Triumphrat

doglanta · 03-13-2008

Hi,
Has anyone else had a problem installing a heel - toe shifter from Rivco? I got mine in the mail today and started to throw it on when I found that it did not fit. The hole in the new Rivco shifter and the pivot shafter that goes in this hole are virtually the same size. There is no way that shaft will fit in that hole. I have emailed them a little while ago but I just wanted to see if anyone else has run into this?

This shows the pivot shaft in the old shifter.

This shows the new heel - toe shifter and how the pivot shaft does not fit into the hole.

TRIIICK · 03-13-2008

Did you grease it up..? Rivco triple coats it in chrome, i hit mine with steel wool and greased it before it went on.I had to use a dremel on one of the Rivco front floor boards to make it work.

doglanta · 03-14-2008

Yeah I greased both the shaft and the hole before I tried installing. I am not sure steel wool would work in this case since the shaft is so big in diameter. I would have to steel wool a heck of a lot off in order to get it to fit. It really feels as if the shaft is the exact same size as the hole and I don't think I would want to dremel either piece as there is no way I would be able to keep things perfectly round. Hopefully Rivco will reply to my email today and I will post what they say.
Thanks,
Ken

doglanta · 03-14-2008

Actually this can't be a Rivco triple chrome plating problem since there is what looks to be a brass sleeve inside the hole in the shifter. This brass sleeve is not chrome plated but is just too small to allow the pivot bolt to slide through it. I don't think I would consider using steel wool on the pivot bolt since I would have to take a lot off and that would make it unusable if I had to put the original shifter back on. If I took enough off to get it to slide into the new shifter it would be extremely sloppy if I tried to reinstall it back in the old shifter.

TRIIICK · 03-14-2008

I ordered mine threw sales@newbonneville.com , great folks to deal with.

PriorityOne · 03-14-2008

"I had to use a dremel on one of the Rivco front floor boards to make it work."

I think what he meant was he used the little sanding (sandpaper) band on his Dremel tool to slightly remove some material. Brass removes easily, so if you do it that way, be careful not to take too much off. Hope this helps.

doglanta · 03-14-2008

I just talked to Rich of Rivco. He suggested I try and take a dowel rod with sandpaper wrapped around it and sand the inside of shifter hole. Inside the hole is a brass bushing. He said that this brass bushing is pressed in at the shop and then the hole is honed out to the proper diameter to accept the pivot bolt. It looks like the hole was not honed enough on mine but before I send it back I guess I will try and see what I can do with sandpaper. I have a cylinder wall hone but it is way too big to fit in this shifter hole. He agreed with me that I should not have to do this and that the part should have been correct in the first place but he was as helpful as he could be so I will try the sandpaper. I just think I may have too much to remove with just sandpaper. I don't think I will use a dremel as the chances of ovaling some spots on the brass bushing would be too great. I am going to try and find something as close to the diameter of the hole as possible to try and keep it even.

doglanta · 03-17-2008

OK, I finally got the H/T shifter installed yesterday. I ended up having to purchase a brake cylinder hone (thanks to another member’s suggestion). With the hone I was able to take off enough of the sleeve, and removed it evenly and smoothly, to allow the pivot bolt to slide in the hole.

So the install that should have taken me less than 30 minutes took me about three hours and required me to spend money on a special tool to complete the installation. I have tried all sorts of different adjustments but after the H/T install I seem to have trouble finding first gear when downshifting when I never had this problem with the stock shifter. I think part of the problem may be the unbalanced weight of the shifter not allowing it to click itself back in position after shifting. The unit is heavier on the heel area than the toe shifter. This is just a guess by me and I will continue to see what I can do with the adjustments available.

The other problem I found was getting the unit to be tight and without a lot of slop. I personally would like to see the shifter not have as much side to side play as it does. The instructions say that if there is a lot of play to add a second wave washer which I tried. But when I added a second washer it made the spacers now too thick and when I torqued the bolt it would not allow the shifter to rock up and down. So I had to remove the second washer and live with the excess play. I probably would be good if I had another washer that was only half as thick but these wave washers are already pretty thin to start with. It's amazing how much the thickness of one very thin wave washer makes. I may see what I can come up with, but I am kind of disappointed that I should have to do this.

Would I buy this H/T shifter again? After all of the fabrication I had to do and the fit not as good as I would have liked probably not. I will say the couple of people I talked to at Rivco were very nice and helpful, I am just not in love with their heel/toe shifter.

Tatonka · 03-17-2008

I have one I would let go cheap. put it on once...road it around the parking lot...took it off.

TRIIICK · 03-18-2008

Funny you either like the heal toe or hate it.Alot of my friends don't care for it but i have worn a couple of holes in some pretty expensive boots and after a couple of Margaritas it's a no brainer..lol