Radesigns Rail Controller

[88mancheman]

I tried searching but came up empty so far, has anyone ever used a Radesigns Rail controller or anything similar still on the market and had much success with it? My 88 has a AW4 swapped into it but the PO never put a TCM in the rig so it’s a manually shifting AW4 right now and it sucks not having 2nd gear till near 4K rpm (which I never hit in my rig) 1st to 3rd just seems so sluggish on the trans and I’d like to be able to use 2nd gear when taking off and something like the rail shifter seems to be small but a perfect fit for my needs if it’s ok to use on the road and helps in the dirt‍

 

 

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[Darren]

I had the original version of the RADesigns Rail Shifter in a 94 XJ. I loved it, and several other people I know have ran it and they feel the same way. I'd recommend reaching out to Rory at RADesigns about what your situation is and what you'd like to accomplish. Don't mention my name though, he's not a big fan of mine.

[Eagle]

The TCU shifts by switching solenoids. Back in the days of the old XJ Forum (the predecessor of NAXJA) there was a guy on the board named, IIRC, Frank Sweigert (or close). He had an AMC Hornet into which he had swapped an XJ 4.0L drive train. No TCU -- he controlled it using a 6-position rotary switch that stepped through the solenoid connections in sequence. You could use a rotary switch alone and use the last position to engage the torque converter lock, or you could use the rotary switch to select the gear and use a separate toggle switch to engage the torque converter lock in any gear.

[88mancheman]

Darren thanks for your input! I’m starting to lean towards to rail shifter as it seems like it will give me the satisfaction of shifting while keeping my AW4 in there, I sent an email to Rory at Radesigns yesterday about using the rail shifter on the road hopefully he has some good things to say aswell :)

 

Eagle I like the simplistic idea, I googled rotary switch shifter and couldn’t find exactly what you are talking about but I can picture it in my head kinda like the new Jeeps use the turn dial switch from P-D I could do that to switch 1-4 and tc lockup, or go one step further and maybe even do some sorta push sequential shifter for 1-4? I saw a YouTube video with a guy who made a sequential shifter for the AW4 which looks awesome but either time consuming or expensive to buy unless y’all have seen that for sale anywhere?

 

 

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[gogmorgo]

Eagle's not really talking about a specific shifter, just a standard rotary switch. The AW4 is controlled by three solenoids, one for the torque converter lockup, and the other two are gear selection, which select 1-4 depending on how they're energized. So all you'd need is a rotary dial switch set up to energize the solenoids in proper combination to hit each gear. It's basically what the TCM does, just without the pre-programmed shift logic.