...the dealer, or ebay. Price will likely be the same after shipping from ebay.

 

As per Stewart's request:

Note that these instructions are for 2003 Excursion and F350 but should be same for all our model years.

 

Hey guys I had the steering column apart this weekend and a plastic piece comes loose and clanks me on the head. I have no idea where this fits.

Any thoughts?

 

I just got done replacing the tube assembly on my F450. The shaft and tube broke and the holes for the shift lever pin were wallowed out. Shaft bushings were somewhat worn and the truck sometimes had to be put in park position to start.

I ordered the Dorman tube assembly from Amazon. I removed the knee panel and lower column trim, depressed the ball on the key tumbler and popped the cylinder out (key in run position) so the upper column cover could be removed.

Next, I removed the four 13 mm nuts that hold the column up, as described previously.

After you drop the column, it's easy to acccess the four Torx screws that go through the two aluminum shift tube retention straps, and the two Torx screws holding the detent strap to the tube. The detent only has to be loosened, not removed, as the tube will slip out through the side.

If you pop the shiftercable off the ball on the steel bracket/ lever mounted to the bottom of the shift tube, that whole assembly can be removed as a unit, so you don't have to work upside down under the dash.

Order new pins for the lever and bottom of the tube. You probably won't need them but they're only a couple of bucks each as add-ons at amazon.

This post is mostly a rehash of previously published information, but what strikes me is that most previous posts seem to brush off the broken shift tube as "poor quality parts". At least in my case, snapped shift tube was a secondary failure caused hy corrosion on the shift selector shaft at the transmission.

The corrosion on the shaft outside diameter caused swelling , which in turn caused binding between the white bushing in the TRS and the plastic housing. This binding increased the force required to change gears, which overloaded the aluminum shift tube to the point of failure.

 

Good tip about removing the entire unit and not having to work from under the dash! That's a very annoying part of the R&R.

How were you able to drive a truck with a broken shift tube? Yikes.

I actually used some brake line in lieu of a PIN which I had lost. 3 years later it looked like new. Held up really well, but I replaced it anyway.

 

It broke in the driveway of my shop last week while I was plowing snow. Spent the winter down south with the fifth wheel, but there was still a couple of feet of snow in the drive that I had to move when we got back home.

 

Just replaced mine. In hindsight, I would have just gotten the bushings and caps. No need to replace the rest unless it is broken.

 

You plowers really beat the hell out of those shifters. R, D, R D...

Youre lucky it broke in the driveway finn!

 

Noticed in the past few weeks that the EX has developed a rattle in the steering column. I checked to see if the 2 t30's on the bracket connected to the back of the shift tube and the tranny cable backed out again, they were tight. I removed the plastic covers on the steering column and while wiggling the shifter I found that the rattle seemed to come from the shift rod within the tube. The shift lever does have a bit of slop in it, with that said could I get away with trying to grease the end of the tube to quiet down the rattle, or will this be one of those situations where just replacing the assembly is more prudent?

 

How many miles on the truck? Id just change it. Its not hard.

 

Good write up but the Photobucket images are hard to see. Any way to view the images. TY

 

Sorry. Photobucket screwed millions of customers when they went from free to paid.

 

Snap in Harness Junction cover under steering column.

 

FTE has a free album system that provides members with a convenient and accessible place online to host post related photos. I use it all the time. Every photo I post on FTE, is hosted on FTE.

 

Not when I put these instructions together they didnt, or maybe I didnt have the rights to do at that time.