MGW Shifter Installation

After almost 10 years of running with the Tri-Ax shifter I decided I would try the MGW shifter. The Tri-Ax shifter was just way to loud for me using their short solid shift lever. As a compromise I used the Tri-Ax shifter and the stock rubber isolated OEM shift lever.
Here are some pictures of my MGW shifter Installation.

This is what I got from MGW. The 3650 shfiter, the extra dust boot and the short shift lever.

Here is a picture of my Tri-Ax using the OEM shift lever.

It was a little lower than stock because I had cut some threads off and also ground part of the bar down so the shift ball would go lower until it contacted the lever where it curved.

Nothing new about putting the MGW shifter in so here are just a few quick pictures.

Shifter lever removed

Next remove the 4 8mm bolts that hold in the factory dust boot.

You can see where I had installed some rubber gaskets to try and quiet down the shifter. Don't waste your money if quiet is your goal. The vibration/noise is still going to travel through the bolts. If you are looking to get away from the RTV mess then the rubber gaskets are worth the investment.

Remove the 4 bolts that hold in the shifter and remove the shifter. If you had RTV as the sealer you will need to remove the old stuff before installing the new.

Most people recommend using a razor blade to remove the old RTV. But I have had great luck by using a dry 3M green pad, like what you find on the back of dish sponge. It does an excellent job and does not scratch the metal.

Here is the MGW side by side with the Tri-Ax.

I decided to just use the black RTV that came with the MGW shifter.

Install the shifter using the supplied 4 bolts. Torque is around 13 foot lbs.

Next I installed the OEM dust cover.

Then I installed the MGW dust boot. To me their stock dust boot fit just fine so I used that instead of the extra boot I had ordered.

Here is a picture with the shifter using the standard Orange shift handle.

Here is a picture with the shifter using the shorter silver handle.

Everything back together using the silver lever.

First impressions? Big difference over the Tri-Ax shifter. Much shorter throw and the MGW short shifter was even shorter than the Tri-ax shift lever.

Still some noise there but a lot less than the Tri-Ax using the OEM rubber isolated shift lever. Funny thing is about 80% of the noise goes away when you take your hand OFF the shifter. So the little noise that is there is not going to be an issue for me.

For most people the standard orange handle will be just fine. So the shorter shift lever for $29 is clearly optional, you might want to wait and see if you need to go shorter. Here is a link to the MGW website.

The MGW design allows you to rotate the shift lever 360 degrees. This allows you offset the shifter as much as you need. I may experiment some with changing the angle but for right now it is just aligned straight back.