Level 2 Reproduction Shifters

[TDI Ranger]

I have been brainstorming an idea for a while about reproducing the non existent level 2 chrome shifters, knobs, bezel, ect... It seems to me there would be a niche market for these parts. I have been on the hunt for a set of originals to copy for quite a while, but I haven't seen any for sale at any price.
I had planned on having my local machine shop turn the lever and machine the portion that clamps to the transmission. The rest I can bend and weld together, as the original is. After that chroming, the lever would be fixed to the transmission clamp.
The knobs will have to be contracted out . The plastic bezel can probably be reproduced in fiberglass. I have no idea, but it seems tooling a mold for plastic injection would be stupid costly for limited production.
Does anyone have a set of these they could sell, or can someone provide me with very detailed measurements and pictures? I could just make what seems right but I would rather make a copy as close as possible.

Thanks

 

[gw33gp]

All that sounds good, but I think there is still a very limited market for them. It seems you don't have an L 2 if you don't have the originals. Something you should consider is you can't just switch over to a manual shift with just the linkage, shifter, etc.

The linkage does not clamp to the transmission. It bolts to the extension housing and that is a special extension housing which is also rare. I understand someone has made a bracket that allowed him to modify a regular 4WD extension housing to be able to attach the manual linkage to it. However, it looked like a lot of fabrication work and the details of that were not discussed. I don't know if it even worked.

You will also need a manual shift transfer case which is not readily available.

I think fabricating that linkage would be very challenging at best. I think just adjusting the original to get it to shift right is very difficult. I would not even consider trying to fabricate it. I would take on trying repair it if needed. If you think you can do it, more power to you, but if you plan on selling complete sets, I think you would have to charge way more than anyone would want to pay. I don't know how the boots could be made without molding dies.

All of my parts are still in good condition as of now. The one thing I would not mind having a spare of is the bezel. I have done some repairs to it in non-visible areas, and it is holding up very well, but a spare would still be nice. 3D printing would probably be the best approach for the bezel, but I don't think that would work for anything else.

 

[marcusawereally]

I can 3d print just about anything if you give me the items. I am actually looking for someone to help me redo the interior gauge cluster area with an LCD. I have a couple of items that I print for the rangers with 3D printers mostly just pla and ABS plastics, but I am working on getting a new third printer that does LED Projection printing.