My wife drove my 73 F100 to work the other day and then called frantically telling me she can't put the truck in park. I drove up to find the lever on the column (C6 automatic tranny) could be moved freely and was not engaging the linkage so I reached under the truck and manually put it into park. It looks like the linkage coming off the bottom of the column is fine so that tells me it's something in the column itself that has broke or come loose.

I've decided not to tear into it until a manual I ordered gets here so I can put it back together properly but is there anything you guys can point out for me to look at or look for?

Like I mentioned it is a C6 automatic tranny with column shift. A similar thing happened on our 96 ford mini van and we had to replace the whole column because it was a $0.50 piece of plastic that could not be replaced that broke. Knowing that my 40 year old truck is a lot different and easier to work on is a good thing. I was also thinking about just replacing the column all together so that I can put my high/low beam selector on it instead of the floor because I only have one leg and changing the dimmer switch will really help me out a lot because of it. Does anyone know of a column that would fit it from another truck/car that has the switch on it or will I need to have one custom made by a company like ididit.com?

 

Sounds like a broken shifter collar. Not all that bad do replace. You have to pull the steering wheel and turn signal switch (that's the hardest part on a '73). If I recall, the last shift collar I bought cost me about $20 at NAPA.

 

Are you talking about the collar at the end of the steering column? It looks fine with a visual inspection (still on the truck) and I can shift gears by moving it. It may be broke on the inside though. The Haynes manual came in but it is pretty lax in the area of the steering column. Plenty of info on the engine although I am not running the original engine or even size the truck came with 40 years ago so I'll need another book on big block fords (429 cobra jet stroked to 461ci) But the engine is perfect so it's just the shifting issue that is keeping it parked in the yard really.