electric T 20 shifter

[truckndiesl]

i am thinking of hooking some fuel shut off solenoids . off a diesel injection pump. to the shifting tabs on my t 20. i am thinking i would hook them up to when they were off they would be in the forward posi. which would be held by a spring. then u flip the switch and they would pull it to the reverse . has anyone done this i think it would be easy to do because they are so simple only three wires that go to them. a ground pull and a hold. these solenoids can do a lot of work and i think more than what it takes to shift the t 20. to those that do know what a fuel shut off solenoid is. it is use to shut the fuel of by moving a lever in the injection pump. they have about 2 inches of travel.

[Don]

That's a cool idea. If you can adjust the solenoids so that there's no pressure on the diamond shifter once it's in gear, it would work (I think). The detent springs in the transmission are what should be holding it into gear, and if there's pressure on the shifters, the pin can contact the spinning spool inside and wear the pin off the bottom, then there's no shifting electrical or manual. Good luck, and take pictures if you do it!

[Tom]

That would be neat.Except for needing four of them.Sounds like a Dodge Cummins.Good luck on your project.

[truckndiesl]

Don i wasent even thinking about the detents. thats got the wheels to spining agin. i will just have to mock it up with some infinant adjustment. maby a lever to add or take away from the stroke. and slot the levers so the solenoids cant stop and the detents can take the diamond shifter to its happy zone. thanks for your in put and i will post pic

[truckndiesl]

That would be neat.Except for needing four of them.Sounds like a Dodge Cummins.Good luck on your project.

yea tom thats what i was thinking. dodge cummins solenoids. i was thinking only 2 one on each side to where it would be spring to the forward position and only use the solenoids when in the reverse. i was think cam lobes like that on a holly 4 barrel carb with mec secondarys but i wount really know till i start making parts

[philipatmaxfour]

If each solenoid was wired to a seperate switch,would you have electric activated Split Shifters? Sounds good to me.

[truckndiesl]

yea buddy electric split shifters. i was thinking i would mount a wide piece of angle to the top bolts of the t 20. then put a marker in the pin hole of the diamond shifter and trace it to the bottem of the plate. cut out where the pin marked. then put a bolt through the slot into the shifter and nut it on both sides. this willl give it a flat surface to work with and keep the shifter from over traveling. next would be hooking up and mounting the solenoids. i was thinking a piece of flat stock that would be sloted to fit over the bolt and hinged at the trany side to swing the same as the diamond shifter. on one side i would hook a spring an a adjuster for the spring then the solenoid to the other side. then some where hook a small gas shock to slow down the travel of the shifter so its not trying to jam it in gear when its not lined up. i was also thinking of blend door motors that are use for heating and a/c in cars most electric ones use a worm gear and are very strong and they are a lot less money than fuel shut of solenoids.

[Tom]

The blend door actuators sound good,but internally they are crap!Instead give power window motors a look over.Either you could use limit switches to control travel or you can use them with some sort of hard stop.Then you can stop in F-N-R positions.That was my reasoning on the 4 shut off solenoids.

[Tom]

I forgot to mention,they are sealed alot better because of the intended location.

[LarryW]

Sounds like a good idea but I was curious about N. Toms idea of limit switches would work great I think. Have a little cam on the shifter with a little cutout in it for F,N and R. Get one of the switches with the little wheel and when it falls in the cutout out is stops. Great Ideas guys and look forward to seeing it!

[Tom]

I was thinking that in the N position,just a red light/buzzer comes on.When in F-R a green light shows.It all depends on how complicated you want things.Or linear actuator/stepper motors that have built it potentiometers to report position and the required electronics to run it.But,I like simple.

[philipatmaxfour]

instead of the small gas shock to slow down the travel of the shifter---maybe the spring loaded "easy shifter kit" that people sell to make shifting t 20 trannys easier? If you get it done we would sure like to see a picture. Good Luck Warren Philip