SHIFTERS--Gennie, Lokar, etc... input please

got a buddy shoppin for a shifter for his 63 Chevy truck. it's runnin a TH350. lets hear your input on the different shifters available. is there something other than the Gennie or Lokar in that style??? lets hear it, good and bad and the best places with the best prices too.

thanks

 

I've always liked Gennie. I am trying a B&M "streetrod" shifter. The Handle is a little short so I put an old handle on it. It's a little bulkier than the Gennie too but the price was cheaper.
Clark

 

Hurst now makes a shifter in the Lokar/Gennie style. I believe it is available in two different lengths. I'm not sure of the part number or their name for it, but I saw it on the website a while back.

 

Two Gennie shifters, two great shifters. One Lokar in the wifes '37 (was in there when she bought it) going to get a Gennie this next winter when we put it away. I want to try the new swan neck design for the next one. Go with Gennie, you won't regret it. Hey, just remembered that Roadstars kid Race now works for Gennie. I talked to him at Columbus and he said if anyone needed his help with orders or tech to give him a call and he'd fix you up.

Frank

 

http://www.hurst-shifters.com/CatalogsDownloads.aspx?ID=27

 

I prefer Gennie...got my 28" tail-mount (hehe) for my TH350 from Gambino Kustoms http://www.gambinokustoms.com. Good product, good price.

I've installed Lokars too...good shifters, but I'm not into the push button. Apparently I'm not the only one as they're now offering a kit that at least allows other shift knobs to function by pressing down on 'em rather than requiring Lokar shift knobs.

Bryan

 

Try the new Hurst

 

Just put a gennie in my 54 a few weeks ago, very easy install, I like it alot so far.

 

Nothing but bad experience with a Lokar. Buy a gennie.

 

Just bought a Gennie last week for my wifes truck. Bought the 23" Swan and had 1 small problem and that was it. Linkage supplied was either too long or too short. I modified the long one, and it shifts with no problem.
Didn't want a Lokar. Had to pay extra for the shift ball adapter (28.00).

Spoons

 

Both the shoeboxes have Lokars,the merc has a Gennie.Just bought a 36" Lokar for the Merc. I haven't had any trouble with the Lokars.Seems like a preferance thing.

 

I think both brands have too flimsey shift rods and Heim ends. I changed mine to 1/4" rod and Rod ends. It' a Gennie also.

 

I Just Installed A Lokar On 700r4 It Was Pretty Easy

 

I prefer Gennie In fact I really like it alot...Had a Lokar. I guess theirs other knobs now, but when I had mine it was billet.

 

I have a Lokar in the '38, Gennie in the '29. Both are great, but the button in the Lokar is starting to rattle now and then at certain RPMs over rougher roads. It's got over 30K miles on it though, with no problems.

 

Buy the Gennie shifter.

 

I really like my Lokar so far. I have the 23". I noticed that B&M came up earlier... don't get one unless you plan on attending "Automatic Shifter Night School" at your local community college.
Brendan

 

I put a Swannie (Gennie) in my 55 and really like it?

 

The Gennie shifter is the more intuitive of the two.
It's sorta like a column shifter turned sideways.

I think the Lokar has the better mount though.
More room for fore and aft adjustment.

When you install the Gennie - assuming that's what you get - tighten up just a touch on the friction device.
It feels about right when new, but give it a few miles and the shifter operates too easy.
No rattles or anything like that, but you don't want it sliding too easy.

Granted, you can open the boot up and adjust, but I shot myself in the foot when I had new carpet installed around the hole for the Gennie.
The upholstery guy glued the boot and ring on both sides and things will probably get screwed up when I finally pull it.

So far, the Gennie is not too easy, but I'd like it better if it had a little more friction.

Mine's a Swan shifter fwiw.

I pulled the B&M competition shifter at Sweetie's request and installed the Gennie so she could drive the 32.
You guessed it, she's only driven it a few times since then.
Too much horsepower she says . . . like I'm gonna drop in a weenie motor or detune it.

Geez . . . a guy's got his limits . . . she can just learn to drive sideways like the rest of us....

 

Just put a 23" Gennie swanneck on a 700R4 in my '55 Chev. It was an easy install and works great. Lots of angle adjustment. One caution when downshifting is there is no safety latch between 2nd and 1st so don't pull the stick down all the way from 3rd....your face goes into the steering wheel.
The main reason I chose Gennie is there is no top button and the knob choice is limitless and easy. I mounted a round porcelan Porter beer spicket on mine.

 

great info

 

Ya know, I was gonna argue the safety latch bit with you, but you're right for the most part.

I went out to the garage to try my Gennie Shifter cuz I remembered there was a safety latch - or detent - for low gear.

If the trans is in park you have to pull the shifter to the left then pull straight back with a touch of left side pressure until you hit neutral.
Drive is straight down from that.

To access 2nd from drive you have to pull the shifter to the left - not quite as far as you do for park - then pull down.
Once you're in 2nd it's a straight shot down for low.

I fooled myself here cuz the only time I select low is when I want to do the half throttle manual shift run-em-through-the-gears bit and the trans gets put in low while the car is stopped or barely rolling.

As for the rest of it, going from drive to neutral is a straight shot.
Reverse requires you to pull the shifter to the left.
Park requires you pull the shifter further left.

All in all it's a good system and for serious launches a straight up push from low to 2nd will do it.
Another push from 2nd to high and it's hangin' on time....

 

I'm an NSRA safety inspector, and my biggest complaint with the Lokar shifters is the way the neutral safety switches function. I know that's one of the last things alot of guys think about with their shifter choice, but the Lokar is more difficult to get the neutral safety switch to function properly. I have had several guys get a big suprise when their car starts up in gear when they think they have it adjusted right. I would recommend to everyone: if you already have one installed, to check that it does not start in any gear other than park or neutral! Just something else to think about.

 

It's been a long time since I've installed either lokar or Gennie (in other people's rides)....but I have put some shifters in old chevy trucks, and the lokar/gennie style shifter is pretty far down on the list for what I'd put in a 63 chevy pickup.

 

Has anyone had any issues with the nuetral safety switch on a Gennie shifter? I had to bypass mine because it wouldn't start in park, but I was having other tranny problems and figured once the tranny was right, I'd take care of the switch. I haven't tried using the shims that came with the shifter yet.

Bryan

 

I have set in the Gennie Shifter hour upon hour while at numerous shows this summer and have listen to hundreds of people complain about their Lokar shifter. Even if everything else was equal, which it's far from, just by looks alone the Gennie Shifter is far and above a better looking shifter for traditional rod and customs.

Call Race, get the lowdown on the differences and ask him for a HAMB Allience discount.

 

Running the Lokar for 2 years now. Trouble free and safe.

 

thanks for the input, so what do you think would be better?

 

I have a Lokar in my 46 and haven't had any trouble with it - unless you wanna count the transmission melting out from under it. I'm gonna have to buy one of their shift knob adapters soon though, as I have one of ChromedRat's fantastic knobs on order.

 

if it were my truck, I'd put in a column shifter, possibly a mid 60s full size Chevy car column would be relatively easy to find and adaptable.

Of course, without knowing all about how the rest of the truck is being built, it's hard to say what would look right. Is it getting the full traditional (whatever that is) look? a ratty look? more of a modern street rod look? (that would make the gennie/lokar the right choice) or more of a hot rod look? or a mild custom?