New D.F. Goblin Shifter Review

[95Blitz]

The way the shifter assembly is made it has a positive stop, i think its by limiting the amount of travel to the left and right.

 

[Ross]

There is a reverse lockout on the new shifter. So 5th gear, when properly adjusted, is easy to find. Press the reverse release tab when you need to grab reverse. It resets automatically when you pull the lever out of reverse, and is ready for next time you want 5th.

 

[YoungGun]

I finished the installation of the D.F. Goblin Shifter today. It was very straight forward. The adjustment was super simple just set everything to Neutral Shifter and transmission. Adjust the ball links and your done!
I drove it about 50 miles hard up shifts and down shifts everything worked perfectly!! It now feels like a a shifter in a race car! No missed shifts, no grinding, very precise and smooth I would give it a 10 out of 10!
I love how neat and clean it looks. Very nice parts.
You will have to check with Adam to see when they will be shipping.
Sorry for the washed out pictures. I had to have the screen replaced on my phone and now I have a camera problem it seems.

Can you explain like I'm five how to adjust the ball links? Is this necessary? I just installed the shifter and it won't go into any gears and feels loose.

 

[Ross]

Yes, you have to adjust the shifter cables. There are 2 nuts that can be moved up and down the threads on the cable sheath.
These need to be adjusted on both the shifter and transmission ends of the cables.

 

[YoungGun]

Yes, you have to adjust the shifter cables. There are 2 nuts that can be moved up and down the threads on the cable sheath.
These need to be adjusted on both the shifter and transmission ends of the cables.
View attachment 35135

Ah okay. How do you know which ones and how far to adjust each one?

 

[Ross]

With the shifter cables off of the transmission, you can mark the range of each shifter arm.
Make sure that the cables can move the full range of the transmission arms.
You kind of need 2 people - One to move the shifter, the other looking at the transmission arms.
The first few seconds of this video shows the transmission arms moving.

 

[YoungGun]

With the shifter cables off of the transmission, you can mark the range of each shifter arm.
Make sure that the cables can move the full range of the transmission arms.
You kind of need 2 people - One to move the shifter, the other looking at the transmission arms.
The first few seconds of this video shows the transmission arms moving.

So you are saying take off the shifter cables at the transmission first, then move the shifter arms individually to measure how far they travel up and down, then adjust the shifter cables nuts so that the shifter cable is in the 'sweet spot' position where it's rod can extend and recoil that same length, and do that for both transmission arms?

Then repeat this process at the shifter area to make sure the shifter has enough travel up/down/sideways?

Sorry, I didn't even think this was a process that existed.. let alone have the first clue on how to adjust it.

 

[Ross]

So you are saying take off the shifter cables at the transmission first, then move the shifter arms individually to measure how far they travel up and down, then adjust the shifter cables nuts so that the shifter cable is in the 'sweet spot' position where it's rod can extend and recoil that same length, and do that for both transmission arms?

Yes.

Then repeat this process at the shifter area to make sure the shifter has enough travel up/down/sideways?

Sorry, I didn't even think this was a process that existed.. let alone have the first clue on how to adjust it.

No need to repeat this process at the shifter.
Once the cables are adjusted (at both ends of the cable) to the transmission, just attach them back to the transmission, and test the shifter.

 

[YoungGun]

So when measuring the shifter arms travel distance on the transmission, you dont need to know what gear its actually going into right? You simply push up and down on the actual tranny shifter arm? Then have someone sitting in the car actually attempt to shift into different gears while person 2 sees if the shifter cable is in range?

Then once you confirm that the shifter cable can extend/retract that same distance, you place the tranny arm in neutral (since the actual shifter knob is in neutral)?

Thanks, Ross. Lots of questions.. are there any good videos on this? Youtubes been a bit unhelpful.

 

[Ross]

So when measuring the shifter arms travel distance on the transmission, you dont need to know what gear its actually going into right?

Right.

You simply push up and down on the actual tranny shifter arm? Then have someone sitting in the car actually attempt to shift into different gears while person 2 sees if the shifter cable is in range?

Right.

Then once you confirm that the shifter cable can extend/retract that same distance, you place the tranny arm in neutral (since the actual shifter knob is in neutral)?

That should work.

Thanks, Ross. Lots of questions.. are there any good videos on this? Youtubes been a bit unhelpful.

Well, I have a YouTube of my RSX shifter, but that was before DF offered their shifter. I saw a video Lonny made of the new DF shifter. Have you seen that one?

 

[YoungGun]

Right.

Right.

That should work.

Well, I have a YouTube of my RSX shifter, but that was before DF offered their shifter. I saw a video Lonny made of the new DF shifter. Have you seen that one?

How do you know what position on the trans shifter arm correlates to what gear? I saw the positions in your video but it seems like the gears are all over the place, and like both trans shifter arms work in unison to get into each gear.

I believe I had the same RSX shifter in before this one. Shouldn't the trans side shifter cables already be in the optimal position in order for the previous shifter to have worked?

I have seen that one, he only talks about assembling the shifter. There is not a part for shifter cable adjustment I dont think.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

One of the cables will move when the shift lever is moved side to side. That cable moves the transmission fork to select between 1-2, 3-4, and 5-R.

The other cable should move when the shift lever is moved front to back. That cable selects 1 or 2, 3 or 4, 5 or R.

 

[Ross]

Every shifter will have different offsets for the cable-to-controls-arms length, so you will probably need to set the cables differently.

So our shifter cables are kind of like a spreadsheet's rows and columns.

So the rows are the numbers in green, and the columns are the letters in red.

Individual pics of each gear, arranged in our H pattern

 

[YoungGun]

Thank you guys, Ross that was immensely helpful. I have now managed to get the shifter to notch into every gear except for reverse, however the side to side movement has lots of resistance, making it difficult to pull over left for 1-2 and right for 5, and impossible to get far right enough to reach reverse.

It looks like the bracket holding the shifter cable for the left trans arm is bent, forcing the shifter cable left, and making it so the cable has to curve hard right to get to reverse. When I pull the trans arm over to far right in order to get to reverse, it's basically way too far over for the shifter cable to get to. I wonder if the shifter cable being torqued to the right is creating resistance to the shifter rod extending/retracting.

Is the fix basically to hammer the bracket straight to where the shifter cable is more lined up with the trans arm?

Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PEw4HA4R2uskgVOP5WvPXdFlNE6Lsbht/view?usp=sharing

 

[YoungGun]

These pics are how it was prior to installing the new shifter.

 

[Ross]

YoungGun, you have the early version of the cable holders at the transmission.
DF has a newer version, that aligns the cables better.

I did a video that modifies the early version holders:

 

[YoungGun]

YoungGun, you have the early version of the cable holders at the transmission.
DF has a newer version, that aligns the cables better.

I did a video that modifies the early version holders:

Well that certainly would make things easier haha. The trans shifter cable mount is tighter for sure, but I don't think it's causing problems.

Well, I think I got it all fixed up now. Going into every gear just fine.

What I think was causing the issue is the taller bell crank that I was using. When trying to move the shifter right to reverse, the top of the bell crank where the ball joint head is was getting pushed so far forward that the ball socket was maxing out the angle of travel and so the shifter cable couldn't push far enough. I tested this by unhooking the ball socket and pushing the shifter into reverse, then attempted to add the ball socket back on and couldn't. I'm using the shorter bell crank which I think has less travel overall, and being lower the ball joint socket wasn't over angled.

The other issue was the ball socket on the lower trans arm was a little sideways, so when pulling down the socket would max it's angle of travel out prematurely.

I still need to tighten everything up, rivet the tunnel cap down, put the seat back in and go for a test drive.. Hopefully it drives well and shifts into each gear while in motion...

Thanks again, Ross!

 

[YoungGun]

Now that I think about it.. the taller bell crank is probably for the extended frame, whereas this shorter one is for the standard frame.

 

[Ross]

Are you talking about the transmission cable reversers? The taller ones will just have a longer push-pull range.
After I made that video, I realized that the frame length doesn't matter for the transmission cables. The frame is longer in front of the seats, and the shifter to transmission distance doesn't change between the 2 frames.

 

[YoungGun]

Are you talking about the transmission cable reversers? The taller ones will just have a longer push-pull range.
After I made that video, I realized that the frame length doesn't matter for the transmission cables. The frame is longer in front of the seats, and the shifter to transmission distance doesn't change between the 2 frames.

I'm talking about the arm on the right side of the shifter that moves it left to right. That the spring is attached to.

All I can say is I tested taking off the ball joint socket, moving it into full reverse position, and failed to be able to reattach the ball socket.

First drive went great. Hit all the gears just fine. Feels good, very notchy.