Broken shifter

Bobw

Bobw

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I recall others breaking shifters and JJ is just the latest. I've used and abused the stock GM shifters and the Hurst shifter that I upgraded too. Never broke one. I don't recall any SS, A/FX, Pro Stocks in NHRA breaking shifters and look at the abuse they got!
What are teams doing to them leading to the occasional failure?
I just noticed. Is the familiar Hurst decal is missing from the 48?
 
who knows if it broke or rather simply came unbolted. It would be easy for a bolt to back out.
 
Just a guess, but most teams are looking for weight reduction in everything they build. I'm guessing they use a shifter that has the very minimum of metal needed for the part. Its not a robust oem shifter you might use in your everyday car, it's probably extremely light weight and possibly even hollow, or even cross drilled to some extent. Add in all the vibrations that run through the body itself, it could break if that's where the vibrations are being transferred. Kez had a crazy vibration on his shifter, a week or two ago. They showed his in car camera and the thing was shaking wildly.
 
They need to keep Harvick's team 500 feet away from the Hendrick garage. It is highly contagious what they have.
 
3wideinturn1 said:
Just a guess, but most teams are looking for weight reduction in everything they build. I'm guessing they use a shifter that has the very minimum of metal needed for the part. Its not a robust oem shifter you might use in your everyday car, it's probably extremely light weight and possibly even hollow, or even cross drilled to some extent. Add in all the vibrations that run through the body itself, it could break if that's where the vibrations are being transferred. Kez had a crazy vibration on his shifter, a week or two ago. They showed his in car camera and the thing was shaking wildly.
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I agree with this for the most part. I would add though the weight is pretty low in the car already, so it could be said it might be unwise to push the limits by putting a flimsy part in an already low location in the car. at michigan your not doing a ton of shifting so maybe they run an even lighter shifter at michigan.
 
Here's a bit of trivia for ya, there was another time a Hendrick driver broke his shifter during a race. It was 19 years ago in 1995 & the place was Sears Point Raceway. The driver was Ken Schrader driving the #25 Budweiser Chevy Monte Carlo. His shifter broke early in the going & he too was given some vice grips to finish the race with. Luckily it was a road course & he didn't lose too much time, he ended up 9th that day just like Jimmie yesterday. Dale Sr got his only career road course win by passing Mark Martin right at the end of the race...
 
I can only guess, but using a vice grip to try to fix it means that there probably was a stub of the shifter left. Probably some super secret metal that broke. Or Jimmy's weight training is really working.
 
Jimmie reported that the entire lever fell off on the restart. The vise grips didn't work; they had to install a new shifter lever.
 
This might be a dumb question but when Jimmie was on his pit stop with no shifter. He took off and was fumbling with that vice grip, what gear would he have been in? I was just curious.
 
lisa said:
This might be a dumb question but when Jimmie was on his pit stop with no shifter. He took off and was fumbling with that vice grip, what gear would he have been in? I was just curious.
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I would guess high or 4th gear. Thats the way he was running prior, and probably the reason he had to be pushed off. Going to a lower gear for the stop (probably impossible without shifter) would have been difficult and put him at risk for not getting to back to the required 4th gear.
 
Greg said:
I would guess high or 4th gear. Thats the way he was running prior, and probably the reason he had to be pushed off. Going to a lower gear for the stop (probably impossible without shifter) would have been difficult and put him at risk for not getting to back to the required 4th gear.
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Yeah it was 4th
 
Greg said:
I would guess high or 4th gear. Thats the way he was running prior, and probably the reason he had to be pushed off. Going to a lower gear for the stop (probably impossible without shifter) would have been difficult and put him at risk for not getting to back to the required 4th gear.
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Ok, thanks, Greg and DSquad. I was curious.
 
JJ might be a good driver but he isnt much at twisting wrenches, he has no clue how to use a pair of vice grips. Hendrick was sitting on the 24 box anyhow, he knew whos day it was
 
Kyle18fan said:
JJ might be a good driver but he isnt much at twisting wrenches, he has no clue how to use a pair of vice grips. Hendrick was sitting on the 24 box anyhow, he knew whos day it was
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Not sure of his wrenching abilities but using the vice grips and driving the car isnt that simple.
Not to mention the fact that he had limited mobility due to the belts and seat construction.
 
Greg said:
Not sure of his wrenching abilities but using the vice grips and driving the car isnt that simple.
Not to mention the fact that he had limited mobility due to the belts and seat construction.
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Putting them on while stopped may have been more effective ...................... just saying :D
 
Kyle18fan said:
Putting them on while stopped may have been more effective ...................... just saying :D
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Stopping for longer than 12 seconds during a green flag pit stop would've screwed them over even more. The car chief couldn't even get the vise grips to stay on, so how can you expect the driver to? Hahaha
 
Kyle18fan said:
Putting them on while stopped may have been more effective ...................... just saying :D
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well, he didn't hit the wall and take himself out at the start of the race like the whiz kid in the 18 did. o_O...got in and out of the pits stuck in fourth without a penalty, which is better than some of them can do with all the gears, didn't throw a little temper tante and stick his lip out scream at his pit and stomp off and not talk to reporters, and he came in 9th. Acted like the champ he is to me. Oh yeah, didn't take nothing off of the local track ogre either. Who knows, they might have re-used a shifter out of a wrecked car and didn't know it was damaged.
 
StandOnIt said:
well, he didn't hit the wall and take himself out at the start of the race like the whiz kid in the 18 did. o_O...got in and out of the pits stuck in fourth without a penalty, which is better than some of them can do with all the gears, didn't throw a little temper tante and stick his lip out scream at his pit and stomp off and not talk to reporters, and he came in 9th. Acted like the champ he is to me. Oh yeah, didn't take nothing off of the local track ogre either. Who knows, they might have re-used a shifter out of a wrecked car and didn't know it was damaged.
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alrighty then
 
I think Jeff has been messing with JJ's cars late at night. He is part owner, so he has keys to the shop.
 
I'm surprised they wouldn't be using top loader transmissions, shift rods and levers sounds a bit primitive to me.
 
Kyle18fan said:
Putting them on while stopped may have been more effective ...................... just saying :D
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True. But they were doing this in real time in the heat of the moment
Based on Jimmies line of sight he may not have been able to see were the break was. Or for for my lack of knowing the exact terms he may not have been able to see the connection from the linkage to the shifter, or he may have needed his 2nd driving hand to hold the boot back. I dont know.

Without that exact knowledge we will never know how it could been better managed. And to be fair your impression might be correct another driver may have been more resourceful.
I just respectfully dont think either of us has enough information to be so prescriptive.

My thought is that they did the right thing in keeping the car rolling in a damage control mode and waiting for a caution to send in the mechanic. But again I am speculating or windbagging without any insider knowledge.

They probably worked this point over in a meeting this morning and probably will never disclose their true thoughts and learnings to people outside the organization.
 
Wingnutcnc said:
I'm surprised they wouldn't be using top loader transmissions, shift rods and levers sounds a bit primitive to me.
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they have a stick on the top that can break also., they don't shift by esp..yet

Greg said:
True. But they were doing this in real time in the heat of the moment
Based on Jimmies line of sight he may not have been able to see were the break was. Or for for my lack of knowing the exact terms he may not have been able to see the connection from the linkage to the shifter, or he may have needed his 2nd driving hand to hold the boot back. I dont know.

Without that exact knowledge we will never know how it could been better managed. And to be fair your impression might be correct another driver may have been more resourceful.
I just respectfully dont think either of us has enough information to be so prescriptive.

My thought is that they did the right thing in keeping the car rolling in a damage control mode and waiting for a caution to send in the mechanic. But again I am speculating or windbagging without any insider knowledge.

They probably worked this point over in a meeting this morning and probably will never disclose their true thoughts and learnings to people outside the organization.
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It was underneath the shifter boot that was fastened by a tie strap, so it wasn't an easy fix
 
3wideinturn1 said:
Just a guess, but most teams are looking for weight reduction in everything they build. I'm guessing they use a shifter that has the very minimum of metal needed for the part. Its not a robust oem shifter you might use in your everyday car, it's probably extremely light weight and possibly even hollow, or even cross drilled to some extent. Add in all the vibrations that run through the body itself, it could break if that's where the vibrations are being transferred. Kez had a crazy vibration on his shifter, a week or two ago. They showed his in car camera and the thing was shaking wildly.
Click to expand...

I agree completely.
 
StandOnIt said:
they have a stick on the top that can break also., they don't shift by esp..yet



It was underneath the shifter boot that was fastened by a tie strap, so it wasn't an easy fix
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Top loaders are much easier to service on the fly, I will confess, I don't know what type of shifters they use.
 
Wingnutcnc said:
Top loaders are much easier to service on the fly, I will confess, I don't know what type of shifters they use.
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expensive ones.


jasper-4-speed-single-rail-image.jpg
 
Kyle18fan said:
JJ might be a good driver but he isnt much at twisting wrenches, he has no clue how to use a pair of vice grips. Hendrick was sitting on the 24 box anyhow, he knew whos day it was
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Didn't you see all of his Lowes commercials? He is an expert at using tools...he was going around fixing everything he could find to fix.:D
 
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