Fox T5 Budget Shifter

falconater

Active Member
Jan 3, 2017
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Hi, i'm looking to upgrade the shifter on my stock t5. Does anyone have experience with the $40 china units on ebay?..or would I be better of looking for a used name brand?
 
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Would you put cheap tires an a Rolls Royce? Then buy Chinese.
If you want top quality, buy MGW - the best...
 
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Well, i'm not certain my fairmont compares in value to a rolls, to me maybe. I've also had no name tires last years, that being said MGW does look like a nice piece. I'm just not sure my old t5 behind a 351 deserves it. I will keep an eye out for a nice used one.
 
I have one of those cheap China units in my shed. Before that it was a paper weight, before that it was in my car..... for 45mins. Then I tore it out cursing the car gods for allowing such a poorly made hunk of aluminum to exist..
 
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Well, i'm not certain my fairmont compares in value to a rolls, to me maybe. I've also had no name tires last years, that being said MGW does look like a nice piece. I'm just not sure my old t5 behind a 351 deserves it. I will keep an eye out for a nice used one.
That t5 deserves some love live'n behind a 351
 
Now I have the Steeda Tri-ax and it works, but looking at the MGW I notice that MGW offers 3 different handles. Comfort, standard and race. Ranging from 25-35% reduction in shift. I can't seem to find what Steeda rates their shift reduction at.
 
I have one of those cheap China units in my shed. Before that it was a paper weight, before that it was in my car..... for 45mins. Then I tore it out cursing the car gods for allowing such a poorly made hunk of aluminum to exist..
I'm convinced, I figured it would be hard to get a shifter wrong. Then again I spent almost 400 on the hurst on my toploader, guess I shouldn't be bitching about $189.
 
I have one of the cheap ones. I've had it for a couple years and don't even remember why, but I finally got to use it on a 98gt I recently picked up as a grocery-getter. I figured it had to be better than the factory shifter, which was loose. I'm really impressed by it. I did have to use the upper mounting holes, as the lower holes put the shifter way too low. In fact, the upper position still seems a little low, but it feels pretty good. No complaints from me.
 
For what its worth, I hated my MGW shifter (it was on an S197 though). I loved the Pro5.0 in my 87 GT hatch. Don't buy the Chinesium shifter made of who knows what off ebay. If you're going to cheap out on it, go with a used name brand or a new cheap one from LMR.
 
I've always ran Hurst... because back in the day it was Hurst, or B&M... I could not bring myself to buy a stick from a company known for making slushbox shifters so the decision was easy... especially when Hurst had been in the game since the stone age... Since the Hurst is is so good, I've never felt the need to try the others... man, I do digress.

I'm sure they are all good, except for the China ones... they don't even have stops... then again the Hurst in my Jeep didn't have stops, but, I don't shift the he!! out of the jeep either, so, maybe it doesn't matter... didn't matter to me I guess.... hmm...
 
Had a steeda tri-ax for a while. I liked it but ended up trading a member here for their MGW shifter. I liked it much better.

Honestly, taking the stock shift handle off and putting a shirt, rubber bushingless handle on made a huge improvement on the stock shifter. I think I bought a handle for $5 on eBay until I got a real shifter.
 
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Had a steeda tri-ax for a while. I liked it but ended up trading a member here for their MGW shifter. I liked it much better.

Honestly, taking the stock shift handle off and putting a shirt, rubber bushingless handle on made a huge improvement on the stock shifter. I think I bought a handle for $5 on eBay until I got a real shifter.
Agree on the handle. Replaced the handle and knob on two different stock shifters (fox and S197 both) and it was a big enough improvement in the short term to make it worth it while I decided what shifter to get long term. On top of that, the handle and knob frequently will bolt to the new shifter as well, so it's a good incremental improvement.
 
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I've always ran Hurst... because back in the day it was Hurst, or B&M... I could not bring myself to buy a stick from a company known for making slushbox shifters so the decision was easy... especially when Hurst had been in the game since the stone age... Since the Hurst is is so good, I've never felt the need to try the others... man, I do digress.

I'm sure they are all good, except for the China ones... they don't even have stops... then again the Hurst in my Jeep didn't have stops, but, I don't shift the he!! out of the jeep either, so, maybe it doesn't matter... didn't matter to me I guess.... hmm...
My eBay Chinese shifter has stops.