Hurst shifter rebuild?

Doober

Moderator
Jun 2, 2003
14,704
1
38
Catalina, AZ
www.cardomain.com
Has anyone rebuilt their Hurst shifter? I know Hurst has the rebuild program, but I'm just looking to take mine apart and clean it, I'm not about to spend $150+ to have it done right now.

I've tried looking for exploded views of the shifter assembly, but haven't found any. Mine is a Competition Plus for a Saginaw if anyone has any info. I have a feeling this will alleviate at least a few of my engagement issues.

Before I had a mother lover of a time getting it to go into 1st-4th consecutively, and could barely even get it to go into reverse. I just worked it back & forth like crazy with a bunch of Liquid Wrench and it's freed up a ton (can go into all gears), but it's still quite rusty, and I want to just take it all apart and clean everything. It was on the first 4-speed I bought that has a bad countergear.
 

art

Amateur Racer
Aug 8, 2008
249
0
16
Mastic, New York 11950
It's been over 20 years since I did this so bear with me. There should be a "notch" with corresponding holes in the shift levers on the lower side of the housing looking at it from the coverplate side. Remove all of the shifter linkage at the trans and put it in neutral. With a suitable "key" (an allen wrench will work) lock the shifter in neutral. Starting with the innermost linkage, change the bushing and the spring clip at the shifter then the transmission end. Then make any adjustment to the length to reinstall it. Now I just thought of something. Do they still sell the kit to even do this?? I found the plastic/nylon bushings in tht kit to be useless. The new springclips were handy though. If you cannot get the kit and you have access to a small lathe, you can make the bushings out of brass. Back to what I was sayin'. You repeat the process for all the shift rods.
And it should "clean up" the gate and make shifting easier with less missed gears. Hope this helps.
 

Doober

Moderator
Thread starter
Jun 2, 2003
14,704
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38
Catalina, AZ
www.cardomain.com
:oops:

I think I've taken the shifter rods off & reinstalled them about 10 times the past few days working on making sure everything clears (1-2 rod had some minor interference the reverse rod :? :roll:). Summit does have bushing/spring clip packs available in both nylon & steel (thought about going with the steel, but I'm also considering a completely different bracket/rod setup with spherical ends). I was actually talking about the shifter mechanism itself that connects to the shifter rods.
 

LS6 Tommy

MalibuRacing Junkie
May 15, 2004
15,847
1
38
North Jersey
art said:
Starting with the innermost linkage, change the bushing and the spring clip at the shifter then the transmission end. Then make any adjustment to the length to reinstall it. Now I just thought of something. Do they still sell the kit to even do this??

Hurst still sells the bushing & clip 'Pit Pack" kits.


http://www.hurst-shifters.com/hurst-products/Pit-Packs

Tommy
 

Killerdave8813

Dragway Regular
Jan 16, 2008
904
2
18
Cincinnati,Ohio
Hey Doober,
What's goin on man?? Hurst shifters are a peice of cake,I've had lots of them apart over the years,nothing to them really,I've never actually seen one worn out usually they just need cleaned and lubricated,about all there is to it is pry the housing apart with a screw driver and pop the rear cover off and I think there's a
bushing/sleave that everything pivots on that you have to slide out,you'll probably find all kind of interesting forign material,I found sand and grass in the one I have on my car,anyway clean it up good and put it back together the same way it came apart,
lube it with some good multi purpose waterproof grease and it should be good to go,
of course you know about pinning all the levers in line with a 1/4" drill bit,steel rod,
allen wrench,and adjusting the linkage to fit and then it should be good to go!! Good Luck!! Later,KillerDave
 

Doober

Moderator
Thread starter
Jun 2, 2003
14,704
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38
Catalina, AZ
www.cardomain.com
Yeah, I finally just said screw it this afternoon and did it :lol: There was probably 25+ years worth of crud & crap in there. It's not all super pretty clean-lookin', but all the rust is gone where it matters, and everything's lubed back up. I took several pictures (not enough I don't think though, but my hands were greasy half the time :roll:), planning on making a little thread for anyone else looking to do this, I searched for a good hour or more on the 'net and didn't find any how-tos. I think I had it apart in maybe 10-15 minutes, and that was takin' my time :D
 

Doober

Moderator
Thread starter
Jun 2, 2003
14,704
1
38
Catalina, AZ
www.cardomain.com
I didn't take enough pictures, but here is the album if anyone's interested in the inner workings of a Hurst (probably any other similar) shifter. Any questions, just ask, it's not a very complicated setup :D
http://s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn117/Skinner12082/Hurst%20rebuild/
 

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