The stock ball is a very lightweight plastic piece with a "two-stair" design on the inside. It "clips" onto the shaft of the stock shifter. There are no threads whatsoever. The Mopar STS and many other STS's that have been developed for this car come with the same "snap/clip-on" design, which is arguably one of the worst due to the ball coming right off with a hard second gear shift.

Here is the best picture I have right now, Ill take another if you would like.


I have the Mopar STS shifter, with the Hurst Ceramic viper ball ****. The **** came with threads. What I ended up having to do was cut a couple inches off of the shaft of the Mopar STS, and die grind the threads out. I then applied door panel adhesive inside the ball, put it on the shifter and taped it in place, allowing a 12-24hour curing time for the adhesive.

It was a pain, but Im a huge fan of the ball style, just because its very easy to grip. Being that the viper ball is heavier than the stock shifter ball it also makes for much easier short shifting with a ball-style ****.

I would like to see something like what was in the Challengers....the Pistol Grip, very very nice, and a good showpiece. Then again my friend with a 50s Chevy pickup has a Budweiser Tap Handle screwed onto his shifter for shows. Having a threaded shifter makes it worlds easier when finding something that fits your style, and your needs when shifting....also a nice show piece.


And then as seen in this Impala SS, the most confusing shifting device of all time:


It even convieniently came with instructions, if you have any fkn clue after this I PRAISE you, I could never drive this car.

 

Wow, great post, LSP! That Hurst sequential shifter is NUTs!

It sounds like there are few aftermarket short-shifters for this car. It may be possible to thread the shifter shaft so that an aftermarket **** can thread onto it. However, the average person may not be able to do this, especially if the shifter shaft diameter is not within the right range. BTW, is this **** attachment design common throughout the Chrysler line of cars? It seems like this is NOT the case with the Viper. What about the Charger? If the shifter shaft you show is removable, maybe another, threaded version would work with it. I can design one if need-be.

Dave

 

With the position of the shifter on the SRT-4 i preferr the ball type.
Now if the shifter was higher up and i shifted with my arm more extended horizontally ide preferr the pistol grip type shifter such as in the Corvette, but the SRT-4's shifter is down by the knee so a pistol grip **** would be pritty much usless cuz youde still be shifting from the top of it instead of the way the pistol grip type is ment - from the side.

 

Good point - I agree. That's why I need to come out with a ball ****. I just didn't realize that there were any cars that didn't have threaded shifter rods. I guess cost savings in this area of the car were mandatory in order to pump up the HP so much. The same is true of the Corvette and other hi-HP vehicles that don't cost nearly as much as the German or Italian competition.

 

The Corvette shifter shaft is Threaded. I know cuz I installed an aftermarket Carbon fiber ****. see **** on the rt.

 

I have a bit of experience with them as well. See www.conceptualpolymer.com
Currently, I don't have a huge line. In fact, it's downright miniscule. But that's why I'm inquiring; I'm hoping to expand, slowly but surely. I wonder if I can machine a hole in the **** and then bond in a stepped tube. The larger diameter end would have three set screws in it to lock the whole assembly to the SRT-4 shifter shaft.

 

I'm pretty sure the PT Cruiser uses the same shifter-ball setup as the SRT-4, so a retro design might sell to some of those folks.

 

I guess that means their shifters are not threaded, either? If any of you guys removed your shift **** before and can do it again easily, could you post some pics? Anyone live in San Diego?