Yes but it is felt not leather. Should I oil it before I install?

 

Grease it well.

 

Today I started putting the shifter back together. First problem I had is that I put so much high build on the shafts they wouldn't fit together and the shift arms wouldn't slide up on the shaft! So I had to sand down for assembly!

When I went to put the shoe together, man was it tight but I finally was able to squeeze everything (I had new wave washers) and get the pin to seat. Everything seems to shift nicely, good and stiff. My shoe is rubbing a little on the shaft keeping the springiness of the shifter from returning back to the top quick so I may take back apart and fix that. Painted the parts I had to sand down, ready to move on to the box.

 

Is that just a test assembly? The cover over the pin is missing, and I don't see it in any of your other pics.

 

What does it look like Ross, I used all of the pieces I had.

 

It's a sleeve that fits into the recessed diameter of the shifter arms, over the shifter pin. That's all there is to retain the pin.

 

Good eye Ross, no I didn't have that. MAybe that's why he sold it! It wouldn't hold the pin! I wondered about that myself, I pondered that very thing, in how I was amazed that the pin wouldn't slide down and bind and that grease appeared to be the glue. I will take more pics of it and you can see if I am missing anything else....lol

 

Surely someone who has abandoned their column shifter will sell that part, I seriously doubt it's available in repro. 01A-7336

 

You could buy a NOS part (I'd check on price, it should be cheap since it is so simple and there has got to be almost no demand): 01A7336 - SLEEVE- LOW & REVERSE LEVER TO HIGH & INTER LEVER | Request Price

 

I got the sleeve today. It was a tight fit on the lower shift arm, I tapped it on with a brass hammer. Assembled it and greased well. Also installed the bearing cups, bearings, sector seal, and sector into the box.











I used bearing grease on the bearings and cups, corn head grease on the worm and sector gears for assembly, and plan on the manual 90w gear oil to fill the box once I set the preloads.

JB

 

There ya go! Why not just fill it with the cornhead grease while it's easy to do?

 

I had read that the corn head grease had a hard time protecting the worm while cold. Not that it gets really cold in Atlanta and if it does Dixie is staying in her warm garage bay, but it made me worry a little. I prefer corn head as I think it would leak less or not at all. Your thoughts on using it exclusively?

 

Started to install the wheel tonight on the shaft so I could set my pre loads. A lot of tension in the spring and a long way to compress the wheel. How far down should my steering bearing be in the shaft? Currently I have it installed flush with the rim.

 

Sorry I didn't see your question on cornhead grease exclusively. Thousands of satisfied customers say it works great. When I worked on mine, I was so confident I had it sealed up tight that I went back with 90wt. Big mistake...

The upper bearing looks about right. If it's high, the steering wheel will push it down. The splines on the wheel are purposely tight, maybe even tapered. You may want to wait to put the wheel on until you are fully assembled, and know "for sure" where dead straight ahead is. Moving it one spline is a big deal.

 

Ross I filled it with corn head grease all the way.

Set my preloads tonight to manual spec, right around 3/4 lb to move the wheel. Then brought in sector to move it up to about 1 1/2 lb to move wheel and take play out of sector on the worm. I basically turned the screw tight, then put on star washer and nut. Does all of that sound right? I guess I am worrying a little as the screw only comes about 1/2 through the nut? Does that look right?