Rocklobster gearstick question

Just a quickie here, Ive had the lobster box fitted for a number of months now, and have been driving around pretty much with a large hole in the floor and a great view of the propshafts !!...

Anyway, Ive come to cover up the hole and prep the Jimny for mud, water and winter use but have encountered a few issues ...

Firstly, The standrard Lobsterbox has a lot more "throw" than the Jimny TX box, so the range of motion needs to be greater. This has given me my first headache ... even with bending the stick, when I select 4Low, the stick is so far forward, its practically touching the gator for the gearstick.
When 2High is selected, I have to apply the handbrake in order to allow the stick to move though the 4High gate too.

Qn. how has everyone overcome this ?

Secondly is concerning gators ... I have spare gators (off an SJ and a Vitara) and, although these can be made to fit, I will probably have to cut and weld an extension piece to the existing stick to give sufficient slack to allow the stick to move though its full range of motion.

Does anyone have any hints / tips ... suggestions on this ?

Cheers

Jason

Hi. I had the same problem. It's because the transferbox is sitting too low. I used homemade mounts so I modified them to lift the box up until it hit the transmission tunnel, then did a bit of hammer work to make some more room. This lifted the box about 2". I didn't have to enlarge the hole and the lever and standard Jimny gaiter work a treat as your now lower down the lever and there is less movement. Also the box has 2" more ground clearance. Cheers PhilB

I wish someone would make up sticks for use with the SJ transfer box and also with body lifts, I had to go out and use a local fabricators to heat and bend mine, and then it took 3 visits trial and error bend a bit at a time to get it right.
Maybe one of our great jimny parts suppliers would do these at an exchange basis?
SJ box - Jimny, SJ box - Jimny +2'' (body lift), and Jimny box + 2''bodylift.

I would be prepared to pay out extra just to avoid the hassle of bending/welding or extending. I don't fancy cutting my tunnel and have managed to avoid this after fitting a bodylift, but I will be fitting an SJ box next year after someone donates me a 6.5.1 gearset, ORA fitting kit, Props, and 413 box.

i have these silentblocks:

My stock solution to this, and what I'm going to use for my twin transfer conversion which is even worse because you have two levers.

Borrow an eyelet tool and get a big inner tube (Land Rover or Tractor are good). Set an eyelet in an appropriate position for the mid point of the lever. The lever then passes through the eyelet.

You need to make a frame to press the outside of the tube against the transmission tunnel. This can be as simple as a length of coat hanger wire held in place by pinch screws. I tend to cut a piece of Aluminium or plastic sheet for the frame. The inert tube wants to be fairly loose in the frame but it's plenty stretchy enough for the typical movement of a stick. The end result looks tidy and works really well.

Si