[tanshi]

We have JR working on a sequencial ecu bypass for the AW4 and he has suggested paddle shift on the steering wheel.

IM looking around on ebay for paddle switchs, but thought i would post up on here to see if any one else had seen paddles added to a sports steering wheel else where.

Im looking for cheap ideally. other wise i would buy a universal one for $300ish

[Scrawny]

Can you get a steering wheel off something else (with paddles) to fit?

[tanshi]

guess thats a possibility, i'll have to try and find out what will fit

[JrZook]

Can't be that hard to make up yourself?

[Bruce]

Now this is briniging the bling to zook drivers

[tanshi]

Bruce wrote:

Now this is briniging the bling to zook drivers

its a jeep thing,

[tanshi]

JrZook wrote:

Can't be that hard to make up yourself?

your welcome to make that up too

[mnemonix]

Glad to see someone else is thinking it and I'm not the only dickhead. eBay has paddle shifters. They're cheap too.

Personally I've got a shifter out of a Holden Cruze I intend to use. Bought it off ebay from the states, cost under $50 to my door for a brand new chevy unit.
It is a regular 4speed auto shifter, then you can pull it to the side and it has a "sports" mode that is just + or - fore/aft. Will be easy to do the fab to fit it I think.

If Dan can fab an interface to take inputs for Up gear / Down gear, any of the paddle or sports style shifters should be easy to adapt.
I'm dreaming of having 4spd auto, ecu controlled. That I can drive as manualised auto with the sports option. ie: Pull the shifter aside and the TCM is ignored and I can DIY gear changes.

-Mark.

[henno]

Steering wheel shifter paddles kinda suck. They work great in environments where lock to lock is no more than a half-turn in either direction (ie: racing environments) but on the street where cars turn well beyond that to take 90-degree or more turns it honestly sucks dick. I've had three cars with them and prefer to just use the sequential shift on the gear stick. I can't imagine how much more of a pain in the arse it would be in a 4x4 environment where you are going lock-to-lock all of the time while trying to find the next gear. Imagine turning hard right-hand-down and then trying to work out how to shift down now that the paddle is on the bottom right.

That said, I've only ever used them on the street so I know nothing of using them offroad so take everything I say with a grain of salt. All I know is they are not as fun as they are made out to be. Perhaps a rally-style steering wheel shifter would be a better idea, where a whole ring or half-ring paddle thinger is pulled towards the wheel rather than a little paddle either side? I can't seem to find a photo of what I am talking about right now; maybe I drempt it.

[mnemonix]

Henno: What about steering wheel mounted options?
My daily is a sequential manual 5speed. Buttons are built front/rear into the steering wheel so it's not that hard even when you're at full lock driving like a nutter.
I don't think it would be all that bad offroad.

Some of the generic units mount to the steering column so the paddles are always in the same position and there is no hunting for gears.

[tanshi]

i wondered about sequencial gear stick too. might have a look around and see what i can get.

[Scrawny]

Steering wheel mounted controls will also mean a clockspring will be needed. Might be a bit tight fitting all that in?

[chris77]

Running my 4x4 for the first time the other week , use a joystick , looks like it came off an arcade machine . Alas mark one is a fail , module keeps reseting and its programed to start in 2nd gear on start up . Thats what happens when a noddy tries to make electric's work . When I sort out all the other issues I will get back to it and see what can be done .

[Rhinoman]

You could try a Swift wheel with audio controls and use the volume up/down buttons to change gear. I don't usually change gear at full lock so that's not an issue.

[31zook]

Heaps cool idea

But why would you want this?

[neofitou]

I vote rally style too, forward for downshift and pull for up.
This way it always makes sense no matter which way the wheel is.
For a sequential shift I would prefer just a high mounted lever. For an Aw4 for 4x4ing I would rather just mod the gates like steve has in hedgepig so you can slam it into reverse.

[mnemonix]

I want it because for most 4wding a pure auto is ideal, however with the amount of power I make the enjoyment of driving a manual (or at least a manualised auto) can't be beat.

[tanshi]

Its for racing. The benefit of auto and drive it like a manual

[tanshi]

We stumbled across an issue with the manualised auto during testing in that on down shifting there is no compression braking.

Has any one else come across this and found a good solution?

[5ierra]

Rhinoman wrote:

You could try a Swift wheel with audio controls and use the volume up/down buttons to change gear. I don't usually change gear at full lock so that's not an issue.

This would be my vote! just change gear with your thumb, couldnt be easier.

[Gwagensteve]

Removal of compression braking should have been a conscious choice on the behalf of the trans builder. T400's for example can be specced manualised with or without compression braking.

I didn't think any valve body mods were required to manualise an aw-4 as shifting is 100% electronically controlled.

Steve.

[tanshi]

ahh, but its not 100% elec. At least not the Jeep aw4 isnt.

The solenoids do the actual changing of gears. But the position of the shifter/shift cable controls hyraulics and thus the compression braking.
Im not sure if this is the same or different for the suzuki version.

from my research if the floor shifter is in 1-2 position you get compression braking in 1st and 2nd including down shifts from 3rd to 2nd, but no other gears
position 3rd you only get 3rd compression braking
position D you get compression braking in 4th and 3rd

We have tested with our JRzook tiptronic tcm computer and we get no compression braking in low gears with the shifter in drive

[Damo]

tanshi wrote:

We have tested with our JRzook tiptronic tcm computer and we get no compression braking in low gears with the shifter in drive

So if you got the TCM to control solenoids to shift gears that would work?

I've seen some paddle type shifters made that are solid mounted to the column (no slip ring electrical contacts needed) that has a paddle that is a bit larger so you can still flick it with the wheel turned around further. It would be easy to set up push/pull rods to actuate microswitches, that in turn feed input to your TCM. The good thing about push/pull rods is you change the ratio of the push/pull to tune how much throw it has to suit your switches. This is becoming more common on bike engined race cars, clubmans, hillclimbers etc, image searching that sort of thing on Google should get you some ideas.

[tanshi]

looks like the floor shifter does some of the controlling of hydraulic pressure in the gearbox.

we are looking at ways to electronically shift that aswell.