Help w/ Lokar ZF Install

schleven

Active member
Does anyone have experience installing a Lokar shifter using Nick's (RW-Engineering) adapter kit with a ZF auto?

I've got everything mounted up but am running into an issue getting it to shift properly. Confirming my Lokar shifter is a floor mounted, 4L60

Using the stock transmission arm, the set-up has way too much travel at the transmission end, it doesn't sync between shifter position and trans position and is tough to shift:

Using the supplied, longer, transmission arm from Nick, the system doesn't have enough travel and if I set it up in Park, I only get P - 2 gears, the shifter doesn't have any more range to get the transmission into 1st gear:

I've talked to some people who say they set it up, w/out issue, using the stack transmission arm and then I talk to Nick who says to use the supplied transmission arm - problem is, neither of these solutions seem to work at all.

Thanks in advance for any insight.
 

rocky

NAS-ROW Addict
I got nothing to, except to share I’m waiting for the replacement Ashcroft shifter. My factory shifter unit has been troublesome in recent years due to wear…. and I’m fed up with it falling apart on the trails.
 

schleven

Active member
if you disconnect linkage, can you select 1? if so, how much more distance was needed
Here's a video that I spliced together (note: I disconnected the linkage off-camera), showing where it stops, then disconnecting the linkage. Nick & RW suggested setting the rod lengh in N vs. P, which I did here but same result.

Conversely, if I set the rod length from 1st to 1st - it doesn't align in neutral or park, properly.

 

schleven

Active member
No one else has experienced this? I found one other person who seemed to have a similar issue...but I'd rather not have to cut into the Lokar mechanism: https://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/109144-lokar-auto-gear-shifter-into-a-defender/

From reading the US forums most people seem to be able to select the full range of gears, however I couldn't get it to reliably work at the extremes of travel by adjusting the rod length, either it would click nicely into park but not click nicely into '1', or vice versa. In the end I modified the detent plate on the Lokar with a dremel to give a little more travel - just shaving some material away to allow it to drop into '1' nicely. I had to shave a few mm away.
 

UnfrozenCaveman

Well-known member
No one else has experienced this? I found one other person who seemed to have a similar issue...but I'd rather not have to cut into the Lokar mechanism: https://forums.lr4x4.com/topic/109144-lokar-auto-gear-shifter-into-a-defender/
If that's the solution, can you get the same result by sliding the whole shifter base forward / aft? Sure it might require elongated mounting holes, but avoid taking the shifter apart???

And from the Wayback Machine ... https://www.pirate4x4.com/threads/lokar-shifter-on-zf-auto.940470/
 

schleven

Active member
Ya - I could theoretically try sliding it back but the arm is already almost touching the mounting plate. I'd have to shave down the plate as well (area in red)...
Screen Shot 2023-02-02 at 10.50.07 AM.png


I think I might try and order a new lever (or bend the supplied one) to try to effectively change it's length - as using the supplied hole doesn't give me enough throw, and I drilled a lower hole that gives me too much throw. So, I think I ideally need something in between (green circle).

Screen Shot 2023-02-02 at 10.58.33 AM.png
 

expanse

Well-known member
the bracket image is the direction I would have gone. good luck finding the sweet spot!
 
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