family truckster

Here's my review of the Steeda economy shifter, first will be installation followed by my test drive then an opinion or two.

Installation wasn't too bad. For a point of reference I usally do my own wrenching on brakes, oil changes, and general maintence. I've rebuilt motors before but leave transmissions and rear ends to the pro's.

The job took me 3 hours but I took my time and since it was my first time under the car, I was scoping out the bottom side for a while.

I used two pair of jackstands, one pair would suffice depending on how skinny you are. You don't have to take the drive shaft completely out, just the front half and let it rest on the exhaust. I really appreciated that I had a V6 for this part.

Tools required: Either a bench grinder, dremel, or die grinder; bench vice, a couple of 4-6" c-clamps; 10mm deep well socket; 10mm, 12mm, (2) 1/2 box end wrenches; 1 1/16" socket to drive in the bushing spacer; pry-bar to keep the drive shaft from turning when removing/installing flange bolts; Id also recommend having a feeler guage to check the shifter stop adjustment.

The instructions were thourough, the only things not really covered were that you may have to pound the stock shifter ball/arm piece out of the shifter housing (remove the white plastic spacers from the shifter arm mount below the ball you will need to re-use them). Also that the shifter threads are different from the stock shifter handle. This is OK though because the stock handle is made out of plastic and it threaded itself onto the course threads just fine (I did use a generous amount of thread locker being careful not to get any on the leather boot).

Now the fun part: I knew when I put it into reverse that shifting was going to be very different, it felt like almost half the throw. Every shift when going through the gears seems a tick faster and much more crisp. I couldn't help but want to rev it out and slam the next gear. Every time I threw it into a new gear it felt like I used to have a pick-up truck shifter just this morning. It definately is much funner to drive now.

The reason I bought the shifter was that the old one wanted to pause before going into the next gear like it had to go into neutral for a split second before the next gear it was all very rubbery and I could not tell what it wanted. Now that has changed, it doesn't want to go into neutral first, it just wants to stop for a split second as it goes into the next gear, it's hard to explain but I can now feel exactly what it's doing. I think this a good thing because if there is something wrong with the clutch or transmission I think it can be diagnosed better. If anyone else is having this problem let me know.

Afterthoughts: The total price was about $155. Along with the economy shifter I bought the $15 urethane shifter mounts from Steeda, which I'm very glad I did. The stock rubber ones were very soft and mushy and should be replaced even if you want to keep the stock long throw shifter. I did wish the urethane kit came with a shifter rod bushing as well (this is where the shifter rod connects to the transmission, the stock one is a soft rubber as well). Maybe for writing such a nice review Steeda will send me one for free! hint hint wink wink Before buying this one I communicated with Steeda and Hurst. Steeda didn't give me an answer on if or when there will be a Tri-Ax available for the V6, Hurst said the Competition Plus for the V6 will be late fall. Overall I'm glad I did this mod and believe I will keep it even when the other shifters come out.