Hurst Shifter Effort
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 22,025
Likes: 192
From: At the beach in little Rhody
Hurst Shifter Effort
Help. My wife has OK'd the Hurst but is fearful of it being too hard to shift. I know I can adjust the side to side, but am more concerned with effort putting into gear and missing 5th. My wife really wanted the A4 but relented to me getting the M6 so it is important I don't make any changes that would make the car harder for her to drive (she actually drives the car quite well, but is nervous about it and therefore reluctant). I am looking for honest information here.
Thanks
Thanks
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,302
Likes: 1,583
From: Western NY
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (vettenuts)
Vettenut, don't worry..... The light set of springs, three turns down will give you a decent effort through the neutral gate. The fore and aft effort doesn't change.
The biggest advantage is that you'll be able to find third gear on a regular basis!! :lol:
The biggest advantage is that you'll be able to find third gear on a regular basis!! :lol:
Pro
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 510
Likes: 0
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (vettenuts)
Fifth will take a little more effort to engage while in motion,,,,,,,,to be really honest............. Take out inner springs and just install weakest outer springs............ :cool: :cheers:
Racer
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 283
Likes: 0
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (vettenuts)
All above advice concerning the springs is good...but yes the Hurst will take somewhat more effort to shift. Has your wife ever missed gears, especially the long throws like 2-3 or 4-5 ?? if so, the Hurst will all but eliminate it, IMO. There will be no guessing whether you've pushed or pulled the shifter far enough... the Hurst seems to have removed the slop in the shifter.
Pro
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 530
Likes: 0
From: North Brunswick NJ
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (Geckoman)
look before you leap! Hurst may be great for most of us here, but it has a much, much stiffer feel than stock! She might hate it! I can see why GM doesn't offer this shifter as a stock unit! Only my 2 Cent opinion!!
Racer
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 482
Likes: 0
From: Tampa FL
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (Traffic Hater)
look before you leap! Hurst may be great for most of us here, but it has a much, much stiffer feel than stock! She might hate it! I can see why GM doesn't offer this shifter as a stock unit! Only my 2 Cent opinion!!
A lot of women have found this to be difficult.
I had the Ripper, and now the Hurst, not really that much difference.
Try and get a tall shifter ****, this will help considerably.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,380
Likes: 0
From: Life is all about power and control
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (vettenuts)
I agree with the others, put the lightest springs in for the side-side movement and you should be fine. The effort required for the fore-aft movement isn't really that much greater and as you have to apply that effort over a shorter distance I think in some ways it is easier to use.
One of the main reasons I went for a short throw shifter is that my elbow used to bump the centre console armrest/lid whenever I went up from an odd to an even gear. This doesn't happen now and I don't have to make a conscious effort to contort my arm around the console lid. That makes it less throw and less effort for me !
One of the main reasons I went for a short throw shifter is that my elbow used to bump the centre console armrest/lid whenever I went up from an odd to an even gear. This doesn't happen now and I don't have to make a conscious effort to contort my arm around the console lid. That makes it less throw and less effort for me !
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Race Director
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 19,304
Likes: 85
From: San Diego CA
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (vettenuts)
If you simply shortened the stock shifter, effort will increase, since the lever arm is shorter. Try installing a shorter handle on an hydraulic floor jack and then jack-up your car - same principle.
So it makes sense that there will be a somewhat increased effort required to shift gears using a shorter shift lever.
So it makes sense that there will be a somewhat increased effort required to shift gears using a shorter shift lever.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,118
Likes: 2
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (vettenuts)
The Hurst has a 2.40:1 upper/lower arm ratio. The stock shifter has a 4.50:1 ratio and much looser less reliable shifts. The Ripper is much stiffer than the Hurst with its 2.00:1 ratio....I used the Ripper for months and could not get the shifting speed I get with the Hurst. The Ripper feels very restricted and slow. If you use the light springs and light tension settings shifting will be quick and precise.....I can't imagine a properly setup Hurst will cause your wife any problem. :cheers:
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 218
Likes: 0
From: Corona CA
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (HIGHRPM)
You will get used to it.
The reason why the 1-2 and 5-6 gates are so stiff is for drag racing. It is nearly impossible to miss a 1-2, 2-3, or 3-4 shift. WIth stock shifters on M6's, it's easy to pull a 2-5 shift or a 3-2 shift when you are shifting fast and hard. The 2-5 will ruin your pass, the 3-2 will ruin your engine.
The reason why the 1-2 and 5-6 gates are so stiff is for drag racing. It is nearly impossible to miss a 1-2, 2-3, or 3-4 shift. WIth stock shifters on M6's, it's easy to pull a 2-5 shift or a 3-2 shift when you are shifting fast and hard. The 2-5 will ruin your pass, the 3-2 will ruin your engine.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 106,480
Likes: 1
From: Adventure, excitement ... a Jedi craves not these things.
Cruise-In VII Veteran
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (Dave68)
No problems whatsoever after it loosened up -- at about 700 miles of use. The only gear that's hard to get over to for me (on stock spring settings) is 6th, but I hardly ever use it.
Noggles
Noggles
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 8,133
Likes: 144
From: Ex-SF Bay Area; now happily Denver area
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (Number six)
look before you leap! Hurst may be great for most of us here, but it has a much, much stiffer feel than stock! She might hate it! I can see why GM doesn't offer this shifter as a stock unit! Only my 2 Cent opinion!!
Traffic Hater is right, the effort is quite a bit harder.
A lot of women have found this to be difficult.
I had the Ripper, and now the Hurst, not really that much difference.
Try and get a tall shifter ****, this will help considerably.
Traffic Hater is right, the effort is quite a bit harder.
A lot of women have found this to be difficult.
I had the Ripper, and now the Hurst, not really that much difference.
Try and get a tall shifter ****, this will help considerably.
But the final verdict is that if you can take the effort (and as mentioned above, it can be lessened), it is a fun and confident shifter. I enjoy the feel and sound of "snick, snick". If I were you, I'd try it because you should eventually find a good fit...but go in knowing that it is going to take more effort. And in the end, if you finally don't like it, just sell it on the Forum.
By the way, my after-market shifter was silver with black leather and I accidentally turned it into a gold color but now it's pretty unique and I get a lot of comments on it. Not brassy gold...just a light gold color...easy to do too.
Good luck on your decision.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 106,480
Likes: 1
From: Adventure, excitement ... a Jedi craves not these things.
Cruise-In VII Veteran
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (FunDriver)
PS -- it's not like you couldn't sell it here on the Forum for $20 less than you paid for it, anyhow (about 5 minutes and it will be snapped up!) -- just give it a try. :)
Noggles
Noggles
Pro
Joined: Feb 2001
Posts: 522
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta, GA
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (vettenuts)
A taller **** combined with the softer springs will ease the effort. Soft springs alone only affect the side-to-side effort, though on off-center gates they do influence the combined effort. A taller **** reduces the throw reduction, by about 7% to 35% overall if you were to return to stock height. A **** like those made by Autotechnica, sometimes labeled as "Phantom" *****, would work well for this. But no matter what, throw reduction always means increased effort; whether the effort is reasonable or not can only be resolved by trying.
Pro
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 530
Likes: 0
From: North Brunswick NJ
Re: Hurst Shifter Effort (zrchris)
WoW! I have a couple of enlisted quotes. :blueangel: Just do what I did and wait for a show to turn up and ask for a couple of shifts in a fellow vette owners car. They will be more than happy as I have found! I only tried the shifter that owners put in straight from the box, so indeed the shift firmness may be reduced slightly. Remember folks, he is asking for his wife. a little different than us Hee Men!