What determines the length of the travel from gear to gear? The shift lever alone determines the length of the throw or the movement from gear to gear. Since the lever pivots around a stationary pivot ball it is the ratio of the distances A to B that determine the length of the throw. The smaller this ratio the shorter the throw. But a shorter the ratio also means more effort is required to engage gears. Beyond measured throw there is also to a lesser degree a perceived throw. Since the Upper lever (red aluminum portion) is insulated from the lower lever (steel portion with the pivot ball) with a resilient material -typically vulcanized rubber- some flex will occur at the upper lever. This flex can be varied to some extent by changing the degree of resiliency of the insulating material. © Copyright 1999 Autosolutions, L.L.C. No portion of this site or its contents may be reproduced without explicit permission from Autosolution, L.L.C. Web site designed and maintained by innovative design productions