Resting Your Hand on the Shifter


RPM217

2005 white/blue stripe
Jun 18, 2010
1,658
Rye Brook, New York
Yeeeeeeeeeeew PINHEAD!!! How the frog hair can one D-R-I-V-E a car that's in a trailer???

You be one sick puppy! But, sick as yew is, I loves ya anyway, sir! :thumbsup

One can imagine you sitting behind the wheel in your trailered car, while your wifey is driving the tow vehicle. You are smiling as you feel the car moving as if you were really driving it. What a thrill compared to just sitting in the car while it is in the garage. :lol

You're even sicker than '217! Holy dadgum krymuny! Whodah thunk it possible!

BlackIce, great minds think alike. EP, if the shoe fits.....................................
 

Fubar

Totally ****** Up
Mark II Lifetime
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Aug 2, 2006
3,979
Dallas, TX
Sorry EP, but if they didn't; I was gonna...

None of my comments were in reference to our GTs. The article was written by a transmission manufacturing company. I'm guessing they at least know how to fabricate a better Alice in Wonderland story if they want attention but as Chris A. keenly pointed out, the transaxle unit is be beyond the scope of the article.

It would be interesting to hear a transmission pro chime in on it tho. I torn up a lot of transmissions in my youth but I am 100% positive this was not the cause. However I do try to swing my best James Dean when driving the GT and requires a two fingers on the wheel, wrist on the shifter and a my best drunk and stoned facial expression. I recognized that I probably just look like a mentally handicapped, stroke victim with Ferrari that somebody put Ford stickers on.

Note: wrist on shifter... worried James Dean expression on face now.
 
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Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
You all need better looking passengers if you're debating the proper placement of your right hand.
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
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Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
None of my comments were I refferent to our GT. The article was written by a transmission manufacturing company. I'm guess they at least know how to fabricate a better Alice in Wonderland story...the transaxle may be beyond the scope of the article.

'Matters not, Mark. As I mentioned, I've rested my hand on the shifter of every manual tranny car I've ever owned. 'Never had an issue. That's why IMHO the 'hand-on-shifter' thing is hogwash. My own personal experience would seem to bear that out...

Now, that said, if said 'consequence' IS actually characteristic of the tranny built by the outfit responsible for the article - I'd avoid buying one of their trannies like the plague.

JMPO.
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
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1,361
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You all need better looking passengers if you're debating the proper placement of your right hand.

'Never found that to be an issue! :biggrin
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
All the talk about having a better looking passenger on the right and holding a tranny is something I would never say in my area! :lol
 

NorthwoodGT

GT Owner
Jun 12, 2009
1,215
Michigan
this theory was around years ago when the floor shifters were sitting on top of the transmissions or had a direct shaft to the gears. there is absolutely no way laying your hands on top of a Ford GT shifter is doing any harm whatsoever. you've got a shifter mounted on insulators to the floor with 7' long cables that pass thru a captive bracket. laying your hands on top isn't going to affect it at all. Now that being said- if you are holding or pushing the shifter handle fore or aft, that could put additional pressures into the box but other than that, no way. jmo I'll check in with my Ricardo guy as well.
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
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Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
this theory was around years ago when the floor shifters were sitting on top of the transmissions or had a direct shaft to the gears. there is absolutely no way laying your hands on top of a Ford GT shifter is doing any harm whatsoever. you've got a shifter mounted on insulators to the floor with 7' long cables that pass thru a captive bracket. laying your hands on top isn't going to affect it at all. Now that being said- if you are holding or pushing the shifter handle fore or aft, that could put additional pressures into the box but other than that, no way. jmo I'll check in with my Ricardo guy as well.

Amen...
 

TO AWSUM

Ford GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 4, 2007
1,506
Niceville FL
this theory was around years ago when the floor shifters were sitting on top of the transmissions or had a direct shaft to the gears. there is absolutely no way laying your hands on top of a Ford GT shifter is doing any harm whatsoever. you've got a shifter mounted on insulators to the floor with 7' long cables that pass thru a captive bracket. laying your hands on top isn't going to affect it at all. Now that being said- if you are holding or pushing the shifter handle fore or aft, that could put additional pressures into the box but other than that, no way. jmo I'll check in with my Ricardo guy as well.

Based on absolutely no test data, my thoughts are that it is impossible to drive with your hand on the shifter and not be putting some forward, aft and lateral pressures on the shifter and therefore cables. It's similar to walking with a cup full of liquids and not spilling it, unless you concentrate on not moving your hand. I doubt most people who rest their hand on the shifter are concentrating on not moving their hand as they drive. Just the weight of your hand and arm which is being pulled on by your body moving has got to be putting pressure on the shifter and possibly cables. I rest my hand on the console at the base of the shifter. When I mentioned this to some of my car buddies, a couple told me that they got nerve damage from the shifter ball pressing on their hands, like carpal tunnel syndrome.
 

DakotaGT

GT Owner
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Dec 9, 2012
1,694
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Wow. Either your hands are MUCH heavier than mine, or your shifter moves around a LOT easier than mine does! My few ounces of occasional hand weight lightly resting on my shifter ball wouldn't even BEGIN to get my shifter to move around enough to set the cables in motion.
 

TO AWSUM

Ford GT Owner
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Jul 4, 2007
1,506
Niceville FL
Ya, you know what they say about big hands and feet.
 

DakotaGT

GT Owner
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Dec 9, 2012
1,694
Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Ya, you know what they say about big hands and feet.

Lol
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
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Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
Ya, you know what they say about big hands and feet.

The weight of the former is hard on transmissions and the latter 'on clutches???
 

FENZO

GT Owner
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Jul 7, 2008
1,518
Lafayette, CO
Ya, you know what they say about big hands and feet.

I wear 2XL gloves and a size 14 shoe.... I don't know what they say, but I say.... two outta three aint bad!
 

TO AWSUM

Ford GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 4, 2007
1,506
Niceville FL
Now you're bragging, your hands and feet are definitely bigger than mine. LOL
 
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ultrasportracing

GT Owner
Aug 31, 2011
490
Perth Western Australia
Anyone who knows anything about Transmissions will tell you that once a gear is selected, ( it is held in place by detent springs and balls that locate the shift fork, and cannot be moved until the Gear lever actually has enough pressure applied to it to overcome the spring pressure of the detent springs.) you do no harm by resting your hand on the gear shifter.
 

Fubar

Totally ****** Up
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Aug 2, 2006
3,979
Dallas, TX
1) EP's comments are moot.
2) I think the point is that minor, seemingly inconsequential, amounts of pressure that are added to the shifter; would in fact move it forward or aft. The article suggests that the 'Fork Pads' are the items that exert the pressure and (over time) wear on gear parts.
3)Everything about this article is in reference to older, center mounted transmissions with the shifter, directly mounted. Although, a remotely mounted shifter could create the same set of circumstances if tolerances were tight enough.

It seems like a thing designers could easily over come with a little thought. I was really wondering if anyone had heard about the affect on modern transmissions? It seems that the topic is still open for debate.
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
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moot

/mo͞ot/

adjective: moot

1. subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty, and typically not admitting of a final decision.



Yeeeeep. That would pretty much sum up every comment I've ever made...
 
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PL510*Jeff

Well-known member
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Nov 3, 2005
4,876
Renton, Washington
moot

/mo͞ot/

adjective: moot

1. subject to debate, dispute, or uncertainty, and typically not admitting of a final decision.



Yeeeeep. That would pretty much sum up every comment I've ever made...


yep Moot is you
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
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Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
yep Moot is you


...an' bald be you...Shorty... :eek:ld: