Anyone have a shift finger for Jerico?

[ROY]

Bobby;not trying to rush the issue,had not heard anything so was just curious!!Sounds like it is coming along well!! ROY.

[ROY]

Bobby;any new information on the shift fingers?

[69Cobra]

I have also broken a shifter finger and I would be interested in the billet replacement one you have being made. Just let me know what you need from me.

Thanks,

[JHeath]

Ashton Hudson also broke one today@ the Division 4 LODRS event in Noble,OK.

[Mike Carr]

Bobby is racing both of his car at Maple Grove this weekend. He'll likely be on when he gets home, I'll let him know if he forgets to check this post.

[Rory McNeil]

Just curious as to the age of these Jerico DR4s that are having issues with the shift "fingers" breaking. I have 2 older DR4s, the newest trans was new in 2000, the other almost 10 years older. In our local stickshift group, there is probably at least 10 cars with DR4s, and although several of us have broken some pieces inside our transmissions, I can`t recall anybody having issues with these fingers. One guy with a very early narrow gear trans had broken a shifter fork, but never the lever that operates the fork.

[james schaechter]

Seems like the ones I have heard of were not the older models,rather some of the later dr4 and dr4-4. My opinion, is that there could be an issue with the quality of the levers. However, i do think that if you use the taller shifter, and the long shift arms, that can contribute to the breakage. I use the standard length shifter and the longer lever and have not broken one. I have noted 7 racers that have broken the 3-4 and six of them had the shifter that is two inches taller and the longer shift arms.
I am all for a higher quality shift arm. Hoping Bobby or Jerico or someone makes them.

[Bobby Fazio]

Sorry I am just getting on CR for the weekend. I have two more guys testing them for me and it looks like we may have a great finished product. Even looks like jewelry from what one racer said. We were testing hardness and heat treats along with different dimensions. The heat treat is being done by certified heat treat who does amusement parks, space shuttles, and even the new World Trade Center.

[69Cobra]

Just trying to think this through... If I'm thinking right the fingers go through two different acts during the 3/4 shift. The first being the disengagement of 3rd gear. What I don't understand is what does it matter on the disengagement of 3rd gear if we are running the extra long shift arms and/or extra tall shifter in this phase? If the finger needs or takes say 10 ft/lbs of force/torque to disengage from the 3rd gear dog ring then it take 10 ft/lbs no matter if we are using extra long or extra short shift arms or shifters, right? In this phase of it the extra long or short just effects how much effort we have to use in order for the shift finger to see the 10 ft/lbs of force to disengage 3rd gear.

Now phase two engaging 4th gear...
If there are not stops being used or not set correctly the shifter can put extra strain on these fingers (and everything else) by bottoming out the slider to the dog ring. In this scenario the whole system from the shifter to the dog ring will see whatever force is applied from the end user. If you pull the extra long or short shifter with 100 ft/lbs of force the shifter arm, finger, fork, slider and dog ring all see 100 ft/lbs of force. To me, if one has stops and the stops are set to where the internals of the transmission do not see any bottoming out situations then all of the 100 ft/lbs of force applied to the shifter by the end user stops at the shifter stops.

In this whole scenario here the only thing that is not taken into account is any force that the slider sees when it meets the dog ring before they mesh together. So before the slider and dog ring actually go into full engagement they do collide and to me its at this point that the stress of the whole shifting mechanism sees the most force and there is nothing you can really do about it. Now the extra long shifter and arms obviously lets you apply more force in this part of the process but you are actually moving the shift fork slower because the extra long stuff has you that much farther away from the pivot point than if you had the shorter arms and shifter. So now you have a comparison between speed and force.

Thoughts???

[ROY]

Rory;you were there at Pacific Raceways when I broke my second one!!! My DR4 was built in 1997 according to Jerico's records on serial numbers.I broke the first finger in May of this year,I broke the second one in July.I ordered another new one from Jerico and talked to both George and Scott at Jerico,both claimed they had NO knowledge of issues!!Scott blamed me,said I need to use the clutch during gear changes,I told him I have been since day one and knew of many people going clutchless!!A machinist friend took my BRAND NEW,never installed,finger to a heat treater,they measured rockwell hardness on the finger.Found it to be case hardened,not through hardened,Rockwell was 62 [brittle] on the outside,40 [soft] on the inside,they felt it should be trough hardened then stress relieved.I use a Long shifter 14" from pivot to tip of handle and the arms are 2&3/4" center to center.There are no stops on my shifter so I have the rods adjusted so the shifter can not 'OVER' shift the forks. ROY.