just looked at my new in box shift lever, pretty straight, no odd angles. Maybe it has something to do with what bell housing and crossmember you used. (?)

Congrats on the swap...just tonight I started my tear down for the manual swap....pulled the drive shafts, starter, pulled the g-damn trans cooler lines...good riddance! Front seats/carpet/shifters get pulled in the morning, hopefully have the slush chunk out within a couple days.

 

[Godwin]

Heya

Just finished converting from the auto A440 to manual (H42) tranny in my 1989 FJ62. Hell of an upgrade, loving it. My question is in regards to the shift cane. It seems really far up and is quite the reach. Look here:

View attachment 2501922

Did they make a longer/ more bent shift cane... did I get the wrong one? Or is this just how it is? Thanks for the help.

Calvin

That's just the way it is. Normal.

 

[CenTXFJ60]

jimmy will know all .

@CenTXFJ60

That looks really close to me. Are you sure it’s not a shifter out of an early 42? I’m not sure if they are interchangeable but would seem they should be. Here’s still shots I grabbed from a video just after I put a 42 (out of an 85/60) into my HJ61. One shot is in neutral and the other is in first gear. Looks like I have much more clearance between the shifter and dash. The position yours is in looks very similar to the 81 and 82 cruisers I have. I’ve never pulled an early shifter to compare, but they could be angled differently. I’ve always thought it was unusual how close the early shifters come to the dash on the early 60’s. My 81 the shifter actually taps the dash of you shift too hard.

 

[CenTXFJ60]

That looks really close to me. Are you sure it’s not a shifter out of an early 42? I’m not sure if they are interchangeable but would seem they should be. Here’s still shots I grabbed from a video just after I put a 42 (out of an 85/60) into my HJ61. One shot is in neutral and the other is in first gear. Looks like I have much more clearance between the shifter and dash. The position yours is in looks very similar to the 81 and 82 cruisers I have. I’ve never pulled an early shifter to compare, but they could be angled differently. I’ve always thought it was unusual how close the early shifters come to the dash on the early 60’s. My 81 the shifter actually taps the dash of you shift too hard.
View attachment 2501981View attachment 2501982

Here’s a shot of my 81. It’s in neutral and you can see how close it is. As I mentioned, it actually taps the dash when you put it in 1st. I’ll be home in the next week or so and glad to pull an early one to see if there’s a difference and verify if they are interchangeable

 

[DoubleNickels]

Super helpful, thanks everyone. Normal it is! I was/am mis-calibrated as the cane in my FJ55 is much closer (HOWEVER... that is a bench seat and I'm running the H55 5-speed, so it's actually further back than I'd like). In each case I guess I have the option to heat and bend if it really bugs me.

@Skniper , my first pic shows the shifter in 1st-gear position. And yes, this upgrade is really phenomenal. Wishing you a speedy swap - I took months and months as it just wasn't a huge priority AND I kept realizing I was missing parts. I've heard you can do this in a week, theoretically, but I think a week's turnaround is more realistic.

Calvin

 

[CenTXFJ60]

Calvin, it may be the picture but your shifter looks really close to the center bezel. If you look at my first picture above it’s in 1st gear. My shifter (H42) looks to have a much larger gap. What year is your 4-speed originally out of?

 

[Spook50]

If you've got a vise and access to an oxy-acetylene torch to warm up the points you want to bend, you can tweak it just how you want it to sit. It's what I did with my H55F shift lever, and it's perfect for me now. No pics right now but I'll snap and post a couple tomorrow. Anything's customizable if you have the tools

 

[DoubleNickels]

Calvin, it may be the picture but your shifter looks really close to the center bezel. If you look at my first picture above it’s in 1st gear. My shifter (H42) looks to have a much larger gap. What year is your 4-speed originally out of?

The pic is in 1st gear. Really appreciate your input - I'll take some measurements so we can verify if there's a difference. I got the transmission and shift cane separately from two different individuals. The transmission is a 'long-body' H42, though I can't tell you the exact year. The shift cane came from Georg at Valley Hybrids.

I'll see if I can parse out different parts diagrams to see if there was a change in part number for the shift cane in those years. Specter does indeed show a different offering from early- vs. late-80's:

 

[Spook50]

Snapped a couple pics (forgot to while I had daylight) to show how I bent mine. I have fairly long arms but the positioning is perfectly comfortable for me. First is 3rd gear from overhead to show distance from the dash, then 4th from my POV which is still easy to reach and allowed for clearance for when I put my Tuffy back in (had to make sure the shift lever wouldn't hit anything in the front cup holders), then a pic of 4th gear from the side to give a better idea of the angles I bent it to. The spots I heated and bent were the very bottom of the post immediately above the ball and below the bottom of the "outer" lever, and then right at the top end of the taper from large to small on the outer lever.

 

[Skellibert]

Mate yours looks like a mirror image of mine and mine is a genuine stick shift FJ62, but right hand drive.
Yours looks totally normal to me.
Mine is a five speed - came that way from the factory...

 

[DoubleNickels]

Good God, sorry I went dark. Attaching a couple pics of the tranny in first gear:

 

[CenTXFJ60]

That angle looks a lot better. I’d leave it alone if it was my truck.

 

[DoubleNickels]

That angle looks a lot better. I’d leave it alone if it was my truck.

Much appreciated. Yeah, I think it's fine. Now I'm on to solving my pedal issues... I'll start a new thread Cheers everyone.

Calvin

 

[orangefj45]

You can easily modify the shifter by heating it with a torch, then bend it to suit your needs.
Make sure to remove the white nylon cup from the bottom and wrap a wet rag around the rubber insulator do it won’t get damaged.
We’ve done this many times ...... just finished an H55F swap on a 62 last month ...... and we started doing them about 15 years ago.
Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[DoubleNickels]

Thanks Georg. I'm willing to heat and bend - it was originally a question of "is this normal?". I found the answer to that is "yep", and in the meantime I've gotten used to the placement. Appreciate the input!

My shift cane doesn't have a nylon cup. I know my H55 in the FJ55 has one, but to my knowledge all 4-speeds were cup-less, correct?

 

[orangefj45]

Correct. The H42 has no plastic cup. All H55s have the cup.
Georg @ Valley Hybrids

 

[Spook50]

You can easily modify the shifter by heating it with a torch, then bend it to suit your needs.
Make sure to remove the white nylon cup from the bottom and wrap a wet rag around the rubber insulator do it won’t get damaged.
We’ve done this many times ...... just finished an H55F swap on a 62 last month ...... and we started doing them about 15 years ago.
Georg @ Valley Hybrids

I'm wishing I had the foresight to wrap the rubber insulator when I was working over my shifter. It went *poof* and sprayed a gout of flame out through the gap

Fortunately there was enough left inside to align the two halves of the shifter, so I reassembled it (actually worked out well since I was able to twist it to the perfect spot for me) and put a few tacks on the bottom seam with my Mig welder before cleaning it all up and having it powder coated.

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Correct. The H42 has no plastic cup. All H55s have the cup.
Georg @ Valley Hybrids

View attachment 2546436

george

don't the revised updated H42 w/ the aluminum shift towers have both the blue rubber cup seal and end cane grommett too ?

i was taught at toyota ALL alloy MTM toyota towers including land cruiserrrs too had these

the late model update was like ?

4/85 or close ?


please let me know if im correct here or not ?

thanks