How Does a Hurst Shifter Work?

Hurst Shifter Basics

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Hurst name was synonymous with high-performance. If a car had a Hurst shifter, it was up on every other car. It gained its reputation as the best shifter components first in drag racing and then other racing applications.

Hurst makes shifters for both manual and automatic transmissions. The basic manual transmission uses a shifter mechanism to move the internal transmission dog clutch. This, in turn, engages the correct internal transmission gear.

A Hurst shifter mechanism is a combination of the shifter and its linkage. Basically, the shifter is normally located in the interior of modern cars and is the visible part of the manual transmission engagement mechanism. The length of a Hurst shifter varies by car manufacturer or transmission design. The connection between the Hurst shifter and the manual transmission is by a linkage made up of rods and arms, which actually moves the internal transmission dog clutch to engage the forward or reverse gears. These linkages are also varied in length to fit the application used.

The distance it takes to move the Hurst shifter mechanism from one gear to the next is defined as its throw. The Hurst shifter's length and the attached linkage determine the shifter throw and effort required.

Hurst Betters OEM Compromises

Hurst manufactures shifter mechanisms to replace auto maker designed and produced Original Equipment Manufacture components. OEM designs are generally meant to create a mechanism for the lowest price possible.

The OEM shifter mechanism will do the gear changing function at the lowest cost in material and labor. This can cause compromises in build quality, shifting effort required and the shifter throw distance. Hurst shifters are intended to address these compromises.

Hurst Shifters

An aftermarket shifter mechanism like Hurst does not have to compromise as customers are looking for high-performance parts and willing to pay extra for the benefit.

Hurst will look at the linkage and length of the shifter and make changes to reduce the shifting effort and shifter throw. Hurst will also increase the strength of their components to add to the durability of their shifter mechanisms. Since auto racing applications add more stress to the shifter mechanism, Hurst has made its name on high quality parts.

This will allow the person that installs a Hurst aftermarket shifter mechanism to complete shifts faster and achieve a higher acceleration rate. The actual time to manual shift to the next gear will be reduced. This will help lower acceleration times and give lower elapsed or lap times for any organized racing application. Hurst shifters will also last longer than OEM components in stressful auto racing applications.