Journey/Itasca Allison Shift Panel location

doorguy · 05-16-2013, 04:05 PM

Ok, my friends, here is a new one I haven't seen before. I do a lot of manual shifting when climbing, descending,etc. rather than wait for the tranny to do it on its own. I find my "reach" to the shift pad is a little bit of a stretch and I want to raise the panel about 2" off the plastic panel it is mounted to. I think I can make a bezel the same size as the shift panel and mount it underneath. My problem is, I can't figure out how to get the shift pad off without taking the entire side panel off which is a PITA because it goes all the way to the front underneath the dash with the spaghetti bowl of wires in there. I emailed W. but I don't think he understood what I was asking so no help there.

Anyone had that thing off before??

Skip426 · 05-23-2013, 12:26 AM

I'm looking into the same on my DS, need about 4" , lots of wire length under the dash. Haven't looked into removing the pad yet. But I'll track this post and reply if I happen to get mine off, before you get other answers.

Skip426 · 05-23-2013, 01:38 PM

Just pulled mine, held in place with 2 " U " shaped straps that span the back side of the touch pad. Mount on the pad is 2; 1/4" studs on the back of the housing; 7/16 wrench size , the nuts on mine were finger tight. If you would like to see pictures, I'll take some. Got it hanging loose at the moment.

RickO · 05-23-2013, 01:57 PM

I'm lucky in that the OEM location of my shift pad works for me.

I do sure wish that they had really made the "Smart Wheel" a bit smarter though. Having the shift pad there would be nice, but it's really the engine brake switch that I'd like to have there for easy access. I have to make quite a reach to get to the brake switch where they located it.

Rick

1ciderdog · 05-23-2013, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skip426

Just pulled mine, held in place with 2 " U " shaped straps that span the back side of the touch pad. Mount on the pad is 2; 1/4" studs on the back of the housing; 7/16 wrench size , the nuts on mine were finger tight. If you would like to see pictures, I'll take some. Got it hanging loose at the moment.

Yes, a couple of photos would be great.
Bob

Deucenut · 05-23-2013, 06:54 PM

My dad relocated his Alison shifter pad from the right side of the dash all the way over to the left armrest area. He said it wasn't difficult, just cumbersome with all the wires. But they were long enough to do it. I am pretty sure you'll have to take the panel off to get at the bolts though as we have the same unit and I couldn't see how to do it otherwise.

Skip426 · 05-24-2013, 09:29 AM

Roofing crew on the sticks and bricks,today, photos tomorrow.

doorguy · 05-25-2013, 12:01 PM

Yesterday, I began the project or removing the shift pad. I suggest removing the drivers seat(4 nuts, disconnect swivel cable and unplug wiring harness). I removed the entire seat down to the pedestal. I found I needed the room and if the pedestal could be removed w/out much effort, that would have even been better.

I removed all screws holding the side panel to the wall and lifted it up and back; it comes out enough to work on the stuff behind it. It helped to unscrew the speaker that is in the bottom of the panel so you have hand-hold access to lift it.

When down in Quartzsite in Jan. I found some 2.5"x20" strips of the corian counter that match the ones in our galley at the Gambler Used RV parts. Didn't exactly know what I was going to with them, but couldn't pass them up for what I paid. I cut four lengths and made a box that fits under the lip of the shifter pad by routing the outside edges and gluing together with Weldwood Contact Cement. I also ran a bead of silicone down the inside of each corner for added adhesion. So this gave me a 2.5" rise to the shifter pad.

Since the existing U brackets would not fit the extended height, the most time consuming task was figuring out how to mount it from underneath. I thought I could buy a couple of #10-32 coupling nuts to screw onto the imbedded mounting screws in the back of the pad, then use whatever length screws I need from there. Well, that was a problem. I could not find any coupling nuts in that size. So I bought some #10-32 T-nuts that have a 3/8" thread body and used spacers on the imbedded screws to bring the T-nut up enough to have half the thread depth for my bracket screws. I had to make new flat brackets out of some metal stock I had.

I did have to glue(Goop) a flat metal bracket on the inside of each corian piece to protruded about 3/8" into the panel opening. I found I had to do this to keep the pad aligned in the cutout. The unit bolted up very nicely and is good and snug. (Yes, I DID remember to plug the shifter pad back into it's harness)

After re-installing the seat, I sat in it and now i can reach the pad w/out leaning forward and stretching my arm all the way out; much more user friendly.

I do not have luck posting pics on this POS 10 yr old computer I have, I' sorry.

1ciderdog · 05-25-2013, 05:24 PM

I do shift manually shift down a lot especially in the summer time in the mountains. That sounds like a good modification you have engineered.

doorguy · 05-26-2013, 06:31 PM

Since I cannot post pics on the forum yet from a camera, and I know explanations can be useless sometimes without pics, I figured out I can take a pic with my smart phone and email it to myself and forward to anyone who is remotely interested in seeing my mod for the raised shift pad. So, if anyone is, and wants to PM me with your email address, I would be happy to forward the pic. If you are leery about throwing your email address out to me, don't worry, I only keep my own personal contacts and will only use it once to send you a the pic then destroy it.