4 on the tree?

[andreasklapp]

anybody got any thoughts on how i could set this up? i have an auto trans (and i tend to burn up automatics fast) and also have a chance to get any one of several four speeds free, the swap would be pretty easy to just make it a floor shift, but i think in the attempt to make it interesting it would be cool to shift it from the column. i know about the three on the tree, and i've heard about a four on the tree, so i guess i'm wondering if i'd need to source one of those columns and make the linkage, or if i'd be able to use the column i've got and make a linkage. it seems like i could use the auto shifter and just make it work (cut slots or something) just wondering if any ones done this, or has some experience with this type of shifter in general. i gotta switch it to a manual either way or i'm not gonna have a tranny very long.
thought about it a little more, think i got a plan. still have more pressing issues. but i may figure it out.

 

[Gregster]

I don't understand why an automatic trans won't last for you , that seems very odd they are in basicaly every type race car , rock crawler , monster truck etc. ????? [S not trying to blast on you , I just don't understand

 

[andreasklapp]

i don't know, maybe it's just me or the automatics i've had in the past, they just burn up (although one got burnt up for me by a thoughful guy at a quick lube place who didn't put the drain plug back in...) that and they don't feel right. i never drove an automatic for a long time, then i got one and just bombed it out. they don't feel right in the corners, they don't downshift when i want them to, and i basically don't understand them. so i guess it's probably just me, and i'd rather have a manual and a little more control over whats happening. but i also feel like i'm going to burn this tranny up. i don't even drive like i used to (most of the time anyway). automatics kinda freak me out. and i'm always looking for the clutch and the shifter. i started driving the tractors when i was about five though.

 

[PORTnPOLISH]

I hear you on this. I have never owned an auto car and when I drive my wifes car and my new truck slam my left foot to the floor and grab for a shifter at every stop. At the drag strip autos rule for consistent times and lightning fast shifts, rockcrawling they rule for control, but I think manuals are just plain fun and also bullit proof.
As far as making a four on the tree.... sounds like ore work then its worth. go with a four on the floor with a big ole shifter and a evil shift knob.

 

[Reign]

if you are looking for interesting, then make it a suicide shifter. four on the floor, but outside the drivers side window. so you have to have the window down to shift the car with your left hand hanging out the window.

saw that on a rat and LOVED the idea. something i have been thinking about for a project down the road.

 

[hotrod preacher]

...i saw a ford starliner once with 4 on the tree.....it was a magazine article on a "sleeper" car
the guy used an original 3 on the tree shift column, all 4 forward gears were on it, seems like reverse had been hooked to the e-brake lever that hung under the dash or maybe he had added a lever for it----as far as i know there never has been a factory 4 on the tree
as far as using the auto column, i don't think it would ever work-you need 3 rod linkages for most 4 speeds i've seen & an auto only has 1

i personally would try to go 4 on the floor--they are always cool-even with a plain white shift knob...i wouldn't recommend the suicide shifter for the galaxie--its more of a "radical rat" idea--cool but not for every auto[

 

[andreasklapp]

yeah i don't think the suicide shifter is right for this one. i wouldn't mind a floorshift, i may just end up doing that. been looking at three speed columns a little bit. i think i'd have to have one in hand to really figure it out though. "sleeper" is kind of the idea here, although i'm not really trying to make it that fast. just a little. i was almost thinking about mounting a floor unit upside down to the underside of the dash. i think the pattern may end up backwards then but that would be alright. kind of want it to look slow and low but get up and go, so if it was on the column then most people would think it was automatic at first glance. i used to be able to coast all the way into town from where i lived in colorado (20 miles down a mountain) nice on the gas.

 

[Reign]

what vehicle is this going on? i didnt think it was going on a galaxie. i wouldnt recomend it for that either. it wouldnt look right.

 

[Rev Tex Devlle]

i don't know, maybe it's just me or the automatics i've had in the past, they just burn up (although one got burnt up for me by a thoughful guy at a quick lube place who didn't put the drain plug back in...) that and they don't feel right. i never drove an automatic for a long time, then i got one and just bombed it out. they don't feel right in the corners, they don't downshift when i want them to, and i basically don't understand them. so i guess it's probably just me, and i'd rather have a manual and a little more control over whats happening. but i also feel like i'm going to burn this tranny up. i don't even drive like i used to (most of the time anyway). automatics kinda freak me out. and i'm always looking for the clutch and the shifter. i started driving the tractors when i was about five though.

me too iam a manual man! 3 on tree 4 in the floor 5 with over drive! traditonal hotroding trans!!!![dr

 

[zzrodder]

Lots of older Mercedes cars had 4 on the tree, 60's and 70's, maybe you could rob some parts from one of them? A really rare one was the 30's Cord, 4 on the tree, though it may have had an electrical component to it.

 

[andreasklapp]

i will look into that. thanks. i had just been looking at ford/lincoln merc columns, and thinking about how i could mount a floor shifter to the side of the column.

 

[R Pope]

'60's Austins had a 4 on the tree. I drove an IHC cabover that had a 5 on the tree! Weird!
You can do the 3-speed column thing and have a hidden lever for Reverse. That works good, no bouncing off reverse when you slam it.

 

[andreasklapp]

thanks for the replies. it gives me a few more possibilities in the hunt. i think it would be cool cause there aren't too many out there, and i would think that most of my generation wouldn't know anything about them.

 

[cycledog]

Mercedes did a four on the column in the 60's-early 70's.

 

[liljgoneman]

how about just using the original 3 speed column setup so reverse becomes 1st gear, 1st becomes 2nd and so on.. and running a seperate reverser?... you could put the reverse just about anywhere you want and run it with either a linkage or a cable....