j20brett wrote:Alright, im curious, why go to the trouble of air shifters? Seems like lots of stuff to break potentially.
Blake wrote:Continues to look good man.
I have the same question about the shifters. Guess I just prefer to manually shift my atlas. I know mine can get bound up pretty good when both the front/rear axles are engaged and it can require quite a bit of force to knock one axle out of gear. I pretty much have to work the gas/clutch/shifter at the same time. Will your setup allow for independent front/rear axle engagement? While I do 90% + 'wheeling with the front axle disengaged and the rear in HI, I do like the ability to go to low rear/low front/etc.
I am not sure what can break. In the pirate thread, the durability is discussed through the years (2007 - 2016) and not one comment about breakage exists. I even asked in the thread about the weight of the cylinder bodies being simply supported that they would potentially wear out the shaft seals (not even a breakage... just wear) and the only response I got was that you will rebuild your rig 10 times before that happens. Really the weight of the cylinders is not very much... a few ounces really. Only time will tell.
The main reason I like it is that once you engage the switch, the air pressure is applying an even force without any further input from you. In that case all you have to work is the gas and clutch to open any binding issues. Once there is alignment the cylinder engages and you are in (or out as it were).
Another reason I like it is that it cleans up the interior a lot. I am obviously going to have a trans shifter. I am also going to have two e-brake handles for cutting rear brakes. The thought of having three additional shifters on the floor doesn't appeal to me. My plan is to make a console with the locker switches and the transfer case switches that the e-brakes will stick out the front and make the interior "cleaner". The beauty of this is that the console will exist directly above the transfer cases so the air lines will be very short and all out of harms way. The shift pills will ultimately keep the transfer case from imploding and the shift rail detent balls are not really needed at that point. I also really like that it is just vastly different than what most people have or have ever seen. Another consideration is if the air system fails in some way, the detent balls will be the only thing holding the rail in gear which isn't the end of the world.
Finally my ultimate goal down the road is that I would like to make Brutus "remote controlled." At that point I can replace the switches with electrical solenoid valves that are wired into RF receivers... but this is a LONG way down the road. This makes air shifted t-cases actually a critical component to my plan since there is no way that I can electrically actuate the sequence the pressing of the clutch, the shifting of gears and the release of the clutch. I can however electrically "shift" from 1:1 to 2:1 to 3:1 to 6:1! Don't tell anyone about this because it is supposed to be a secret (until now)! Before you get all excited about any "runaway" scenarios... a RF ignition kill switch will be at the ready at all times!
My setup
will allow for independent front/rear engagement. The one thing that I will do a little different is that I will not have the ability to have the 203 in neutral. I will use a single cylinder with a 1" stroke and the 203 will either be in high or low at all times. Another beauty of the air cylinder actuation is that I can put as much or as little force as I want on the shift rail by regulating the air pressure to the cylinder. Most guys on the Pirate thread are using the air locker regulated pressure of 85psi to run their shifting cylinders. Worst case if the 44lb of force that is generated is not enough, I could go to un-regulated 150psi pressure and get nearly 78lb of force on the shift rail. Even with mechanical advantage, I don't think your are getting that kind of force with your mechanical shifters and it is not as constant/persistent.