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Barton Shifter - Loud

40K views 113 replies 33 participants last post by  OmahaRumble 
#1 ·
Well I installed my Barton Shifter last night - what a beauty that thing is. Finely engineered and manufactured, and coming from a company that has shown there devotion to their customers here on our forum...oh and made in the USA!

Now before I discuss this next point - I want people to understand that it is not a complaint, I read all about this new Barton as well as the Hurst shifter and expected some noise from the thing. I just wanted to get this out there for those considering buying one that are easily annoyed by cabin noise...

This thing is friggin loud in the car while accelerating through the first few gears. Cruising on the highway in 6th gear I can't tell any difference from the stock. But accelerating up through the first 3 gears is like drown out conversations type loud. While sitting at a light with it in neutral with your foot off the clutch you can really hear the flywheel spinning. The shifter feels great and makes shifting a joy but my experience is that it is extremely loud compared to the stock one. It's not a bad noise like grinding or vibrating or anything, it's more like amplifying the engine noise and probably some of the tranny noise right into the cabin through a megaphone. Having the radio up to almost 3/4 will drown out the noise.

My only complaint about the shifter is that no written instructions with torque values were provided with the shifter. The install video they posted was awesome though - very easy to follow and a pretty straightforward install.

I may experiment with that dynomat stuff I've read about some of you guys using. Are you guys just pulling the boot back up an stuffing the sound deadening material down in that cavity?

Thanks, and again I am not posting this as a negative review of the Barton - just sharing my experience. I think it is a great product, and hope that they sell a bunch of them.
 
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#2 ·
I have dynamat all over from the "Hurst days". Doesn't make much of a difference IMO. The Barton is very loud once the tranny fluid gets hot. I have to blast my music to not focus on the noise. I'm planning on removing my tunnel silencer this weekend to allow more exhaust sound to come up through the cabin. I'm hoping that drones out the gravley sounds that come from the tranny. I thought I'd get used to it, but the extra noise is unacceptable, so hopefully removing the silencer helps. I'll keep you posted.
 
#3 ·
The Tremec 6-speeds are noisy things by nature - one of things the Chrysler engineers had to contend with is the transmission noise is sufficient enough to trigger spurious spark knock readings from the engine's knock sensors...

I've had my Hurst (w/ G&K mod) for ~ 2 years, so there's more driveline and exhaust noise over the OEM shifter with all its softer rubber bushings.

That's the trade off for more precise shift action over the vague long throws of the OEM unit.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I'm glad it's not just me. That's to bad the sound deadening material doesn't help any. Yeah, please keep me updated if you don't mind.

Like I said...it's not like a terrible noise, but you definitely hear the drivetrain now. Like roaringly loud!


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#5 · (Edited)
Man I don't know what could be the difference between yours and mine but it's not close to that loud. It definitely isn't conversation drowning loud. If i just have the heat on high I can't hear it.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the back nut on the cover. My theory is that if over torqued either the block or shifter or both may be making direct contact with the cover. Or its just to tightly held against it. If I'm not mistaken that nut is locking. I don't think I could thread it on all the way by hand. Maybe loosening the nut a bit would help.
 
#7 ·
Maybe that nut has something to do with it. Mine is definitely pretty tight... The instructions of don't over tighten it are quite vague! If I get bored this weekend I may loosen it up and try it out then.


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#12 ·
Yeah. No torque values.

...and mine is quiet as well when I hold the clutch in. There is no load on the tranny when holding it in. I would be scared if it was making noise in that scenario!


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On top of the tunnel silencer I am going to get a rubber washer from Lowes and put it on the end of the tunnel cover and see if that helps too. Mine is very tight on there now,... again no torque specs given by Barton so you just have to guess.
 
#17 ·
I am going to have to pay attention to this thread as I am on the list to get one.
 
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#19 ·
Modding isn't always supposed to go right. Anything not specifically made for our car will have it's quirks. This is a brand new product and there are always kinks to work out. I am hopeful that tomorrow with my changes that it will quiet it down a bit, if not silence it. Can't wait to try this tomorrow.
 
#20 ·
I may tear it back apart this weekend and check for any abnormal contact. I believe that rubber ring was installed correctly. It went in very easy, it was slightly loose in the hole.

If I wasn't so excited taking everything apart I would have checked that rear nut with my torque wrench to see how tight it was from the factory...dang.


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#22 ·
for the people that say it is noisy.. i don't know if you are going to be able to quiet it down. if you went from a stock shifter WITH SOFT RUBBER BUSHINGS. to this yes it is going to be noisy. remember.. you went from a stock shifter with very small almost tack welded rods on the forks of the shifter. and soft rubber junk bushings.. and a rubber bushing in the back block.. to a massive pc of alum with harder plastic bushings and a again MASSIVE CHUNK of alum

metal is a huge tuning fork. that massive pc is going to transmit noise. no two ways about it. You could dynawrap it all day i don't think it will help.. remember the threads on the hurst about HOW MUCH NOISE IT HAS, and the only solution to quiet it down was to put the factory junk rubber back block on.. again hard bushings which make nice positive non sloppy shifts are going to be noiser.

also, the way our tranny is designed ( very poor ) the shifter is hanging clear on the back of the tranny. not ideal set up.
i think the only thing that would help it is to press out the bushings barton put in. put in soft rubber and that might. but that defeats the purpose

just my thoughts
chris
 
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#38 · (Edited)
For me, its more that it sounds abnormal and I am wanting to make sure I didnt screw something up, as I have let a few other people drive it (that are also very familiar with aftermarket shifters) and even to them it sounds as if something is binding up or isnt right is all. If everyone elses is like this, then it is what it is and I will absolutely live with it...but as of right now I am going back in and making sure I didnt mess something up on the install....as its just nowhere near as quite as the posts that I have seen...(ie Danners movie and Bartons movie...) I am coming from the standpoint that I have had Hursts and MGW's in my cars since 1988 when I put my first one in and this is the first time I have ever questioned is it normal or do I have to replace a bushing or have I installed something wrong...even though its just 2 pins and 1 bolt that attach this to my car...so its HARD to screw it up....
 
#23 ·
Yeah, I figured it would be louder - I was just surprised at how much louder. I'm going to take the center console back apart and just check everything and maybe mess with that rear nut to see if it makes a difference at all.

The shifter feels awesome though and performs great. My girlfriend likes the noise - she said "that's okay in a car like this right?" lol
 
#26 ·
This complaining about noise is just insane. Everyone knew this going in. It has to be louder. Don't like it, send it back!


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#40 · (Edited)
Do you have one installed yet??? If you go back and read Dave Bartons original post you will see it says the stick is entirely independent of the shift mechanism and it would be as quiet or quieter than the stock stick....so this has me worried that something is WRONG...as it seems the ones in the 2nd batch are abnormally loud...I can tell you that mine is loud enough that you cant talk over it...its LOUD...not just an annoying background noise or vibration...but physically louder than my exhaust (which is stock) and has me and several others that have listened to mine at our Mopar Meet and Greet (about 25 guys saw it today) questioning as to if its getting into gear properly or if I screwed up the install. As I stated in another post...if this is the noise level then it is what it is...but I can tell you that mine is a LOT louder than another guys Hurst in his Challenger and it just has me concerned something is wrong. And it sounds like I am not alone. The clutch isnt slipping and it feels like everything is pulling normal as far as my transmission and clutch go, but it just doesnt feel/sound right is all...

I tried to use my phone to get a sound bite/movie, but the thing just sounds like a hot rodded car (even though mine isnt...YET LOL) so not sure how helpful that is... I also dug up my roll of dynomatt, but I dont think that it will help (and neither do 2 of my friends, as its not a noise that seems to be coming in due to sound not being dampened...jsut seems like the whole car is suddenly making a LOT of noise)
 
#27 · (Edited)
I just disassembled mine to check it out. I had my rear nut tightened to 17ft lbs. I just adjusted it to 7ft lbs. and took it for a ride without the console reinstalled. It may be quieter, I don't know. But the car is also cold so the fluids are thicker. I also wonder how important the torque values are on the tunnel cover nuts, could over tightening them be squishing the foam between it and the floor to much?

And I'm not complaining. Never once did I say I was unsatisfied and wanted to send it back. I just want potential buyers to be aware and to see if others are sharing my same experience. Which it looks like it's a mix.

Also, the bushing/boot type piece is just resting up against the machined surface of the shifter above that small step you can see that looks angled around the shifter in the attached picture. There isn't really a specific detent for it to "pop" into or anything
 

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#28 ·
That tunnel cover will be a low figure - likely in inch lbs. Those studs aren't very large - you just want to have it seal against the gasket to keep air / dust from infiltration into the interior.
 
#29 · (Edited)
Yeah, I'm sure you're right - I'm actually on here searching the forum now to see if anybody discussed that or posted torque specs from when they were doing Hurst installs or anything.

Edit - actually just found on Speedysgarage when he installed his Hurst shifter he said the torque on that rear nut is 15ft-lbs

Edit found these hurst instructions calling out 15ft-lbs for both the tunnels nuts and the large rear nut, 15 seems awfully high for those small studs. http://www.pfyc.com/supportfiles/dh2012_install.pdf
 
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