M5OD stub shaft

[Loganwildman]

Can the stub shaft that the shifter goes onto be rotated 180? I installed an M5OD-R2 from a 150 into my ranger and the flat for the shifter lock bolt is on the driver side of the stub shaft, but the bolt is on the right side of my ranger shifter.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I am putting the shifter from an M5ODR1HD shifter (from a FX4LVII) onto my R2. On those it is 90* off, my plan is to cut a new notch in the stub shaft.

I have seen where one guy swapping from an R1 to an R1HD cut the shift lever and welded the base back on in the orientation he wanted, the boot covered up his dirty work.

Tap the locating pin out and try flipping the stub shaft, if it shifts it should work

 

[Loganwildman]

I am putting the shifter from an M5ODR1HD shifter (from a FX4LVII) onto my R2. On those it is 90* off, my plan is to cut a new notch in the stub shaft.

I have seen where one guy swapping from an R1 to an R1HD cut the shift lever and welded the base back on in the orientation he wanted, the boot covered up his dirty work.

Tap the locating pin out and try flipping the stub shaft, if it shifts it should work

cutting in a notch on the pass. side was my first plan, but didn't know if that would weaken the shaft. I found an M5R2 shifter on Ebay. May order that in and see what I can do with it.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

cutting in a notch on the pass. side was my first plan, but didn't know if that would weaken the shaft. I found an M5R2 shifter on Ebay. May order that in and see what I can do with it.

The regular R2 lever is plentiful in JY's around me. They are much longer than a Ranger lever.

The boot about goes up to the knob like an R1 so it would be hard to cut it down and have it look right. I would rather cut and turn the stock R1 lever really.

That was my initial plan until I happened upon the chrome Level II lever in the JY... then my mission became "how to make this work"

I don't think a second notch will hurt anything, there will still be a lot of meat in the shaft.

 

[turbo91xlt]

The regular R2 lever is plentiful in JY's around me. They are much longer than a Ranger lever.

The boot about goes up to the knob like an R1 so it would be hard to cut it down and have it look right. I would rather cut and turn the stock R1 lever really.

That was my initial plan until I happened upon the chrome Level II lever in the JY... then my mission became "how to make this work"

I don't think a second notch will hurt anything, there will still be a lot of meat in the shaft.

I happened upon a person on facebook who has installed the FX4 Lvl II shifters in his Bronco II. When I asked him about the shifter stub he said the shifter bolted right onto his '95 m5od trans that he was using. So next time I'm in the junkyard I'll be looking for a '95-'97 stub and hopefully that will be the key to making the later shifter handles work on the older m5ods.