3 Speed Manual Column Shifter Adjustment

[Green Machine]

I'll try to explain the adjustment. First, inspect all 4 of the rubber bushings and replace as needed. If the shifter is hard to move when the weather is cold, the grease under the shift socket on top is old and dried out, just take the wheel off and turn signal and clean and lube it up on top. Lube everthing up at the bottom of the column with some WD40 so it moves nice.

Now here is the biggest problem with these and the fix - shifter getting stuck betwen gears - at the very bottom of the column there are 2 small bolts that hold the lower bearing, and a clamp bolt, loosen but don't remove them. They are on a slanted slot/cam. Turn the sleeve counterclockwise to remove the slack between the lower shift levers, this will keep the selector between the shift levers from sliding past the levers causing it to be "stuck".

Next with the parking brake on, put the shifter in neutral and loosen the shift linkage adjustment bolts under the hood. Find a 3/16 drill bit and you will see there is a slot where you can slide the bitl in and align the levers with the column. Go under the truck and insure that both of the tranny arms are in neutral. Now the tranny is "centered" with the shift linkages. Tighten the linkage bolts and you are done. No more shifter problems !!!.

One other place to check for wear is the roll pin that holds the shift lever to the socket, easy to replace and will tighten up the shifter feel. If the truck has had a ton of usage, the shift socket itself can get a little sloppy, but that is pretty easy to replace if you have the top apart to lube it.

Those shifters really are pretty durable and just have some one in the truck run through the gears while you watch under the hood. It is a pretty simple mechanism and a few minutes watching how it works and understanding how it operates will let you adjust it so it works perfect.

Picture explanation.
Note, to adjust you just need to loosen the two side bolts and loosen the top clamp bolt to adjust, the side bolts are removed and the clamp is slid down for clarity.

Pic #1 shows the shifter misadjusted. You can see the selector has gone between the two shift arms and is the cause for the "being stuck in two gears at once" or "it won't shift at all" complaint.

Pic #2 shows the lower "cam bearing" turned counterclockwise in the slot removing almost all slack between the parts, don't remove all clearance or it will get too tight, I would guess about .010 would be plenty. Notice with the shifter adjusted like this it is almost impossible for the selector to get caught between the shift levers.

Pic #3 shows a better shot of the alignment guide and the use of the proper 3/16 drill bit alignment tool. Now I better go sweep the carpet before my wife sees the mess !!!

Hope that helps
Green Machine

[oldgold70c10]

Those rubber bushings,
The factory automatic columns use the same bushings as the manual column. I found 2 places on the net that sell repro parts for older Chevy Impalas, Bel Airs, etc that work in our columns. You need to save the old metal sleeve from your old bushing, because the metal sleeve that is supplied is too small to fit the bolt stud. You have to have the metal sleeve in order to tighten the bolt onto the lever without locking the whole thing up.

I installed a new rubber bushing in my automatic column and it tightened it up a lot.

You can getr the rubber bushings at:
classicchevy.com
and
Bel Air Auto Parts also has them, as well as the plastic bushing that goes on the bottom end of the stock shifter for automatics.

I hope this helps.

[Class of 69]

Originally Posted by isenegger

anything on one that is converted from column to floor shift? i need to know how to adjust it.

With a floor shift you remove the end of the shift rods at the arms on the trans. Make sure the arms are all in nuetral position as well as the shifter body. Some shifter bodies provide a hole near the bottom of it that you put the alignment "pin" ( drill bit) thru to hold the shifter arms in nuetral. Then insert the bent end of the rod back into the arm. If it doesn't fall in easily, turn the rod in the threaded nut until it will. The rod end should fit in the arm loosely without needing to "move" anything for it to go in. Of course, make sure all the bushings are good in this instance before adjusting too. If it's a Hurst/Mr. Gasket shifter, replacement bushings are readily available at auto stores or online.

The trans will "pop" out of gear if the arm isn't moving the internal shift ring all the way into a "lock" position. If it still pops out after a good adjustment, it could be that the trans is worn internally.

Good Luck