Novak Shifter Issues...

Anyone with experience installing the Novak cable shifter that could lend some ideas? I am having several issues with it.

1.) It directly interferes with the transmission selector arm. No amount of persuasion will make it stay left or right of it. Might just have to use a big piece of rope to tie it to the transmission body.


2.) The bracket on the transmission hits the shifter body. There is about one millimeter of clearance there.


3.) The transfer case side of the cable ends up five inches above the shift lever on the transfer case. A bit of pushing and tightening gets it a few inches closer, but not close enough. The flex in the cable is not great enough to compensate for the difference.

I just installed one of these last week. However, I have an AX15, so I can't comment about your interference issues with the transmission shifter.
It looks like you mounted your bracket too high on the transmission, that would explain why it is 5 inches above the transfer case shifter and also why its hitting your shift lever housing.

I thought I might as well post more of my experience just in case its needed. Here are a few more notes:

The cable should point directly towards the shift lever on the transfer-case once its tightened with the nuts, or at least pretty close.

Also, on my install, it seemed like the cable was too long. I had to move the nuts (on both sides of the cable) to the tip of the threads and fully screw in the clevis / ball joint for it to fit properly.

Final note, I had some fitment issues with the bracket that mounts on the transmission. Right where the bracket needed to mount, the transmission(AX15) housing had this protrusion that interfered with the bracket mounting on the studs. It was barely interfering with the bracket, about <1/8". Had to shave some metal off the bracket.

The shifter works great, nice and smooth.

Sizing down those pics would help

Snarky said:

I just installed one of these last week. However, I have an AX15, so I can't comment about your interference issues with the transmission shifter.
It looks like you mounted your bracket too high on the transmission, that would explain why it is 5 inches above the transfer case shifter and also why its hitting your shift lever housing.

Click to expand...

There is only one place to mount the bracket and it appears to purposely be that high to clear the drive shaft. Looks like I will have to modify it to fit.

Snarky said:

I thought I might as well post more of my experience just in case its needed. Here are a few more notes:

The cable should point directly towards the shift lever on the transfer-case once its tightened with the nuts, or at least pretty close.

Also, on my install, it seemed like the cable was too long. I had to move the nuts (on both sides of the cable) to the tip of the threads and fully screw in the clevis / ball joint for it to fit properly.

Final note, I had some fitment issues with the bracket that mounts on the transmission. Right where the bracket needed to mount, the transmission(AX15) housing had this protrusion that interfered with the bracket mounting on the studs. It was barely interfering with the bracket, about <1/8". Had to shave some metal off the bracket.

The shifter works great, nice and smooth.

Click to expand...

Yep, I nearly have the same issue with the bolt length. I backed the stud out of the transfer case a few threads to get the tip of the stud to poke out of the nut.

When I tighten the nuts the cable is closer, but still well above the shifter. I have some modification plans to angle the tab more towards the transfer case lever.

Something doesn't seem right, mine bolted right up with no issues. A bit less close up pics would help, having a hard time seeing what's going on. Here's how mine looks:

is this actually a novak cable or a knockoff?

Gasman said:

Something doesn't seem right, mine bolted right up with no issues. A bit less close up pics would help, having a hard time seeing what's going on. Here's how mine looks:

Click to expand...

My only guess is that is not as compatible with the MJ's floor pan design. Though, the area around the transmission and shifters should be the same as a XJ.

rockclimber said:

is this actually a novak cable or a knockoff?

Click to expand...

It is a genuine Novak shifter bought straight from their web site in April 2013 in anticipation of this eventual installation.

This is how much I had to cut off for clearance. It is still very strong even with that section cut out. This gives about 1.5" of clearance instead of 0.5" of clearance. It touching the rubber shifter boot, but there was about 0.5" that the boot could be smooshed upwards. Either way it would have smacked into it under hard acceleration.




The only issue that remains is the tab angle that the cable bolts through. I found a picture of an older bracket design that has the tab angled down and better overall clearance at the top of the bracket. My guess is I got screwed by a newer design that was not properly retested against older Jeeps. This is the same bracket design shown in the product pictures.
https://www.novak-adapt.com/catalog/shifters/sk2xc.htm

I found people with a similar issues over on Cherokee Forum.
http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/novak-cable-linkage-issues-144377/
http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/novak-tc-shifter-cable-install-145478/

Novak figured it out after some back and forth on what was going on! Apparently I was sent the kit #SK3XR for TJ/LJ NP241OR transfer cases. I did not even know that kit existed.

Novak is planning on sending me a replacement bracket, but I ended up using the bracket anyway since I already cut and welded the tab to a 17º angle. Looks like 19º would have been better, but there is minimal flexing of the cable.

If you ever run into this issue it can be fixed sort of easily. Assuming there is a grinder and welder nearby.

Seems like large expense and hassle to solve a simple problem. I used a variation of this mod, http://www.bsfab.net/?p=26 , opting to cut and re-weld my T-case arm to correct the indexing. I also saw no reason to lengthen the shift arm. Works like a champ.