The column shifter rod has a lot of slop in neutral. When going from low to second, It hangs up and will not go into second gear. Sometimes it just locks up and I will have to raise the hood and manually move the shift levers into neutral. If going from reverse to second it works okay. And help will be appreciated. Also, where and a person get a detailed breakedown on whats inside the column? Thanks all.

 

New bushings in the shift linkage and some judicious bending on the levers may help. This can also be caused by rusted out cab mounts. You can get detailed drawings in the OEM factory service manuals available on CD at our online store.

 

JLB300

I will tell you how I repaired my 1970 F100 3 on the tree. I had the same problem.

You will probably need a new shift tube which fits inside the column. It has a square tab on the end that fits into the shift levers in the column under the hood. Mine was worn down. Also, the two shift levers that extend out of the column that your trans linkage fits into need to come out. You can remove them after you remove the guts from the column (It is not difficult). The shift levers will look like flat piston rods with a hole in each end. What happened on mine was that the lever that controls reverse and first had wallowed out (check spelling) the notch that the shift tube uses. this allowed you to disengage from first to go to second before the notch for second and third was lined up. This put you in no mans land with your truck in first and nowhere else to go. I took the shift levers out and welded up the notch on the reverse-first lever, then I laid the second third lever over it and ground it out to match. make sure that when you reinstall that you line them up correctly,there should be a hole that you can insert a drill bit or wire to keep them in line. This worked for me.

Allen

 

Where did you get your shift tube for the 70 F-100? I need one on my 70.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

You can get them at salvage yards.