Help the Newb! Saginaw 4 speed questions

[Tellerbama]

Hey all, I'm brand new to this site. I purchased a 72 c10 for dirt cheap last week. The only problem is that the owner had the truck from a previous trade and has no idea what was done. I've identified quite a few upgrades and also some issues today. Keep in mind I didn't grow up wrenching and I'm new to all this. My only experience is with street bikes and dirt bikes.

Ok, so the biggest problem is the tranny. I purchased this thing for dirt cheap partly because it was stuck in first gear. I googled the # on the tranny casing and came up with a saginaw transmission and thats about all I know. The original shifter location in the floorboard is open and a new hole was cut closer to bench seat. I'm not sure how to identify the shifter at this point. I was able to crawl under the truck and manually unstick the rod back into neutral but after only a minute or two of shifting through gears with truck off, it stuck again in first.

My first question is: Are the linkage rods suppose to be loose at the tranny or should they sit pretty firm in place? My rods seem pretty loose to me like maybe there is a bushing missing or something but again, I have zero experience with transmissions.

Secondly, is the shift pattern 1/3 up and 2/4 down with reverse all the way left and up?

I've only been able to test drive this thing in first so far so I'm not even sure where the gears are positioned. I guarantee you I will have many more questions but getting the tranny to shift seems like step 1. I can post pics if that will help.

Thanks in advance for the education!