The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline shift linkage locks up

I have a 69 C10, 3 on the tree. Occasionally, whether downshifting or upshifting, my linkage will lockup (naturally only at a stop with vehicles behind me), and I have to turn off the engine, get out, raise the hood and pull up one of the 2 linkages on the column. If I'm attentive to shifting, I can go months without this happening, but, sometimes I just want to shift without babying it. It's always been a little stiff going from gear to gear, but, I think this is not normal, duh. And there should be a procedure for adjusting this, right?

I remember those days, my first truck was a 71 C/10 with 3 on the tree. Mine used to do that all the time.That was a common problem with 3 on the tree. Basically when the linkages wear out, they tend to hang up when going from first to second.
My shift tube actually broke because of that and I had to replace it.
What a lot of us used to do was remove the shift handle and put a hurst on the floor and be done with it.

Sounds about right. I'll deal with it for now because I have a dozen other things I want to do first.

If you replace the bushings for the shifter rods on the column ears and on the transmission ears and then adjust the rods it will be better. I have also see the ball on the end of the shift handle get worn or bent and can give trouble. The shift tube in the column can give trouble but usually it will break as mentioned above.