The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop locked linkage on 55 ist serier

i have a 55 pu ist series. 3 speed on the column. more times that not, when i shift from ist gear to second, the linkage will lock up between gears. heard this was a common problem in these trucks. any suggestions on how to fix this problem? thanks in advance, jim

New linkage.

take it apart and clean it. worked on an old 66 c-10 I used to own. look for wear that might be causing the problem. after that what WE b OLD said.

Pretty simple mechanisim to work on. Clean all the internals up and check for excessive wear. Pack with grease and reassemble. Put new bushings at the rod contact points and you should be good to go. Chevy used to make a kit to repair this problem but I doubt they are still available.

The fact that these trucks have four rods and a belcrank between the shift box and the tranny doesn't help either. All those holes get "egged out" after time. You can tighten things up by welding up the holes and redrilling them to fit the rods better or drilling them out a little more and finding bushings to make a snug fit.

It's also good to learn "square shifting" technique. You couldn't speed shift these even when they were new. To square shift, you do the ninety degree turns in the shift pattern. To shift from 1st to 2nd, for example, you go up to the gate, sharp right to cross the gate, sharp left, then up into second. Trying to cross the gate on the diagonal is an invitation to jamb up between gears.

martin: thanks for the info jim

thanks to ALL of you guys for your help. jim

I would thoroughly check out each vendor's website and call around to look for the rebuild pieces.

You never know what they will have sitting on a shelf.

-W

back in the late sixty's i was a driver for a for my commanding officer and had the shift lock on the 67 chevy i was driving so i got out and fixed it he was amazed but i had fixed my mom's car when i was 10 by doing the same thing. BTW got him to his meeting on time.