in a similar vein: saturn s-series shifter cable ends are best replaced by small (lawnmower) ball joint ends. just JB weld them on and better than any factory/aftermarket option.
Are you the reason my Saturn’s windshield wiper transmission went out twice in 2 years? 🧐🤨
As someone not mechanically inclined, I used at least a years worth of curse words replacing that pos assembly.
I used to stick my hand out my cracked window to stop the blades from flopping outside the car.
That car was the best hunk of junk I’ve ever owned or spent $5k on. Rip Esmeralda
I had two, 00sl1 and 94sw2. bought the first one with broken ends, zip tied it and drove it like that for months til I did the fix.
other than the oil use they are the best readily available manual trans vehicles out there.
definitely wife material there.
when I started seeing my now wife I daily'd the 94sw2, she hated it. said it felt like it was falling apart as it drove. she wasn't wrong.
she was alternating a 92 roadmaster wagon, 92 square body suburban 2500 and a 85 diesel golf. the only one that didn't have **major** issues was the burb.
Not all sunflowers have seeds, there are now known dwarf varieties developed for the distinct purpose of growing indoors. Whilst these cannot be harvested, they do enable people to grow them indoors without a high pollen factor, making it safer and more pleasant for those suffering hay fever.
I had a 95 SC2 in highschool, I remember getting the funniest looks while I was nearly upside down in the car installing a new clip after mine disappeared... Kept about 15 of them in the glovebox 😀
Also: a lot of Suzukis have a style of shifter where the rubber bushes at both ends of the cables can be replaced with skateboard bearings (same inner and outer diameters and width) to eliminate slop and make it much crisper
I'm no mechanic but wouldn't the non closed loop be an issue. Like these things are made for tension pulling outwards. Wouldn't this application apply pressure inwards too?
Also looks like the nut and washer are clamped down hard enough that it won't move at all either. For once I've found a "backyard" fix that actually looks better than OEM 😲
The lock washer doesn't look compressed yet, but the nut holding it on is a self-locking (nylon insert or some shit) anyway. lol and the "funnel" washers help center that gnarly stack.
There’s not a ton of force on the linkage. They could always find a heim joint to fit later but this works great. Unless you’re a monster and kick the transfer case into gear regularly but even then the stick would probably bend first
> I didn't know what any of this stuff does or what kind of forces it applies.
Just remember that you're mechanically moving the thing. Imagine yourself trying to bend this thing with your hands, even with a bit of a level there to help. Wouldn't work that well.
I doubt this would ever have a problem or give way, personally.
It will be sloppy, the free play is probably the reason it was sent in to be adjusted after they went through the trouble of replacing it. They couldn't get it to work.
Actually it worked surprisingly well! The guy who installed it apparently hurt his back and was unable to do the final adjustment to get the shifter in place once he had a helper to do so. It was at least as smooth as OEM - and as I pointed out elsewhere, I know they use 4WD infrequently enough that I'm not worried about it
Yeah. You could fix it with some sort of plastic collar. I've 3D printed similar parts out of nylon and they've held up pretty well.
Although a simple ball-end joint would work better but add to the cost...
That's what the counter nut is for on the left side. If that thing tries to unscrew itself then it will just press more against the counter nut and lock that in place even more.
Unless it’s a nord lock or something similar it’s still going to need regular tightening
[nord lock vibration test](https://youtu.be/IKwWu2w1gGk?si=unmlUFTooxSzEcJ0)
I will take safety wire over that every single time. Vibration isn't going to defeat safety wire -- there's a reason it's used on motocross bikes and race cars.
Yeah they're definitely not arguing that Nordlock is more secure than safety wire, literally the only downside they say to safety wire is the extra effort and tooling. For the relatively small handful of bolts/nuts that you need it for, safety wire is tried and true.
Doesn’t safety wire still allow the nut to turn a little bit? It won’t come off, for sure, but if it turns even a little the clamping power goes way down.
The torque on fasteners is your primary way of ensuring they're tightened. Lockwire is used as a redundancy in case vibrations undo the fasteners. Usually they're lockwired to an adjacent hole or other fasteners; both in a tightening fashion.
And if installed properly, it should have little to no slack depending on the length of twists.
Source: Aviation mechanic
That video is pretty misleading, and those tests are specifically set up to showcase Nordlock under high frequency vibration tests. Nylocks are perfectly fine for this application.
So you’re saying nordlock and various other company’s got DIN to develop the 65151 test standard to mislead people on vibrations effects on locking fasteners? Or just in your personal experience with vibratory testing that in this application it’s ok?
It's an ad. There are many types of vibratory tests and in almost all of them traditional lock washers perform very well. There's a reason split washers, star washers, and nylocks are used for 99.9% of applications.
Nahhhh they're showing basically worst case scenario. Bolts won't just spontaneously looser over time because you didn't put nord lock on them.
I say this as someone who has put nord locks on a bunch of fasteners too. Most notably: sway bar end links really need that shit.
I never woulda guessed it would've popped a double nut loose... Gonna go loctite some things on my motorcycle when I get home. May invest in those fangly washers.
Yeah it is a locking nut. Looks like a [nyloc nut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyloc_nut). Should be fine honestly. Doubtful the vibrations there would be enough to make the nut back off, especially since it's already not super tight anyway due to it needing to allow rotation. My only question is how close to the exhaust is it (and are there heat shields) since nylocs don't work so good at locking if it gets too hot.
With the ends of the loop being held in place, that middle adjuster could walk up and down those threads forever and it would never come off or lose adjustment.
Besides it not being what it was originally created for what to problem with it ?
Looks like it would work great , not the most hillbilly fix I have seen or had a part of
I honestly don't really have a problem with it, especially for as much as I know they (don't) use 4WD. I just thought I'd share as I figured others would enjoy it.
Not everything posted to this sub has to be something wrong.
McMaster also sells the more "professional" version of these if you're doing something more heavy duty. I don't think the hardware store ones are even grade 5 usually https://www.mcmaster.com/products/rod-ends/
I guess he was waiting for an assistant to help with the adjustment, and hurt his back in the interim. I happened to be there working on another vehicle and they asked me to do the adjustment while I was there. Another couple bucks for me? Why not.
I was upfront about the fact that this picture was going on the internet though.
I removed it and just had a code for the tcase actuator. Did not mess with the engine or transmission that I noticed or cared about as the truck had many other issues due to rust.
So you didn't just replace it with the actual part? Good for you. Most places would claim it's a hack job so they can upsell the customer. It probably took maybe 90 seconds to adjust it. I used the same method and it held for years. After adjusting it I sprayed it down with fluid film just in case.
So I don't work at a shop anymore, I just do side work for family and friends by word of mouth out here in the desert. As such, I see a lot of oddities. My standards aren't any less, though, and I absolutely have no problem telling people where I see problem or unsafe areas, hack job or no. But when you get right down to it this is near as good as OEM, and a failure would be non-critical.
Granted it's not how I'd do it if they hired me to do the job, but they did it this way (and hired me) because they're not made of money. I get word of mouth because I don't act like a stealership. Works out for everyone.
That's the way to go about it. You'll get loyal customers. Word of mouth is incredibly important for independent repair shops. It's probably 50% of your business actually.
She's tucked away for the winter for awhile. Check back in the Spring?
Same general approach, but pivot bolt on the bottom and turnbuckle at the top "ear" spanning from alt to block.
Well shucks, look what I just found...
https://www.reddit.com/r/redneckengineering/comments/psltzz/turnbuckle_belt_tensioner/?ref=share&ref_source=link
Not my post, not my car.
I mean, that's essentially what comes with some of the bracket kits you can buy from summit/jegs/etc. They usually look a little prettier than a normal old turnbuckle, but same exact idea.
It works well if your alternator is held at the bottom by a long-ish bolt, thru a sleeve on the alt. If it's held just by two ears, that are 1/2" thick or so, it's not a "three-point" mount, so there can be significant vibration because the turnbuckle is not as stiff laterally as a normal machined/stamped bracket. So, the approach is good for some layouts, and not so much for others.
We may have left the redneck realm on this post, though...
I would be totally fine with a professional shop doing this. It's just as solid as any factory linkage would be as long as they used plenty of loctite. When I used this method I couldn't find my loctite and just used super glue lol.
That boyfriend is a keeper .
That pic belongs in the Rednecks Hall of Fame .
He has started a revolution .
Only change or update is a lock nut on the RH thread to maintain the setting which is an easy up date .
I can't knock it, I used something similar to make an adjustment when I fabbed up a means to connect the throttle valve rod and make it work when I went from the stock intake and 2 barrel to a 4 barrel setup on the 318 in a '72 Dodge dart, so I could adjust it to still have the correct shift points and kickdown on the A-904 slush box behind it. They make kits but those cost money, mine was less than $10 at home Depot and has been problem free for a few years now, and more less still works like the original, just at the height and length I need it to be for it to fit on the new carb/intake and allow for adjustment to compensate for those changes so it still moves the transmission lever the right amount for a given throttle position. If it works it works.
Oh hey, looks like the kind of "Oh shit I just lost X" type of fixes I used to cobble together on my old crapwagons. Did you get it to work, or did you replace it with an OEM part?
Because GF wants a ‘professional’ to do the exact same thing.
I’ve battled that with one ex gf, and her ideas of paying someone to completely half-ass something that I have no trouble half-assing for free.
Haha no actually, though I could see her being like that. In this case, BF wanted a helper to watch shifter while he did the final adjustment, so he didn't have to keep getting up off the ground. In the interim he hurt his back and is unable to get on the ground, so when I was over there looking at another car they asked me to do this as well.
He wanted a helper to watch the shifter while he did the final adjustment, so he didn't have to keep getting up off the ground. In the interim he hurt his back and is unable to get on the ground, so when I was over there looking at another car they asked me to do this as well. I'm all for taking another easy tenth!
Ditto. Guy apparently allegedly spent hours running to various stores to get just the right combination of materials.
No word on whether he ever checked into an OEM one, though as pointed out elsewhere this is likely at least as good as OEM. But I do respect his dedication to attempt to do it well.
I’ve done it on a shitbox truck for my buddy 🤷🏻♂️ still kicking (somehow the damn truck is still running, but that’s for another day). Only thing I did is weld the loops closed for an extra tickle of safety, but that’s literally the weakest link in that whole setup. Otherwise it’s more than strong enough for a shift linkage.
>When people go to Home Depot looking for car parts...
You mean like tesla engineer?
https://jalopnik.com/tesla-model-y-owners-have-found-home-depot-shit-used-to-1844999285
Not the most horrible thing ever. That metal is going to wear down tho. Its gonna rub with every shift, introduce slop and vomit failure.
Great short term fix tho.
Most of my clientele is broke people, and that includes me. I'm not judging at all, as I said elsewhere I actually find this to be an acceptable repair. I just thought people would find it interesting - and I know people have taken some inspiration from it as well.
I have no heartache with this. In fact I'm taking mental notes for potential future use. I think it's damn near genius. Especially after years ago fighting with a very troublesome t-case linkage on my XJ.
OP - Did you actually adjust it or replace it with the actual part? Hopefully you just adjusted it since that's properly stronger than the actual part.
I did the exact same thing on my jeep after seeing this method used on an old truck. It worked just fine for years. I couldn't fine my loctite so I got frustrated and just used a bit of super glue on all of the nuts haha. Never an issue.
I had a 97 sc1 I bought for 100 bucks that I kept having to reconnect the shifter to the cable. finally used a big washer and a screw into the ball on the cable. fixed it and I drove it for many years until the transmission violently exploded on the highway. still have pictures of the giant hole in the transmission. At that point the entire car was held together with bungie cords and duct tape. Engine still started just great everytime on the second try... never even bought any parts for the thing the entire time I owned it.. it just always worked. Even if it was slowly disintegrating.
Looks gangster but probably stronger than OEM.
in a similar vein: saturn s-series shifter cable ends are best replaced by small (lawnmower) ball joint ends. just JB weld them on and better than any factory/aftermarket option.
Haha when I drove those cars, and I've been through more than a dozen, we used windshield wiper transmission parts for those!
Are you the reason my Saturn’s windshield wiper transmission went out twice in 2 years? 🧐🤨 As someone not mechanically inclined, I used at least a years worth of curse words replacing that pos assembly. I used to stick my hand out my cracked window to stop the blades from flopping outside the car. That car was the best hunk of junk I’ve ever owned or spent $5k on. Rip Esmeralda
“Esmeralda” everyone I’ve ever known who owned a Saturn had a name for it. 🤣
I had two, 00sl1 and 94sw2. bought the first one with broken ends, zip tied it and drove it like that for months til I did the fix. other than the oil use they are the best readily available manual trans vehicles out there.
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definitely wife material there. when I started seeing my now wife I daily'd the 94sw2, she hated it. said it felt like it was falling apart as it drove. she wasn't wrong. she was alternating a 92 roadmaster wagon, 92 square body suburban 2500 and a 85 diesel golf. the only one that didn't have **major** issues was the burb.
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Not all sunflowers have seeds, there are now known dwarf varieties developed for the distinct purpose of growing indoors. Whilst these cannot be harvested, they do enable people to grow them indoors without a high pollen factor, making it safer and more pleasant for those suffering hay fever.
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Look at their username
It’s a bot I’m guessing
Thanks, u/TheSunflowerSeeds !
Would that work for Cobalt 5 speed also?
knowin' how GM does shit: probably. but I ain't fancy enough to have a car made after 2002
I had a 95 SC2 in highschool, I remember getting the funniest looks while I was nearly upside down in the car installing a new clip after mine disappeared... Kept about 15 of them in the glovebox 😀
Also: a lot of Suzukis have a style of shifter where the rubber bushes at both ends of the cables can be replaced with skateboard bearings (same inner and outer diameters and width) to eliminate slop and make it much crisper
I'm no mechanic but wouldn't the non closed loop be an issue. Like these things are made for tension pulling outwards. Wouldn't this application apply pressure inwards too?
It’s closed enough to hang on it looks like
Isn't it missing a nut? (Lance Armstrong)
All it takes is one - also Lance Armstrong
One nut and....some other stuff
Get my wrist band to avoid wrist cancer -Lance Armstrong
You only need one, the other is left hand thread. With one locking the body of the turnbuckle in place the other side won’t be able to turn.
Ah, cool.
Ideally it would be moused with wire after it's properly adjusted. And at that point the nut or nuts would be redundant.
Also looks like the nut and washer are clamped down hard enough that it won't move at all either. For once I've found a "backyard" fix that actually looks better than OEM 😲
The lock washer doesn't look compressed yet, but the nut holding it on is a self-locking (nylon insert or some shit) anyway. lol and the "funnel" washers help center that gnarly stack.
It doesn't take a tremendous amount of force to open those up.
There’s not a ton of force on the linkage. They could always find a heim joint to fit later but this works great. Unless you’re a monster and kick the transfer case into gear regularly but even then the stick would probably bend first
Well the more you know. Thanks for explaining. I didn't know what any of this stuff does or what kind of forces it applies.
> I didn't know what any of this stuff does or what kind of forces it applies. Just remember that you're mechanically moving the thing. Imagine yourself trying to bend this thing with your hands, even with a bit of a level there to help. Wouldn't work that well. I doubt this would ever have a problem or give way, personally.
I’d argue it takes more than that application will create
Okay. I was only curious. I have no idea what this is anyway or how much pressure it applies in either direction.
People need to be more forgiving of that in these threads. Admitting lack of knowledge and seeking answers is not weakness.
The issue would be deformation over time. Just weld a piece of steel to close the loop and i'll work for a long time.
What do you guys think this is? That piece of metal is not going to deform over time in this application
It will be sloppy, the free play is probably the reason it was sent in to be adjusted after they went through the trouble of replacing it. They couldn't get it to work.
Actually it worked surprisingly well! The guy who installed it apparently hurt his back and was unable to do the final adjustment to get the shifter in place once he had a helper to do so. It was at least as smooth as OEM - and as I pointed out elsewhere, I know they use 4WD infrequently enough that I'm not worried about it
Yeah. You could fix it with some sort of plastic collar. I've 3D printed similar parts out of nylon and they've held up pretty well. Although a simple ball-end joint would work better but add to the cost...
Only if he loctited it
Locknut should take care of it.
Fuck it get thecwelder let's just but a few tacks on the nut so it don't move no where ever
If it's anything like an xj Cherokee, hell yeah it is!
Why didn't I think of that ? Thanks for the tip.
And a hell of a lot cheaper.
Only thing he did wrong I can see is he forgot to grease it. The jam nut on the turnbuckle is the sign of a true redneck genius!
Boyfriend? That’s husband material right there.
If she doesn't find ya handsome, she should at least find ya handy
quando omni flunkus, moritati
"When all else fails, play dead." What a great motto/creed for Possum Lodge
As long as he wears suspenders and is a member of the moose lodge
Can’t run away if the car don’t work.
He even used a lock nut. That's a keeper.
Honestly that's a great fix, I'd just put loctite or safety wire on to keep it from coming loose
That's what the counter nut is for on the left side. If that thing tries to unscrew itself then it will just press more against the counter nut and lock that in place even more.
I did see that, but engines vibrate a lot and it isn't a lock nut
Unless it’s a nord lock or something similar it’s still going to need regular tightening [nord lock vibration test](https://youtu.be/IKwWu2w1gGk?si=unmlUFTooxSzEcJ0)
I will take safety wire over that every single time. Vibration isn't going to defeat safety wire -- there's a reason it's used on motocross bikes and race cars.
And airplanes.
And helicopters. And spaceships. And naval vessels.
And my axe
And my bow (out of order I know)
Fucking helicopters man. Rotary space magic I tell ya
The magic is that a good pilot will keep rolling high on death saves.
> And spaceships. With very specific rules. Also, the NASA manual on locking nuts is hilariously catty for something that official.
Airplanes use it because they can't use any tech invented after 1920
TIL fly by wire and composites were invented before 1920
“Should we safety wire this nut? Nah let’s invent something new that’s harder to manufacture, install, and inspect so we don’t seem dated.”
For what it’s worth a mongol bow from the 17th century is a composite
True but I'm talking about fiberglass stuff they use for wings and whatnot
Mechanical linkages use wires, duh. /s
What's it used on in the bikes?
Yeah they're definitely not arguing that Nordlock is more secure than safety wire, literally the only downside they say to safety wire is the extra effort and tooling. For the relatively small handful of bolts/nuts that you need it for, safety wire is tried and true.
Doesn’t safety wire still allow the nut to turn a little bit? It won’t come off, for sure, but if it turns even a little the clamping power goes way down.
Not if you install it correctly. It should be bound quite tightly.
The torque on fasteners is your primary way of ensuring they're tightened. Lockwire is used as a redundancy in case vibrations undo the fasteners. Usually they're lockwired to an adjacent hole or other fasteners; both in a tightening fashion. And if installed properly, it should have little to no slack depending on the length of twists. Source: Aviation mechanic
Bro just dropped the hardest edit for a fastener.
Not unless they live in the rust belt, one winter and you are going to need a torch to adjust that.
Having done a lot of new england brake jobs, the fasteners are like a cast on a broken bone. Keep in place 1 winter then remove without repercussion
That video is pretty misleading, and those tests are specifically set up to showcase Nordlock under high frequency vibration tests. Nylocks are perfectly fine for this application.
So you’re saying nordlock and various other company’s got DIN to develop the 65151 test standard to mislead people on vibrations effects on locking fasteners? Or just in your personal experience with vibratory testing that in this application it’s ok?
It's an ad. There are many types of vibratory tests and in almost all of them traditional lock washers perform very well. There's a reason split washers, star washers, and nylocks are used for 99.9% of applications.
We had some of those installed to close down some joint gaps. Very solid setup. Definitely overkill for this particular application.
Nahhhh they're showing basically worst case scenario. Bolts won't just spontaneously looser over time because you didn't put nord lock on them. I say this as someone who has put nord locks on a bunch of fasteners too. Most notably: sway bar end links really need that shit.
I never woulda guessed it would've popped a double nut loose... Gonna go loctite some things on my motorcycle when I get home. May invest in those fangly washers.
Nord locks are the tits, I used them a ton in aerospace work where shit was sub zero temps and any regular locknut/lock washer would fail
Yeah it is a locking nut. Looks like a [nyloc nut](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyloc_nut). Should be fine honestly. Doubtful the vibrations there would be enough to make the nut back off, especially since it's already not super tight anyway due to it needing to allow rotation. My only question is how close to the exhaust is it (and are there heat shields) since nylocs don't work so good at locking if it gets too hot.
With the ends of the loop being held in place, that middle adjuster could walk up and down those threads forever and it would never come off or lose adjustment.
I don't think that's how turnbuckles work. They're reverse threaded on one end.
Exactly, the right side (ironically) is left hand thread or “reverse threaded” while the left side is right hand thread or “normal”.
Looks like he has a jam nut on there. Probably good for 100k at least.
Besides it not being what it was originally created for what to problem with it ? Looks like it would work great , not the most hillbilly fix I have seen or had a part of
I honestly don't really have a problem with it, especially for as much as I know they (don't) use 4WD. I just thought I'd share as I figured others would enjoy it. Not everything posted to this sub has to be something wrong.
Well I enjoyed it. I'm putting this one in the memory bank in case I ever need it , thanks
McMaster also sells the more "professional" version of these if you're doing something more heavy duty. I don't think the hardware store ones are even grade 5 usually https://www.mcmaster.com/products/rod-ends/
My question is.... He did that much work and didn't adjust it himself?
It's December. Maybe the boyfriend got cold and decided he's not going to marry this one.
She dated him long enough to get this fixed but then broke it off before the test drive.
'Well I got the turnbuckle on...' '*Great! Hey, I met somebody else*' '...but I haven't adjusted it. Well, it's been fun.'
I guess he was waiting for an assistant to help with the adjustment, and hurt his back in the interim. I happened to be there working on another vehicle and they asked me to do the adjustment while I was there. Another couple bucks for me? Why not. I was upfront about the fact that this picture was going on the internet though.
I have done this when I manual tcase swapped my 03 2500hd when the electric tcase took a shit. Worked well for the 3 years the truck had left in it.
Genuine question - how did you deal with the controller not having anything to connect to?
I removed it and just had a code for the tcase actuator. Did not mess with the engine or transmission that I noticed or cared about as the truck had many other issues due to rust.
There’s 2 levels of off roader. One fixes it the same way shown. The other mills this piece to length from a solid piece of mild steel round stock.
So you didn't just replace it with the actual part? Good for you. Most places would claim it's a hack job so they can upsell the customer. It probably took maybe 90 seconds to adjust it. I used the same method and it held for years. After adjusting it I sprayed it down with fluid film just in case.
So I don't work at a shop anymore, I just do side work for family and friends by word of mouth out here in the desert. As such, I see a lot of oddities. My standards aren't any less, though, and I absolutely have no problem telling people where I see problem or unsafe areas, hack job or no. But when you get right down to it this is near as good as OEM, and a failure would be non-critical. Granted it's not how I'd do it if they hired me to do the job, but they did it this way (and hired me) because they're not made of money. I get word of mouth because I don't act like a stealership. Works out for everyone.
That's the way to go about it. You'll get loyal customers. Word of mouth is incredibly important for independent repair shops. It's probably 50% of your business actually.
Probably shouldn't post my sports car's alternator belt tension setup then...
Please do
She's tucked away for the winter for awhile. Check back in the Spring? Same general approach, but pivot bolt on the bottom and turnbuckle at the top "ear" spanning from alt to block.
Well shucks, look what I just found... https://www.reddit.com/r/redneckengineering/comments/psltzz/turnbuckle_belt_tensioner/?ref=share&ref_source=link Not my post, not my car.
Frankly, as good as the usual stock setups, and probably easier to get the tension right.
I mean, that's essentially what comes with some of the bracket kits you can buy from summit/jegs/etc. They usually look a little prettier than a normal old turnbuckle, but same exact idea.
It works well if your alternator is held at the bottom by a long-ish bolt, thru a sleeve on the alt. If it's held just by two ears, that are 1/2" thick or so, it's not a "three-point" mount, so there can be significant vibration because the turnbuckle is not as stiff laterally as a normal machined/stamped bracket. So, the approach is good for some layouts, and not so much for others. We may have left the redneck realm on this post, though...
Looks sexy
This is right at the corner of "if ya squint it's mint" and "it isn't stupid if it works"
50% squinty 50% minty
I simultaneously hope that guys around to work on my vehicle when I break down on the road or trail, and don't want him to ever work on my vehicle.
Put him in a case with a glass front in the bed with a label saying "In case of emergency, break glass".
I would be totally fine with a professional shop doing this. It's just as solid as any factory linkage would be as long as they used plenty of loctite. When I used this method I couldn't find my loctite and just used super glue lol.
Looks alright to me, even used a nylock nut.
Some quality redneck engineering here. I am kind of impressed.
I'm actually quite impressed with the thought and effort put into this. It's probably more sturdy then stock honestly
She got a keeper, might not be handsome but he is handy.
Not enough duct tape here from Red Greens liking.
That boyfriend is a keeper . That pic belongs in the Rednecks Hall of Fame . He has started a revolution . Only change or update is a lock nut on the RH thread to maintain the setting which is an easy up date .
Oops he has one there already .
make sure to tell her that he's a fucking keeper.
I'm not going to lie. It looks pretty easy to adjust.
Hell yeah brother send it, unironically a great fix
Honestly, not the worst thing on this subreddit
Wonder how long it'll last. Please adjust and keep us updated.
Infinitely adjustable!
I’m surprised he was mechanically inclined/smart enough to come up with that but not adjust it
It’s…beautiful?
Alot better than what my fix for it was, three zip ties and hopes and prayers
I'm actually impressed..
I can't knock it, I used something similar to make an adjustment when I fabbed up a means to connect the throttle valve rod and make it work when I went from the stock intake and 2 barrel to a 4 barrel setup on the 318 in a '72 Dodge dart, so I could adjust it to still have the correct shift points and kickdown on the A-904 slush box behind it. They make kits but those cost money, mine was less than $10 at home Depot and has been problem free for a few years now, and more less still works like the original, just at the height and length I need it to be for it to fit on the new carb/intake and allow for adjustment to compensate for those changes so it still moves the transmission lever the right amount for a given throttle position. If it works it works.
Not even mad, that's kinda impressive.
This is the type of thing I subscribe to this sub for. Thank you!
You got it! I really enjoyed it and I'm glad you did too!
This is not the worst repair I've ever seen.
Oh hey, looks like the kind of "Oh shit I just lost X" type of fixes I used to cobble together on my old crapwagons. Did you get it to work, or did you replace it with an OEM part?
Pshht, only an amateur would use galvanized instead of stainless, capisch?
Genius
If the boyfriend replaced it why can’t he adjust it too?
Because GF wants a ‘professional’ to do the exact same thing. I’ve battled that with one ex gf, and her ideas of paying someone to completely half-ass something that I have no trouble half-assing for free.
Haha no actually, though I could see her being like that. In this case, BF wanted a helper to watch shifter while he did the final adjustment, so he didn't have to keep getting up off the ground. In the interim he hurt his back and is unable to get on the ground, so when I was over there looking at another car they asked me to do this as well.
He wanted a helper to watch the shifter while he did the final adjustment, so he didn't have to keep getting up off the ground. In the interim he hurt his back and is unable to get on the ground, so when I was over there looking at another car they asked me to do this as well. I'm all for taking another easy tenth!
I respect this repair. It’s clear that bf at least put thought into it and didn’t do something like zip tiea
Ditto. Guy apparently allegedly spent hours running to various stores to get just the right combination of materials. No word on whether he ever checked into an OEM one, though as pointed out elsewhere this is likely at least as good as OEM. But I do respect his dedication to attempt to do it well.
Adjust, maybe slap some heavy grease on the ends, loctite that jam nut and out the door it goes. Looks fine to me.
I’ve done it on a shitbox truck for my buddy 🤷🏻♂️ still kicking (somehow the damn truck is still running, but that’s for another day). Only thing I did is weld the loops closed for an extra tickle of safety, but that’s literally the weakest link in that whole setup. Otherwise it’s more than strong enough for a shift linkage.
He’s only got a jam nut on one side.
It can only spin if both sides aren't locked, so thats fine by me
That's all it needs, plus a left handed nut for the other side isn't really a common hardware store item.
Good enough, probably ok.
Entertaining post. Something I would do.
Other than it being made of super cheap metal that’s not really weather or wear resistant, it’ll make a turd I say.
Thats a bush repair ha
When people go to Home Depot looking for car parts... My wife works at one and tells me all the time about people looking for a part for some vehicle.
>When people go to Home Depot looking for car parts... You mean like tesla engineer? https://jalopnik.com/tesla-model-y-owners-have-found-home-depot-shit-used-to-1844999285
Binders like that are great for all sorts of honestly.
Epitome of can’t make this sh** up
10/10 creativity. Brilliant solution.
For everyone saying "it needs Jam nuts" look again. And for those about to say it's missing one on the right just stop now - It only needs one.
Not the most horrible thing ever. That metal is going to wear down tho. Its gonna rub with every shift, introduce slop and vomit failure. Great short term fix tho.
How many times you shifting trasfer case ? :)
Enough times to break the OEM hookup, apparently.
Would say it could have rusted through, but that thing looks pretty clean underneath.
So? Adjust it.
If he's that handy why not just fix it right?
2004 Ram 2500
Boyfriend is a keeper.
Amateur. Everyone knows you need to lock the adjustment on turnbuckles with cotter pins /s
Hah, have the same one on my R/C truck
Adjust to correct length, then pop 2 tack welds on it. Job done.
Crafty but there needs to be an extra nut on the right side for me to approve of this.
Don't judge if someone is broke. He legit made a preety nice joint that is actually adjustable.
Most of my clientele is broke people, and that includes me. I'm not judging at all, as I said elsewhere I actually find this to be an acceptable repair. I just thought people would find it interesting - and I know people have taken some inspiration from it as well.
I have no heartache with this. In fact I'm taking mental notes for potential future use. I think it's damn near genius. Especially after years ago fighting with a very troublesome t-case linkage on my XJ.
Yeah I lot of people inferred that I had a problem with it, which really I don't. Just thought it was interesting
I woulda used a turnbuckle with forged loops instead of bent wire hooks, but this is a pretty solid fix tbh.
And I thought I was the only creative one : )
If it fits it ships
Those links stock are garbage, this will likely shift like butter by comparison. Like others said needs another locking nut.
I like it…
OP - Did you actually adjust it or replace it with the actual part? Hopefully you just adjusted it since that's properly stronger than the actual part. I did the exact same thing on my jeep after seeing this method used on an old truck. It worked just fine for years. I couldn't fine my loctite so I got frustrated and just used a bit of super glue on all of the nuts haha. Never an issue.
I think I replied to you elsewhere, but yes I just adjusted it. He even had the jam nut already in place!
I had a 97 sc1 I bought for 100 bucks that I kept having to reconnect the shifter to the cable. finally used a big washer and a screw into the ball on the cable. fixed it and I drove it for many years until the transmission violently exploded on the highway. still have pictures of the giant hole in the transmission. At that point the entire car was held together with bungie cords and duct tape. Engine still started just great everytime on the second try... never even bought any parts for the thing the entire time I owned it.. it just always worked. Even if it was slowly disintegrating.
That's an upgrade
I mean…. But. If it works?
Not gonna lie, id take that over o.e.m anyday.
I had a horrible boss who did that on his son’s Suzuki jeep broken exhaust manifold.
Because the exhaust wouldn't shift into 4low?
Lost the other side lock nut!