THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

Thilo just received two Austrian spec 712M's, one with power steering installed. I drove that truck last Friday and am definitely on his upgrade list for the steering. It's wonderful!

What really blew me away, though, was the shifter/linkage. My Swiss 710M shifts in a rather vague "the gear is kinda out that direction" manner. The Austrian truck had a short throw, precise shifter that felt like a gated arrangement on a sports car. The reverse lockout collar was nice, too. I want to upgrade my 710M. Imagine shifting from 2nd to 3rd with about 2 inches of stick travel and from 3rd to 4th with about 1" travel to the right. Arriving at the desired gear has a satisfying detent feel. Awesome!

Are Austrian spec shifter parts available? My parts book only covers Swiss trucks. Is there a parts book out there for Austrian trucks? I'm guessing the parts would cost quite a bit, but I think they're worth it.

Or, are all my shift linkage parts shot to h--- with only 16k miles on the truck? (BTW, Thilo is amazed at the precise shifting, too.)

George

The Austrian Pinzgauers have been refurbished in the 90-ies. The different tail lights, the H4 headlights, and the 120 km/h are visible indications of that program.
The changed gearstick also results from it. If you want to upgrade a Swiss Pinz you will need to compare the parts from your Swiss parts manual and the online parts list from http://www.puch.at/en/spare-parts/pinzg ... tor-shaft/.
As far as I can tell from my civilian 712 (which has not been upgraded) you will need a lot of parts; i still look for a donor I can salvage used parts from

I'd be happy to provide pictures of what's on mine if needed, but my shifter is still pretty vague. When in gear, you can still move the shifter about 1.5" in any direction. It took a lot of practice to be able to pin a gear without fault. My neighbor who has an austrian model recently adjusted his shifter and it feels similar. The only difference is that mine has a real positive detent when you do find the gear. Puch.at has all the Austrian parts diagrams. Check there and see if you can compare what's different.

Has anyone made progress in this regard? That was the one feature I also really liked about the Austrian Pinz's, the shifting feels much better to me as well. I'm sure I'll get used to the vague feel of my 710M but would like to know what the cost and install delta is to make the change.

Has anyone reached out to Scott or Jim to see if that's a change they have done or would do? If not, I'll try pinging them and see what the level of effort and cost is.

Ben

That's one of the things that really impresses me about my Pinz. It shifts better than the 2014 Tacoma I sold to buy it, and it also shifts better than our Forester and our Vanagon (though perhaps that's not saying a whole lot). It is honestly, in my opinion, a joy to drive.

Hi Guys a couple things at play here when we talk about the shifting on the Pinzgauers.

#1 - Condition of the gearbox - Bottom line, a tight fresh box will have a crisper feel than a well used box.

#2 - Replace the Heim Joint on the end of the shifter rod. I cannot count the number of times trucks come thru with this $24 part practically ready to fall off.

#3 - Replace the 7" Shift Rod Nylon Bushings, or the Rod Itself. Common area to degrade over time. Version #1 of the rod, you can replace the bushings. Version 2 you replace the whole rod.

#4 - The actual Shifter itself needs the nylon halves renewed where they go thru the floor of the cab. I believe the kit to rebuild the shifter is in the $50-$70 range.

#5 - The reverse lockout of the later Pinzgauers is definitely a nice addition with the sliding collar versus the push thru the floor. Yes those gearshift assemblies are available, but unless the above items are checked/addressed it's not going to do much good in overall shifting performance.

Cheers,

Scott