Ford began integrating its rotary dial shifter into select vehicles years ago, a feature that hasn’t always been the most popular with owners. Rather, many prefer a lever-type shifter of some type, whether it be located on the console or the steering column, and thus far, that has led to at least one change. The 2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E actually ditched its rotary dial shifter for a a column-mounted piece, though the automaker notes that this move was made to increase center console space. Regardless, this Ford F-150 Lightning owner actually wanted to do the opposite, and recently managed to pull it off.
In this recent video from YouTuber Branden Flasch, the Ford F-150 Lightning owner gives us a how-to in terms of changing out the stock shift lever for a rotary dial, a move that he’s making for one simple reason – he doesn’t like the fact that you have to push a button to get that shifter to fold flat and make room for the interior work surface to fold down. He wants to be able to use the interior work surface while driving and not have to worry about fooling with the shifter when the truck is stationary, either.
To accomplish this, Flasch has a 3D-printed rotary shifter kit that he sourced from a user on Etsy, as well as the shifter itself, which he purchased on eBay. That custom part replaces the entire section surrounding the stock shifter and recesses the rotary dial down inside, so it won’t be in the way of the interior work surface platform. Installation isn’t too terribly difficult, but it does require that one partially disassemble the center console first.
Once that’s complete and the old shifter assembly is removed, one only needs to swap over the connectors and reinstall everything. The whole setup actually looks like it could have come from the factory that way, making it a pretty interesting swap for folks that aren’t fans of the folding OEM shifter.
Comments
… there used to be a cool song years back. Something, something “.. too much time on my hands …”
.
Ive always felt that unless you have a manual transmission, a console shifter is a complete waste of space. And the power folding shifter is just a failure waiting to happen. Put the darned shifter on the column where it is out of the way. No need to lose console or dash space for something that is perfectly located on the column.
I agree. People have a really hard time breaking habits and the shifter is one of those.
In electric vehicles and hybrids, there is no shifting as there is no gear change. Just a mode change between going foward (Drive), staying put (Neutral) and going backwards (Reverse) becauze the vehicle is moved by an electric motor that can change direction. Parking is the same as Neutral with a lock in the fixed gearset to prevent movement when the power is off. I have a 2014 Fusion Hybrid and thst is how its HF35 transaxle works. The gas engine is only use in Drive to assist the electric motor.
I think rotary shifters are neat and it cannot be denied that they save a lot of space. I see a lot of people that complain about them because they’re a tad unusual compared to a typical console or steering column shifter, which have their own charm in the nostalgic sense, but take up more room than need be compared to a rotary shifter. I’ve found most people cannot allow themselves to be uncomfortable with something long enough to get used to it or fail to realize how simple the change is (turning a linear motion into a rotary motion).