I just finished installing my BD Power 6 spd short shift kit. I was wondering if anyone else who has installed one noticed that they now have a "painfully" stiff shift. It is hardest going from 2nd to 3rd and just a pain overall. You almost have to force it into gear. I was wondering if there was anything to adjust or lube to fix the problem. Any tips or pointers would be appreciated.

 

I installed the kit two weeks ago and so far no problems. If you are having problems suggest you first call BD.

 

Lots of people have these installed and your the first I read that had "painfully" hard shifting afterwards. You do lose a little leverage with the fulcrum point moved up the lever but you should have a hardly noticable increase in effort, not a large one. This isnt normal, I would call BD and go over it with them.

 

My first suggestion would be to call the vendor to discuss.<br>Then let folks know the solution.<br><br> ;D

 

K2...I was probably one of the first to try the BD short shifter in my 6-sp., and experienced &quot;tightness&quot;, stiffness as you discribed..Prior to the install, I resolved hard or tight shifting, with a change to a synthectic fluid and all was well. After the install, I immediately had the same problems as you describe..I thought, oh well, maybe this is the way it is suppose to work??? No one ever complained about it, so I didn't either...Well, now comes my new South Bend clutch install, a twin disk, one day prior to May Madness, in Las Vegas. Again, immediately after the new clutch install, things got so tight, I could barely get into gear (any gear) ***? Called Peter at South Bend, Mark Kendrick and J.R.Adkins just installed &quot;no problem&quot;..Did I do something wrong??? Anyway, Peter sugguested burning the clutch in, so I did about 3, 3rd. gear &quot;slippy&quot; launchs and it did help some..At May Madness, I hook-up with Peter, he too could barely get in any gear?? He was very puzzled, as he personally set-up my clutch with all the right clearances, and tolerances etc., and we both think, I have a worn or bad pilot bearing ( and would have to pull clutch again??) I know this is long, but bare with me, because hopefully, there may be others out there with the same problem?? It's been over a month now, I know the clutch is seated, engagement is better, I even added a set of fast coolers, again change the trans fluid hopefully this would help?? No it hasn't...So, I thought, I will remove the BD short shifter, replace the stock and see what happens, that's better then pulling the clutch right? So tear out everything, put the stock shifter in the housing, and find, somewhere along the line, I lost one of the stock bolts &gt; &gt; its 1:00am in the morning, no where to go to find a replacement bolt, so I put the short back in! This was like a week ago.. Even, today I e-mailed J.R.Adkins, if he was having any problems with his clutch, and he basically said no... Now after reading your post tonite, I am almost 99% certain the short shifter is causing me all this grief..Tommorrow, I'm going to try to find a replacement bolt, and see what happends ??? If you beat me to it, please posts your results...Mine is a 2001 HO, and I think, Incanus has hit the nail on the head. Perhaps, others with the same year truck, and have installed the short shifter will share some info??

 

I also was having problems shifting with the BD Sport Shifter in my 01 HO 6spd. I changed to &quot;aftermarket&quot; synthetic oil, then even added a metal treatment (no not the parts store stuff, but one I believe really works), and though it was improved, it was still unacceptable.

I was told that it needs to break in and would be better, but I pulled it for now and put the stock shifter back in. Man the throws are huge, but is it ever silky smooth!!! I REALLY like the shifting, but miss the short throws.

HeberRam, let us know what you think after putting the stock shifter back in.

 

I have the Short Shifter in my 01 and I have a very pain full 2-3 shift. My SBC did not change the way it shifts. But I am thinking about putting back in my stock shifter. I am running redline with some metal treatment. One thing I have noticed it that because it is a shorter throw you want to come out of 2nd and in to 3rd a little angled and not as stright as you would with the stock shifter. So the strighter you engage the gear the easier it goes in. <br>Thanks<br>

 

&quot;OK&quot;...Just 5 minutes ago, I got through re-installing my &quot;stock shifter&quot;, It was the problem all along.. &gt; &gt; My truck shifts like &quot;jello&quot;, and I'm so glad K2 brought the problem up. <br>When I took the second boot off I noticed in was cracked, and the smaller rubber cover that fits on the shift tower was also torn. I hadn't realized the stress and force I was putting on the shifter. I'd wished I had done it a month ago, if I didn't lose one of the bolts and sleeves..Got both today for $3.95.. Just think for $3.95, I could have $4500.00 repair bill if I had not changed back.<br>Incanus was right on the nose...Like Olblue said, the throws seem long again, but I will soon get used to it again...If anyone is experiencing simular problems, right after install, take the Dam thing out right away!!! I'm going to throw the thing away in the trash. I don't expect the Vendor will take back, or reimburse me the $195 I paid...I don't want anyone else to get stuck with my used shifter.. I'm sure some others have not had a problem, and everyone here that has, has a 2001. I'm going to let Peter Of South Bend Clutch be aware of this, because others out there maybe thinking it is their clutch. Olblue, I don't know who told you it needs to break in, if it was the Vendor I would let him know..No such thing as break-in for this product, it either works, or doesn't right after install. &gt;<br><br>Thanks again for all the replies, I just hope others with same problem see this post..I would appreciate anyone who has installed this product, to keep posting on this forum, so we can determine if it only effects certain year 6-sps.<br><br>Steve

 

Any updates ???, problems &gt;, concerns , don't know what to do :'(, or just don't care <br><br>Steve

 

Steve, so far mine is working fine. As you know I also have an early '01 ETH purchaced in June 2000. It took me about a week to re adjust my foot and arm timing when shifting. I still occationally catch 4th gear, but that is because my foot is moving faster than my arm. I did add a Hurst &quot;T&quot; handle to the shifter.....looks cool, and gives a beter feel when shifting compared to the OEM ****...but I think that is just personal preference.

I have always has a stiff shifting tranny...The RedLine MTL helped. One thing I did notice after installing the shifter is that when shifting down from 4th to 3rd, the synchros do not catch as bad with the BD shifter.....

so far so good...at least in my case.

 

Im not sure why you didnt call the vendor right away when you had a problem. Most of the folks I have dealt with are more than glad to make whatever it is right. They do that because word of mouth in a small community like this will make or break you and also in the case of several I have met because of pride in doing it right. In your case it sounds like something is wrong with the unit you have or else it was installed incorrectly. Incorrectly installing it isnt hard since the early units came with instructions that were wrong. Because of that BD has been getting folks fixed up that have ruined their isolaters etc. I strongly urge you to call them.

 

Instalation:<br><br>oops forgot to add that I had to make a gasket to fit on top of the aluminum spacer in order to keep the junction between the spacer and shifter from leaking because the shifter top was not perfectly flat from the factory. I also goobered a bunch of grease on the shifter ball before installing it into the socket.

 

Crabman..I will call Christain at BD, if and when I have more information. I'm tryin to determine if the problem is only related to the 2001 models? I did install it correctly. For those of you that have a problem with leaking, Sand (roughen both sides of the spacer) including the rubber isolator..Use hight temp &quot;red&quot; permatex, use generiously..By roughting up the pieces, allows the permatex to bond better to the slick surfaces.<br><br>Steve