BrettM
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- michifornia
woody said:With this setup, Put the lever in 1-2 and I can start off in 1st or 2nd, and hold those gears, plus select 1st with TC lockup for steep trail decents. With the lever in D I can downshift from 4th to 3rd on uphills with no throttle-induced kickdown, Hold 3rd if need be, and get TC lockup at any RPM I want it.
*I "DO" have a TCU though (89 model with seperate TCU), but I don't see why one couldn't just wire up the switches to manually control any AW4. I 'don't' think the momentary switches mentioned in the posts above will get it...the rotary might, but still require some shift lever input.
I have read that article, and I'm well aware that you can do it cheaper and easier the way you have described. But you are still having to think about 2 things to shift, the lever and the switch. How do you switch from 3rd to 2nd? You have to simultaneously flip the switch and drop the lever, if you do the switch slightly before the lever you will go to 4th, if you do the lever slightly before the switch you will go to 1st...
Yes it's a little more complicated to make, and costs more in materials, but with the method I've come up with you start your Jeep, throw the lever into "D" and then you don't touch the lever again until you want to put it in Park or Neutral. All the shifting is done with simple taps of 4 buttons, with a toggle for TC lock. In my mind this requires the least amount of thinking and effort once you are driving.
Imagine if you didn't also have a computer, would you feel comfortable with someone else driving your Jeep using the lever and switch method? I wouldn't, that would be a lot to exlpain, remember and do for someone that doesn't know the system. With my method, anyone can drive it, it's very easy to understand, you just tell them "drop the lever into Drive, then push the buttons 1,2,3, and 4 for those gears"