Ok.... before you bombard me, yes... I realize the PPP is the kats azz, but the Duster has a Cheetah shifter in it, and I really don't want to drop a bunch of money on a shifter as my "long range plan" may be going to a 2 speed. Shifter has been in the car forever so I'm not sure of the part number. My major/huge problem is that when I launch the car the shifter handle makes the 1-2 shift by itself... little hard to gain steam when the shifter is dropping automatically and sending me from 6300 rpm to 3500. I've looked it over and appears to me that the only thing this shifter relies on are the detents on the valve body.... seems kind of hokey to say the least as my cheap pos Hurst Promatic I had on the Mirada actually had the detents on the shifter.... I'm going to contact T/A and quiz them, but I thought I'd ask here first. It is a reverse manual valve body and you can basically pull the shift lever straight down from N to 2, the lever then "flips" over to the right in the gate where you pull it to third. Any help/comments/knowledge appreciated.
T/A Cheetah SCS users step inside!
- Thread starter A body
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mikedevore
Well-Known Member
Never had that problem.
I have that shifter in both of my racecars now, no concerns.
I have that shifter in both of my racecars now, no concerns.
famous bob
mopar misfit
briken or bad spring ??
abodyjoe
Well-Known Member
the shifter should be spring loaded too along with the detents. something is broken on that thing..
thats an awesome shifter man..
thats an awesome shifter man..
Big Dad
Well-Known Member
Ahhh yes, best shifter there is for going from 1st to 3rd .
hate'em
hate'em
I'll post up a pict of the gate it has... pretty straight forward (no pun intended)....it IS pretty straight forward. I unhooked the cable at the trans (did I mention I love being able to remove a panel in the floor to do this 
) and as I suspected this shifter is soley using the detents on the rooster comb of the valve body. with the morse cable, a little bit of play at the cable end you have about the worst feel in the world for N-1-2.
) and as I suspected this shifter is soley using the detents on the rooster comb of the valve body. with the morse cable, a little bit of play at the cable end you have about the worst feel in the world for N-1-2. 
.....yeah yeah. I've heard all the stories. Guess I need to pull it out and head on over to the classifieds. My biggest hurdle is to whether or not I want to continue the 727 bleeding, or invite myself to more downtime while I scrape up the coin for a real race trans.... decisions.... decisions. Anybody I've talked to with similar combos has had great results going to the 2 speed. Only other choice I would see is to install the MSD Grid in the car and pull a bunch of timing on the launch.... nuttins easy
abodyjoe
Well-Known Member
really? i never had that happen.. were you using the proper shifter gate for the valve body you were running? i've never heard of any issues like that with that shifter. hell most of the fast mopars at the local track are running the TA shifter..
sst3193
Well-Known Member
I had this problem, with a B & M Quarter stick copy, finally got tired of it. Bought a Pro Ratchet and thee problem was solved. WRONG!!!! Found out I didn't have enough ground on my electric and the cable, for the shifter, was burned up, suppling the ground. Had to cut the cable up to find it. It had eaten the inner wires of the shifter cable, making into a spring, so then the ratchet shifter was making a 1-3 shift, the same as my first one.
Just my experience!
Good luck.
Just my experience!
Good luck.
Gate shifter (cheetah): relies on valve body detents
Ratchet shifter: has it's own detents + valve body detents
I've got this..... will be dropping the valve body and shimming the spring and probably do some dremel magic and increase the ramp on the detent. Talked to Paul at TA this am. Guess that's why you see such a love/hate of this shifter. This one is so soft you can hardly feel going from N to 1...... was a real biotch wearing gloves. I WILL WIN!!
ratchet shifter.... ok IF the planets align and you get the valve body detents and the shifter detents to align perfectly. This was probably the problem as to why we couldn't ever get the ProMatic shifter to work in this car and it worked so well in my old car. Something was "amiss" in the shifter vs the valve body.
Ratchet shifter: has it's own detents + valve body detents
I've got this..... will be dropping the valve body and shimming the spring and probably do some dremel magic and increase the ramp on the detent. Talked to Paul at TA this am. Guess that's why you see such a love/hate of this shifter. This one is so soft you can hardly feel going from N to 1...... was a real biotch wearing gloves. I WILL WIN!!
ratchet shifter.... ok IF the planets align and you get the valve body detents and the shifter detents to align perfectly. This was probably the problem as to why we couldn't ever get the ProMatic shifter to work in this car and it worked so well in my old car. Something was "amiss" in the shifter vs the valve body.
tubtar
Well-Known Member
Gate shifter (cheetah): relies on valve body detents
Ratchet shifter: has it's own detents + valve body detents
I've got this..... will be dropping the valve body and shimming the spring and probably do some dremel magic and increase the ramp on the detent. Talked to Paul at TA this am. Guess that's why you see such a love/hate of this shifter. This one is so soft you can hardly feel going from N to 1...... was a real biotch wearing gloves. I WILL WIN!!
ratchet shifter.... ok IF the planets align and you get the valve body detents and the shifter detents to align perfectly. This was probably the problem as to why we couldn't ever get the ProMatic shifter to work in this car and it worked so well in my old car. Something was "amiss" in the shifter vs the valve body.
The Cheetah relies on the gated path for the shift lever to prevent over shifting.
The pic above is for a reverse pattern.
Directly back from neutral is 1st.........pull straight back to the stop for second , pull back at an angle for 3rd.
Ahead of neutral is a positive stop for reverse.
They are simple and effective for me and I have used a few different shifters over the years.
I would not mind trying a PPP or similar , but I like the Cheetah.
What I would love is a valve body with a clean neutral for my 904..........I always had one more hole past high on my past deals and it was a nice feature.
Well..... I think I got it! Pulled the valve body out and started grinding on the "rooster comb". Hit the 1st detent with the Dremel a few times until I could hardly move the lever on the bench..... also shimmed the spring behind the ball. Herding cats is probably easier than getting that dang ball back in postion while installing the lever! Actually had good "feel" on the shifter. I left the rest of the detents alone as the gate from 2-3 will prevent from overshooting that one as long as you don't pull the lever beyond the gate. I've always found it works best to "slap" this shifter on the shifts.
tubtar
Well-Known Member
Well done.
If mine ever starts misbehaving , I will remember this one.
If mine ever starts misbehaving , I will remember this one.
I think it will do. sat in the car and 1st is definately more positive now. I've got the spring so tight I'm hoping it won't fatigue.... it'll let me know if it does I'm sure! Naturally you are going to have some "play" in the morse cable, and a little at the pivot where the cable attaches as the shifter arm. Throw in some "play" in the rooster comb itself and those wimpy detents.... it was extremely sloppy from N down to 2nd. I do agree with you on wanting the clean neutral.... of course that switch would require a new shifter which was the mess I was trying to avoid in the first place! Clean N valve body $600+, PPP shifter with most the bells and whistles....$500+. whew!!
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