Casting Study: Automotive Shift Level

This shift lever connects the shifter and the gear in ZF automotive gearboxes. This part was originally cast in aluminum but required tapping and other secondary operations in order to meet the close tolerances. Thanks to close collaboration with the customer, the part could be redesigned and optimized for zinc pressure die casting.

The new part doesn’t require any secondary operations to achieve the tolerances, has a shorter casting cycle, and has 10x longer tool life. The part’s weight was reduced 5%, leading to 30% cost savings on this part. The total weight of the cast parts is 177 grams. The client changed from aluminum to zinc pressure die-casting with ZP5 because of its ability to cast very narrow tolerances without additional operations, leading to a reduced cost for this part.