Hello,

I'm thinking about changing my 66 F250 2WD 428 / cruise-o-matic from a column to a floor shifter. I made the power steering and front disc brake modifications. This included shortening the steering column to accomodate the longer steering gear box from a 74 F250 360 with 4 speed.

According to instructions I bent the shift arm (the arm at the bottom of the column - connects to the threaded rod which connects to the shift lever on the transmission) into a flattened "S" shape. The problem I have now is the the shift arm will not travel the full range of gears. This means I can only shift into P-R-N-D(2/3). I cannot shift further down into D(1/2/3 green dot) or Low. I'm not sure why.

I really don't want to pull the column again. Puttint it back together was a pain. So I'm wondering if anyone here has adapted a floor shifter to a COM transmission. If so, please share the pertinent details.

 

Thought about adapting a floor shifter out of a 60-something Mustang until I priced them. Expensive even 2nd hand.
I didn't want the long cable that some of the aftermarket floor shifters come with so I didn't buy the Hurst or the B&M. I bought the el cheapo Mr Gasket and spent some time fitting everything and getting it to work right. Then I locktited all the bolts. Haven't had a bit of trouble in the 4months I've been driving it.
There's a pic that shows it in the cab in my album if you look at my profile.

 

Old_Crow

Your 61 looks straight and solid. How long have you had it? I have looked at a few brands of floor shifters. I have not yet looked at Mr Gasket shifters. So far I like the Lokar transmission mounted FMX shifter, but it is more expensive than I expected. I appreciate you sharing your experience with the Mr Gasket shifter. It looks good. How well does it shift? Is it a floor or transmission mounted unit?

Larry

 

Thanks. I've had the truck about 6 years. Came with a 223/4speed that had been swapped in place of the original 3 speed. I got to weld up a giant hole that they'd cut when installing the 4speed. Installed the 302/C6 earlier this year and I'm using it as a daily driver now.
The shifter is an $89 piece from Jeg's. I had limited funds for the swap(was unemployed at the time), so chose to spend less on a shifter and more elsewhere in the project.
No detents except in Park. No neutral safety switch(but the C6 has it's own, anyway). The only thing I did wrong in my installation was to not pay attention to the length of the respective arms on the shifter and the trans. As a result the gears are real close together and a bit hard to find(due to the no detent thing)at first. I'm used to it now, but it could have been avoided if I'd thought more about it(or if someone had warned me first :-) ).
Floor mounted unit with linkage rods...long cables looped under the cab suck.
All and all it beats the shifter on my old '53 F100 that I fabricated out of a sheet rock carrying handle and a couple of pieces of angle iron by a mile.

 

Old Crow,

You have put a lot of work into your powertrain and shifter. It sounds like you are happy with the results. If I go with a floor shifter I'll install a transmission mounted unit.

I pulled the steering column out of my truck last night to see if there might be an obvious cause and an easy fix. Unfortunately I've not been able to determine what is limiting the travel of the shifter arm to where it will only allow the transmission to shift to P-R-N-D(2/3 - first green dot) and will not allow D(1/2/3 - second green dot) and low. It's frustrating having a fresh 428 in the truck and not being able to utilize it's full capabilities.

The detents are wore out on the column shift. That is another reason why I'm considering an aftermarket floor shifter. I found reassembly of the shortened column to be quite a challenge and that causes me to hesitate at taking it back apart again.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Larry

 

There is only one detent aka shift gate.

The half moon shaped detent bolts the lower section of the upper flange. The shift lever has a tab on it that fits in-between the individual gates.

What happens is: People put the lever into PARK before setting the hand brake. This causes the truck to roll...just enough that the parking pawl inside the trans locks up tight.

Now, the shift lever has to be YANKED out of PARK and sooner or later, this action causes the individual gate between PARK and REVERSE to snap off. Not pleasant!

C5TZ7A216A .. Detent / Obsolete

Fits: 1965/66 F100/250 240/300 C4/MX C-O-M / 1965/66 F100/250 352 MX C-O-M.

B. F. WHITE MOTOR CO. in Stanton TX has ONE = 800-953-3321.

No other Ford Dealer, no obsolete parts vendor has any.

 

I had the Mr gasket shifter installed in my truck when I first bought it.Loved the thing once I became used to the shift pattern or lack of detents that is. Mine had the original linkage rod modified to fit the shifter and it worked really well. Now I have the B&M Quick Silver installed and really like that one.

For the CoM you need Mr G #7668. see link
http://go.mrgasket.com/pdf/shifters_accessories.pdf

 

Bill,

Thank you for the detent information. If I can figure out what is wrong with my column shifter then I'll call B.F. White and see if they have one. In addition to the safety issue the detent would resolve it would be great to have one to know what gear the truck is in. I would also need to get a PRNDL (gear indicator probably spelled wrong) from a 67-72since the original is not available.

Airharley,

Thank you for sharing your experirnce and the the link on the Mr. Gasket shifter. I'll consider their shifter as a option going forward. It is probably less expensive then the Lokar shifters I've looked at.

Regards,

Larry

 

Prices have gone up a bit since I got mine. The Mr Gasket for my application is now $91 at Jeg's, but the Lokar is $199.
That's $100 to spend on something else the truck might need...like brakes(since you're running that 428).

 

Old_Crow,

I hear what your saying. I do have front disc brakes on my truck. The Lokar for the cruis-o-matic was a bit more too. If I can get the column shift fixed for a reasonable price then I may go that route. I'm going to call B. F. WHITE MOTOR CO tomorrow to see if that have the detent. Finding someone to work on it who knows what they are doing will be the challenge. If I can't find someone who can fix it or can't figure it out myself then I'll have to go the floor shift route. It always comes down to time and money and the money is tight right now since I'm recently unemployed.

Larry

 

Hey, at least you have time to work on the truck now, even if the money's tight.
Hope you get as lucky as I did and a new job finds you before you're out of gov't cheese.

 

Old_Crow,

So far we're staying afloat. Hopefully our ship will come in soon. It does take a lot of time to fix one of these old rides up. I've had my current 66 for two years and I have a long way to go. I plan to drive it for fun and for the original purpose it was built - hauling stuff.

Bill,

I ordered the detent from BF White. Thanks for locating it for me!

Larry