DIY Sequential Shifter from arcade joystick

  • Thread starter Spitfire77
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Spitfire77

Spitfire77

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I was looking through threads last year for a DIY handbrake or sequential shifter to improve my setup for Dirt Rally using a T300 on ps4. I found this post - http://www.isrtv.com/forums/topic/22495-diy-thrustmaster-tx-arcade-handbrake-mod-tarham™/

I went and bought the joystick for about $10 (its $13 now) and never bothered. After Dirt 4 was announced I decided I would try and build it out of scraps I had laying around and get Dirt Rally off the shelf.

What you need..
1. The joystick https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UL4XQHE/?tag=gtplanet-20
2. Wiring - I used a cheap 4-way trailer wire kit I had in the garage and soldered it. Blade connectors will also work.
3. Mounting hardware
4. Various tools.

I am not much for making things look nice.. I will likely add some paint to the wood block but w/e it works.

Mine is wired to a T300 wheel which has wires for the T500 static paddle shifters, so I just wired it up to those, so it is the same as the paddles (L1 / R1)

Only current issue is the lack of resistance, I had some cheap springs laying around that improved it a little but I have an idea to make it a bit stiffer I will try over the next few days.

You will also see my Th8a which has a handbrake handle on it.. so yeah I use my $150 shifter as a handbrake and this ghetto diy item as my shifter because I do not like paddles for rally..
 

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So I went with rubber bands for a temporary improvement on the resistance and it is working pretty well.

I also opened up the black box part and put a square of rubber mat on the bottom so it would dampen it a little, as before it is just plastic pieces sliding around easily. Overall it is a better feel.

In general I won't be able to achieve an real response feeling of when it shifts and will just push on the stick till it stops. It is a very short throw so it is not a big deal. There is a click sound from the micro switches that you can easily hear if you are not wearing headphones, but I always wear my headset and Dirt Rally has great audio sounds for shifting anyways.

I found a picture for a G27 sequential shifter mod that I plan to try out (Attached picture of the G27 shifter mod plate) when I have more free time to work on it. Basically it is a plate to only allow the stick to go forward and backwards and there is an o-ring or silicone band held by two bolts that gives resistance to the stick. This would be much more ideal than my multiple springs and rubber bands with a bonus improvement to the feeling when it wont be able to move left or right.
 

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Castrol96
Great stuff!

Would this work on a Logitech DFGT? I'm extremley close to buying this kit.
Click to expand...

The Logitech DFGT already has a sequential stick built in. I own one, it works just fine. The issue with the DFGT is the paddles (they are small buttons)- I bought some add on ones for mine. I actually have a post about it on my blog. It has my full old setup before I got the T300 and the wheel stand pro. - http://socalcolin.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-diy-budget-portable-sim-racing-set.html

And yes, it would work on any wheel that you wire it too, meaning you may have to open up the wheel base and solder it up, like the original post on isrtv that I got the idea from.
 
Spitfire77
The Logitech DFGT already has a sequential stick built in. I own one, it works just fine. The issue with the DFGT is the paddles (they are small buttons)- I bought some add on ones for mine. I actually have a post about it on my blog. It has my full old setup before I got the T300 and the wheel stand pro. - http://socalcolin.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-diy-budget-portable-sim-racing-set.html

And yes, it would work on any wheel that you wire it too, meaning you may have to open up the wheel base and solder it up, like the original post on isrtv that I got the idea from.
Click to expand...

So this works the same way as the built in DFGT shiftier but has 4. Looks better tho.

I was looking for a H type shiftier if there is any. Perhaps there might be a way to mod this into a H type.
 
Castrol96
So this works the same way as the built in DFGT shiftier but has 4. Looks better tho.

I was looking for a H type shiftier if there is any. Perhaps there might be a way to mod this into a H type.
Click to expand...

Turning it into an H-pattern would be a completely different monster. There are some DIY H-pattern shifters I was looking into a couple years ago and that is a lot more work. I suppose it could be made into a 4 speed with no reverse if you are willing to mill out the pattern on top, remount the micro switches, then come up with a way to get it to lock into place for each gear..

After I bought the T300 I waiting till I had some extra money and I bought the TH8A shifter and T3PA pedals and they have both awesome.

I would consider thinking about how you are going to have a clutch before you get to the h-pattern shifter. In which case, I would look into maybe a used G27 vs a DFGT.
 
Spitfire77
Turning it into an H-pattern would be a completely different monster. There are some DIY H-pattern shifters I was looking into a couple years ago and that is a lot more work. I suppose it could be made into a 4 speed with no reverse if you are willing to mill out the pattern on top, remount the micro switches, then come up with a way to get it to lock into place for each gear..

After I bought the T300 I waiting till I had some extra money and I bought the TH8A shifter and T3PA pedals and they have both awesome.

I would consider thinking about how you are going to have a clutch before you get to the h-pattern shifter.
Click to expand...



Iv'e seen a few videos of DIY Sequntial Shifters. There are a few ways to keep the shiftier in lock.

But I don't know much about how it works so I might just buy a G29 Shifter.
 
The G29/G920 shifter is not a stand alone device. You will need to also purchase a USB adapter for it to work without a G29 or G920 wheel.. and at that point you are getting close to the cost of the much nicer TH8A shifter I think.
 
Spitfire77
The G29/G920 shifter is not a stand alone device. You will need to also purchase a USB adapter for it to work without a G29 or G920 wheel.. and at that point you are getting close to the cost of the much nicer TH8A shifter I think.
Click to expand...

Sadly it is horribly plastic and light feeling hollow. Don't think it has changed since the G25? It was not bad but I always felt it like a toy.
 
Spitfire77
I found a picture for a G27 sequential shifter mod that I plan to try out (Attached picture of the G27 shifter mod plate) when I have more free time to work on it. Basically it is a plate to only allow the stick to go forward and backwards and there is an o-ring or silicone band held by two bolts that gives resistance to the stick. This would be much more ideal than my multiple springs and rubber bands with a bonus improvement to the feeling when it wont be able to move left or right.
Click to expand...
The picture didn't come up in the quote, but it could also be done with longer bolts and an extra two nuts on each for locking together and assigning band position. This would mean that you'd have resistance adjustments possible. Higher band position = more resistance, lower = less resistance. Saves on guessing the right height/resistance, and would mean that the shaft could potentially be extended at the time, or later, with a leverage increase offset possible.
 
Is there any chance that there are connectors for these cables available or do you think they are proprietary? I want to do this mod (already built a shift, waiting for switches) but my wheel is still under warranty so I don't want to take the chance of soldering.

Thanks for any help :cheers:
 
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ELCID43
Aha! I those do look like the ticket Spitfire! I am going to search for them on ebay and see what turns up. You are a gentleman!

Thanks :bowdown:
Click to expand...

Hopefully you can find them, you can keep the cover plates off the base if you do not feel like cutting an access hole for the wires. Hopefully your mod comes out well.

I am already thinking of my next DIY item.. either going to make a WRC static dual action paddle shifter like they have been using the last couple years, or make a digital handbrake. Most likely will be the handbrake. I want to be able to use it with the TH8A in H-Pattern mode and I do not feel like using this arcade joystick and making a new mount for it that will fit on my wheel stand. - Going to basically make it like THIS but not the same spring setup and shorter throw. (Guy who made it used an arcade joystick as a shifter as well years ago - Link to his post )

Since I used that trailer lights connector, I can keep using those for other items.
 
I am still looking for them as the available ones I have seen are for bundles of 20, waaaay more than I need obviously! I think I might just do some from eBay but they will come from China so it will take a while.

I like the WRC paddle shifter idea 👍
 

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