Shifter solution?

[CKRobin]

I have a 91 Explorer 4 door 4wd with a 5 speed. I can not put the vehicle into 2nd gear if I have a drink in the drivers cup holder or in reverse with a drink in the passenger cup holder. I do have a little slop in the shifter but I still think with that fixed I would have this problem with tall drinks.

So, has anyone tried to build a console to accomidate a console shifter?

 

[pillen140]

I dont know if the manual console is similar to the auto, but i f'n hated the cupholders!

 

[scotts90ranger]

there are 3 different cup holder inserts for the stock center console, one single, one side by side (what you have) and one where they are inline, go junk yard surfing and grab one that's inline and you will be good to go... yours is held in place with two screws in the little front tray thing I think, the inline one is just clipped in, grab the front lip and lift it out.

The other option would be the $200 Hurst short throw shifter...

 

[CKRobin]

I was thinking along the lines of the short thow but have not worked much with manuals so I really don't know just what is involved and how hard it is to get the shifter in just the right location. If I went this route ideally I would want the shifter about were the cupholder is now and make a custome console as can be seen in the tech sections with cup holders in front of the shifter. I would love to see some diagrams of how that shifter bolts up so I would know what my restrictions were on custom location.

Of coarse now that I know about the inline cupholders that is a whole lot less work. I will check that out at the salvage yard.

Thanks.