try pulling that arm off the tranny and see if you can flip it over - you can on many trannies i've worked on, but i've never tried it on a c6.

if that fails, just fabricate a bracket that goes over that arm to connect to your linkage where you need it to

 

From the research I have done this morning I can pull the shift rod out but will have to drop the pan, filter and valve body...I am a little leery of doing this in the truck!

As for fabbing something, I would essentially have to add another pivot further back because right now the column shift works by pushing to put it in drive but my setup would need to pull to put it in drive

 

^^^^ this^^^^
just make a bracket that bolts to the existing shift lever, but have it extend up towards the floor. then hook the column shift linkage to the new bracket. this will reverse the shift pattern of the trans, making it work like a column shift instead of a floor shift.

 

just as TJC tried to clarify here, the arm we're talking about fabricating will have its CENTER where the shaft leaves the tranny, it'll connect to the end of the current arm for stability, and connect to the shift linkage at the opposite end (top).

 

Know of any photos of a bracket like this? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it.

On a separate note, I pulled the pan off my broken tranny and figured I would test how easy it would be to swap the arm around. Is there some trick to getting this nut off? I removed the valve body and can get a wrench on the nut but there is no room to get it to move. Do I need to sacrifice a wrench and grind it down or is there a better way? I would prefer not to open my trans back up unless I can feel pretty comfortable doing this.

image-5.jpg Photo by jefhuf | Photobucket
image-2.jpg Photo by jefhuf | Photobucket

 

One other issue that has come up with the shift lever being in its current orientation is that I cannot get the neutral safety switch to allow the truck to start in park or reverse. Is there a different switch required for floor shift applications or do I need to do something to my current switch?

 

look at the shift lever that is on the trans.
now take a piece of 1/4 inch thick metal the width of the shift lever, and make it twice the length of the current shift lever. drill 3 holes on it. one on each end, and one in the middle.
remove the nut on the shift lever, and put the piece of metal on it, then put the nut back on. put a bolt through the hole in the end on the new lever and through the old shift rod attachment hole. this will make it solid. then all you need to do is hook the shift rod up to the hole on top. then the column shifter will work properly, and the neutral safety switch will work.

 

Makes sense and will give it a whirl...will let you guys know how it turns out!

Thanks again for all the help!

 

no problem.
i would have drawn you a picture, but the 3 year old took all the crayons.
and they will not let me use pens or pencils cause i hurt myself with them..

 

My transmission does let the truck warm up to operating tempature with it in drive usually will kick in gear if not give it a good rev. Mine has done this for years and shifts just fine

 

Update after some garage time this weekend...I made a bracket and replaced the stock shift arm that ran from the pivot to the trans arm with a double helm joint piece that I had laying around because it took some of the slop out and also gives me a simpler adjustment than the rusted bolt on the column shaft. It shifts ok and I was able to take the truck for a ride (after I rebuilt the oil cooler which decided to go too)! I used the drill bit to align the neutral safety so it only allows the truck to start in park or neutral but I need to adjust a little because the backup lights are not coming on. Thanks to all that helped...now I need to debug why my glow plugs don't seem to be working properly!