Column Shifter to Floor Shifter... How difficult is it?

[Shane]

Like many others on here I am constantly thinking of different stuff to do to my MJ. I have an 89 4x4 auto. with column shifter. I have been throwing the idea around in my head of changing it from a column shifter to floor shifter. Would I have to change any major parts (ie. transmission, transfer case, etc.)? What all do I need to do this? How difficult is it? Any details and instructions are greatly appreciated? Please use lamen terms as I'm not a mechanic, but I do enjoy these trucks and tinkering with them.

[Geonovast]

All you'll need is the floor shifter components out of an XJ or MJ. Everything will bolt right up, your 4wd linkages will all stay the same.

 

You might want to get ahold of a floor shifter column as well. I'm sure there's someone on here who would be interested in the column shifter stuff, they're pretty hard to find.

[Shane]

Sounds fairly simple. Can it all be done through that plate that you have to unbolt from the inside? Again its just an idea that I'm tossing around in my head at the moment.

[Geonovast]

You may need to drop the transmission down a bit by unbolting the crossmember from the framerails, but you shouldn't have to pull the trans itself. I've never personally done it, so I don't know the specifics.

[maddzz1]

I changed mine and didn't have to drop anything down. I did have to pull the shift cable out thru the firewall and run it back in thru a different hole (that's was already there). I still have the column shift steering column in mine. Had to tie the shift thing up with a piece of coat hanger to prevent someone from shifting with the shifter on the column.

[NotMatt]

Not super hard if you have all the pieces, much easier to do if you pull the carpet out but it can be done without pulling the carpet. There's a large plate bolted to the tunnel that you need to remove and replace with the floor shifter assembly. Keep in mind that unless you swap the column out, you won't have the interlock that prevents you from shifting the rig out of park with the key off which can be a safety thing but it doesn't bother me. Getting the old shifter cable out and the new one in is the hardest part. You have to unhook the shifter cable from the bottom of the column and push it out through the firewall. The floor shifter cable goes through the firewall in the exact same spot, and hooks to the tranmission exactly the same, it's just longer so it can be routed up under the dash and into the floor shifter assembly.

 

No need to drop the transmission or lower it at all, the cable connects right on the driver's side. No changes to 4wd linkage.

 

To make it a real "OEM" swap, you would need to swap the column to a floor shift column too, then you could have the second interlock cable so that you can't shift the rig out of park without the key on, and can't turn the rig off until you put it in park. And a center console to go around the shifter assembly too to make it look factory. Not totally required though.

 

Parts you'll need:

Floor shifter assembly

Floor shift cable

Interlock cable (optional)

Floor shift column (optional)

Center console for floor shift (optional)

 

[EDIT]: You may NEED to swap the column, because there is an interlock in the column shift column that prevents you from turning the key to off if the rig isn't in park, and prevents you from pulling it out of park if the key is off. You might be able to take the column apart and disable this. When I did this swap, I swapped a floor shift column in to get rid of that so I'm not sure how you would go about disabling it.