I will never buy another lokar shifter.

I should have known when i got the shifter, and all the directions on how to put it on were photocopied **** that was too dark to read, and half of it was copied so bad it wasent even on the page. I have a powerglide one, not knowing when i bought it, i actually had to take the pan off the ****** and replace an internal part(shift selector) with thier part. I am far from a ****** Guy, and this was actually not as hard as it would see, Or it wouldent have been if the damn part woulda Fit. The arm adn tube they gave me i had to modify it to get to fit properly. this is after figuring out what i had to do with no instructions that were readable.

Now for the straw that broke the horses back. I live in North Dakota, AKA Bum **** Egypt, but cold as hell in the winter. I go out start the car, it sits in a unheated garage, but it does not get below freezing in there, so it wasnt like it was 40 below, after its been sitting for awhile(26 t MOdified) ANd i go to put it in gear, and i cant puch the ****on in on the shifter. I am a big dude with even bigger stronger hands. I tried as hard as i could to budge it, i couldent, i thought it was busted, but then i thought maybe the cold shrunk the Handle and the little slider thing internally in the shifter arm was stuck, Sure as hell, after i Heated it with my little butane torch, it frees up. what kinda ******** is this?

Newver again will i buy a lokar shifter, i shoulda bought a Gennie in the first place. And it will be changed this summer.

 

I had a Lokar in my old Chevelle and I agree.....they are GARBAGE. Add that to the fact that you are pretty much stuck with their lousy knob choices and that seals the deal, I'll never by another shifter from them again.

 

I have installed a number of these shifters and never had any problems. Did you call them? They do have an excellent help line!

 

I've had them in my last two cars and other than an annoying rattle that I finally fixed on the first one,I never had any problems. Well, as long as I drove them,I didn't. Both shifters were FU after I got the cars back from the paint shops because of over energetic dudes just yanking on the lever without using the ****on.

 

Gennie shifter is the only way to fly........any knob fits and easy install

 

What could they have done for me? jack and ****? its the inherant design with there shifter thats flawed. nothing much they can do about that for me.
All i can do is chalk it up for experiance and tell everyone i can what my opinion is of them.

when a company like them cant even supply decent instructions IN THE KIT, i can tell what they must think of their customers. NOOWHERE in any item description before i bought this shifter did it say ANYWHERE that transmission modification is nescasary for the shifter install.

I jsut got off the phone with Gennie, they use the stock arm with there shifter, so no modifacation is needed. So ill have to put it back anyways, but thats ok.

 

Give em a call, he is right, their tech line is really good.

 

There doesn't need to be instructions to begin with. If you can't figure out how to install a Lokar shifter, let alone in a manner where it operates like it's supposed to, you shouldn't be working on cars at all. I'm so tired of people like you that once they get something "they" can't seem to figure out, all they do is rant on the Internet, whereas all the other crybaby retards chime in and make a bigger mess in the ****pot.

First off, you knew from the beginning that the Lokar shifter uses a proprietary shift knob--if not, you should'a researched a tad bit more. From there, if you had any problems, a quick call to them surely would have helped cure some, if not all, issues. But no, let's go on the HAMB and cry...

 

I've got a 23" Genie in my 32, and it works great.

 

Sounds like talk from somebody that never had Gennine shifter slip to reverse and crush rear fender.Parts in early gennines were not hardned properlly.Research my old posts.

 

i had the same issues with mine
but my problem was that i was trying to get the car done for a show in on the weekend, and i didn't even have the car running yet.
i just took a little brake had a beer and figured it out
no big deal
it helped to have another powerglide on the bench for reference
tom

 

RF, Can you read? I never once *****ed about the shift Knob. And the shifter worked FINE until it got cold out, The operation has nothing to do with my Install.

On a powerglide, the shifter install requires INTERNAL TRANSMISSION MODIFICATION. AKA trans pan and parts removal, BAND adjuster Removal.
I am no idiot. i figured it out. ant it worked Beautifully till i had to use it in cold weather. The whole world doesn't revolve around warm southern California.

the install requires Replacement of the factory GM shift selector out of the side of the ****** with one that is supplied by Lokar. It is Indexed by a shaft that has Splines sticking out of about 45 degrees of it that are supposed to fit in splines on the Shift selector. Well the one from lokar DOES NOT HAVE SPLINES ON IT. it just has one wide notch, that this spline ed area is supposed to ride in Kind of like a key in a key way. Well, this "notch" or"key way" what ever you want to call it isn't wide enough for all the splined on the inside of the ******. So Either 1, you have to drive it on, so it cuts its own splines, or 2, make it fit a little nicer by widening the notch or making to extra splines in the lokar part so it slides together. This is **** engineering.

there isn't anything the tech line could have done for me.what send me a new selector thats the same thing that i already have?

I knew why i wanted a lokar shifter, the positive reverse lockout. but now with problems with the ****on sticking in it, its just not worth screwing with. I like to enjoy my hotrod when its cold out, and take pride in the fact that i do. Hell last weekend, with it Freezing out side, we were out whipping donuts in my T modified. AFTER i had to heat the shifter so i could Move the ****in' thing into gear.

Id copy the pictures from the directions on here for all of you, but all they are is big black boxes photocopied onto paper and i cant even see them.

 

Stories like this is why i bought a lokar. but the new Gennies from everything i have read, and seen are better shifters now.

 

What year is the cut off for "early gennies"?
Wondering because the lock out "steps" on my '88 version are fairly nonexistant.

Also, can anything be done about it other than replacing it?

 

I used Lokars 700r4 shifter on one of my cars. It was a little tricky to get adjusted just right but I've never had any real issues. I do like the reverse lockout feature. Hope you get along well with whatever remedy you choose.

 

does gennie' have there own website, i couldn't find one and after 20 or so minutes i gave up

 

i'd like to know too...my gennie shifter was bought in 1991 . the reverse lockout seams to be fine, but i have heard stories. .... and a car i know of jumped into reverse and smashed into the back of the garage

 

I dunno I still run Hurst shifters, I've always run Hurst shifters when I could or had a choice.

But I haven't ever built a '30/'40s era car either. I never have liked a shifter with push ****on in the knob, I guess its a saftey thing, but I know from experience that they either work or they don't, and when they don't life is not good.

Looks to me like your choices are few when it comes to getting the top loader look, build with a top loader, build your own shifter or be at the mercy of the aftermarket guys.

Anyway hope it works out for ya.

 

Don,t tell me that I just got one and plan on fitting it next week . fitting the shifter dose not look that hard wiring the indcator looks the tuff bit

 

Looks like they started one?? http://www.gennieshifter.com/

Yeah, I had a Lokar in my Nova. Never liked it.

 

Never had a problem with mine, or the thousands we sell every year, but that's not to say there isn't something wrong with yours. Like someone said a simple phone call would have probably remedied your situation. Getting pissed never accomplished anything except making your cardiologist rich.Just .02
Shane

 

Read this thread,chuckled a little,went back to work(Yes,I'm my own boss,I CAN play on the HAMB at work).....then thought about RFs response....FIRST,I've got no dog in this fight,although I know one of the guys who works at Lokar....they're not too far from here in the hills of Tennessee....BUT.....BUT....kept thinking about RF response...If you want to defend your advertisers,that's fine,but with YOUR logic,we don't need lame *** "TECH" articles in your magazine,pimping your advertisers products...This guy is pissed about the instructions first,and I don't blame him...Not all of us have access to a steady supply of manufacturers trying to gain favorable exposure for our products,and willing to kiss OUR *** to get it...
I dunno,RF,you're probably a real cool guy...Doesn't seem like you need to back up your advertisers on the HAMB....But I don't understand your business,either...Only time I've ever been around you,you had your head so far up Jerry Weesners ***,you couldn't have seen daylight...And he was the king of NO instructions,see his "tech" articles over the years..I always liked the cl***ic cartoon drawn,how to chop a Merc back in about 73,the one that was responsible for more ****ed up chops than PBR....now tell me I was an ***hole for trying to follow that worthless article and chop a Merc when I was about 22 years old...sorry for the rant....

I'd be pissed about the lack of instructions,and the engineering ****,too

 

Wow... when did this become about magazines?

I dunno. I sell tons of Lokar shifters (not the thousands like the guy above) and don't remember hearing of this issue. It might have been a one time imperfection... who knows.

Instead of *****ing about it and swearing off the company... call them or the place you bought it. What you are doing is going to accomplish nothing. It's a $2 part that is bad. They'll send you another one. If you are in a hurry they might send it next day air.

Crying on the internet isn't going to fix your problem. CALMLY discussing it with the vendor will. If needed I will call for you. PM me and I'll get you taken care of.

Mike

 

Thirtyfive, Ill Pm you later i gotta get to bed, work nights and im already up way later than i want to be.

 

Hey, bill, that wasn't backing up anybody, jack***. Did I say anything about a magazine, an advertiser, or stories about advertisers in a magazine? No. Keep thinking about my response all you want, jack***. I would have posted the same thing if it were about a Gennie (not an advertiser), Hurst (not an advertiser), etc.

Dakota, if you had real internal issues beyond problems with the instructions and basic installation, my apologies. I reread your initial post before I posted, and it still seemed like you were griping about basic issues. From what you've described, it seems like you would have had to perform the same modifications with any similar shifter, right?

 

Doc,Here is what I did .Took shifter apart and welded up gate and selector with air hardening rod .Theh I ground knoches back in with wizz wheel.I talked to Gennie about this problem and they didn't a ****.Last time they said they would sent me some parts but they never follwed through.Something else that is pretty cool is that I bought a hollow locar stick and welded it to gennie base and ran wires for OD unit through stick.

 

For what it's worth, I don't like photocopier instructions on anything either.
You pay real money to these companies and you get **** you can't read that was probably photocopied on some 30 year old surplus copier plugged into a water buffalo powered generator in Bum Phuc, Tailand by some kid they pay 30 cents a week. Companies need to start taking pride in something besides the CEO's bonuses again.

 

No B&M QuickSilver Shifter Fans out there? I've ran one for a few years and haven't had any problems....

 

No problem, jack*** (!). It takes a lot to piss me off...saying my head was ever up Weesner's *** is one of them! (You may yet to have read your PM...)