I sat in a CTS-V the other day and I noticed when I moved the shifter around the action was much smoother than it is in my Camaro. I have a Pro 5.0 and the shifter action is "notchy" as the shifter goes "over center" in the shift pattern (as in 1-3-5 to 2-4-6). Is the shifter the cause of this or is it the transmission? Do other aftermarket shifters operate more smoothly? I have wondered if maybe the ball end on the Pro 5.0 that fits into the transmission shift mechanism is a bit long and maybe it bottoms out when the lever goes over center, causing a bit of resistance. Any thoughts?

 

maybe the springs are weak. i saw on ls1tech that a member there had bought a couple of bolts and cut the heads off of them, then put the heads of the bolts in the springs and it increased the spring pressure making it smoother and making return to center better.

 

Its not a matter of returning to center, its the effort it takes to move it through center, and its been the same since it was new.

 

I think the "notchy" feeling you speak of is because the shift lever is solid vs. the stock rubber piece being on there. That rubber might give it that smoother feel because it takes away that metal to metal feel. Plus I am sure if the t56 has some miles on it there might be some slop in it compared to a newer one.

 

From what I can tell from rebuilding mine it is due to a spring over a notched plate. It's hard to explain, but I would guess that spring in weaker in the CTS-V, thereby applying less pressure to the notch and making it smoother.

I'm going to see if I can't find some pictures to help explain this.

Jeremy

 

Here's the plate from the T5


Here is the underside of the "rider," it secures to the main shift rail.


Hope that helps

 

So let me see if I understand how this works. The shifter cup is where the ball end on the shift lever goes? The little peg looking part of the rider fits into the shift pattern shaped depression in the plate and the spring loaded ball has to cross the beer bottle shaped depression to drop into one of the detent holes that keeps the shifter in place for each gear? So the notch is the ball crossing the bottle?

 

You got it

The lighter the spring, the softer the feel. Atleast I think so, i've never changed the spring to find out

 

Thanks for the detailed answeer, I really appreciate it!

 

That bottle shaped depression could have been described in many ways. You chose beer bottle. I like that.

 

Haha. That's a good point, but that makes me wonder how he understood my explaination so easily

I personally would have called it a "Coke bottle" shaped depression

 

ya gotta go with what you know