A week ago the shifter on my T5 bit the dust. What I had done originally was to cut a mounting point on a typical S-10 shifter by hacksawing the shifter to the length I needed and then sawing down and across it to make an L shape. It turned out it wasn't strong enough, didn't last and finally just gave up the ghost. Should this happen to you, here is what you'll discover: 1...buying a ready-made shifter can be expensive especially if you don't have a Ford 2...maybe really, hideously, shockingly, I can't even afford toilet paper now expensive 3...if you can weld, use a hacksaw and have some 3/16" angle iron you can repair your shift pin like I did and still buy toilet paper (which is a good thing).
I didn't take a lot of images of the work but in the first one below you can see I've cut two pieces of angle iron (about 13/16 inch wide). I wanted to make a nice thick mounting piece so I won't have to do this again in another 6 or 7 years. It gave me a bit more than 3/8" of metal. I used a bench grinder to round the outside edge of one and then I torch welded these together. Probably would have done a better job but my torch was spitting and popping, burning my shirt and what remains of my hair and generally irritating me to the point I had to curse. Occasionally in Russian. But all in all I still prefer to use an oxy-acetylene torch. In the second image, you can see I have hacksawed the shift pin about an inch or so above where the pivot point on mine is (and years ago I got a 1.25" aluminum spacer piece to make the throw very short so the pivot point on mine is 1.25" higher than normal). You can also see where I'm going to tack the L I am making by laminating the two pieces of angle iron and welding the seams to get as much penetration as possible. I'll trim them at the top later to make them all nice and even. This part is straightforward welding and when you're finished you'll do some work with the bench grinder to make certain everything that needs to fit over the top of the pin (the arched springs and the black plastic spacer specifically) will fit okay. Keep the vertical part of the L in line with the shifting pin. Once you're finished with this, make certain your shifter fits onto the L you've made (you may need to do some finish filing with a hand file) and then mark and drill the mounting holes. What you've made should look like the third image below. Hint: make certain your shift pin can move forward/backward to its limit (which will be determined by the bottom side of the mounting/spring gizmo). File/grind if you need to adjust.
Okay, now make a collar for your shift rod. What I did was to cut three pieces of the 3/16' angle iron the width and length I needed, weld them into first an L and then into a U while the last piece was clamped firmly to my shift rod mounting spot. You want that collar to fit as tightly as possible to provide you a nice firm support for your lever (particularly if it is long to mimic the old 4 speed lever like mine is). Firm is good. In the final image below you can see the collar pressed onto my shift rod mounting spot. On mine I used 3/8" extra-strength bolts/nuts and star lock washers and got a really nice tight fit here. Hint number two: when you get your collar piece on, drill using the holes on your shifter as a guide and then re-check once you have the pieces joined together. You want the collar to fit over the mounting piece so it prevents any possible wobble forward/backward.
Tighten everything and check for action. In my case the short throw pattern was restored very nicely and the the shift action is better than it has been in years. Good luck. If you need to do this and have questions, please feel free to ask.
~ Jon 1952 1/2 ton with 1959 235 | T5 with 3.07 rear end
