The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Column Shifter

Got a 52 with three on the tree. Looking for an secrets in adjusting the linkage. Lots of slop and play at the pivot. Ordered a new pivot ball with spring kit. Opened the box in the engine compartment and all looked good in there and lots of grease. When I had it out for a test run I got hung up in 1st. Just looking for any tips or tricks. Thx.

Crawl under the truck and manually place each lever in the neutral position. Then open the hood and look at the position of the levers on the column. If they are not perfectly lined up with the slots adjust as needed to line them up. These old trucks frequently require a soft touch when shifting. Slow deliberate moves pausing at neutral to make the H pattern is the key. 🛠

I’m having a similar problem on my 49 Chevy 3100. Where did you find rebuild parts to rebuild box on column??

Didn’t find any parts for the box. Just the pivot up at the steering column. Chevysof the forties.

Guy's, give this a try and see it it helps. First, you cannot repeat CANNOT push the shift lever on a diagonal from first to second as this makes an "N" pattern and not an "H" pattern. Now a tip to help make the "H" pattern without consciously thinking about it. Grip the lever with your palm facing UP and curl you fingers back towards your face to make the shift. You will find this stops (or sharply decreases) the tendency to move the lever on a diagonal and encourages an "H" pattern movement.

You need to o-haul the box on the column. The lever is getting hung up between the shift blocks. You don't need any new parts. Build the worn parts up with weld & grind them smooth.
If the shaft has play in it you can rub the cover on sand paper to cut it down & take up the gap.
George

Once you figure yours out, swing by northern CA and fix mine!

Once you figure yours out, swing by northern CA and fix mine! [/quote]

Working on it this weekend and will let you know how it goes. Got the new pivot ball and spring for the lever in the cab. Hopefully that will tighten things up there plus some re-aligning at the box in the engine compartment will do the trick?????

The best fix I have found is the Muncie 4-speed floor shift transmission

When I started having three on the tree problems, I knew it was time to step up to a real transmission a SM420 granny low 4speed.
Colossal gears/bearings that will stand the test of multiple decades.

Using the very reliable search box (the one on the left side of the screen here), I found very good info from 2013.

Best advice I found...make sure ALL three points are in neutral before you ever start any adjustment of anything. I just did my 51, struggled with it, cussed it, threw stuff, and THEN did the search.

Make SURE the transmission is in neutral (BOTH levers on the trans cover being in the middle click position), make sure the shifter is in neutral, and make sure the shift box on the steering wheel is in neutral. Loosen the clamps on the shift rods so there is plenty of slack for them to move up and down. I took the cover off the shift box to watch it and you will see when it is in neutral (both the upper and lower shift gate will be lined up with the shift tab....which will put the two arms coming out of the shift box right at parallel with each other). I also put new bushings at the ends of these two arms. A standard rubber grommet works perfect on these.

Once all of these three are in neutral, carefully slide the clamps up (or down) the shift rods so the clamp bolt fits each respective shift box arm, making sure nothing moves as you do this. THEN you can tighten the clamp bolts.

Before I got to this point, my shifter was stiff, and it wouldn't go all the way into 3rd gear. No growling or grinding, just didn't engage. But once I did everything, according to what I have above, it all works as it is supposed to. Shifts smooth and goes into each gear correctly. 'coilover' is right though, you ain't supposed to speed-shift these. Shift it using the pattern as it was designed.

I got the truck a month or so ago. The original plan was to tear into the restoration. It is in such good shape being from California. Finally found a few rust holes where the floor turns up to the firewall. Even the lower cab corners are solid. I decided if I could get it running without to many issues I would drive it this summer as I scope out the project. So far, new wheel cylinder rebuild kits, fuel pump, master cylinder and brake lines is all it took. It hadn't run in about 10 years. Added some turn signals and soon as I get the shifter working a little better, I will be good to go. To date, there has not been one nut or bolt that hasn't come apart. Since I am used on working on things from the northeast, I am amazed.

Got the new spring and clip installed at the shift pivot in the cab. A lot less slop up there now. Also found the slots were slightly missed aligned in the box in the engine compartment. Adjusted the shift rods so that stuff lined up as it should. Sitting on the hoist everything seemed to shift a lot better. Once I finish the emergency brake cables, I'll take it out for a test drive. That will be the true test!

I thought I would give an update on my issue. I replaced the spring and pivots in the linkage in the cab and that certainly tightened up the shifter. I opened the linkage box and got the tranmissions rods in neutral and adjusted the gates to perfectly align. They were only off a little, maybe and 1/8 to a 1/4 inch. Happy to say after these two minor adjustments, it shifts like a dream!!!! the linkage box is the key. Before the adjustments it was a mystrey shifter and would lock up in first gear.