Hello all,
just looking for some info on some trouble I recently ran into with my 1967 f100.
A few years ago I had issues with shifting into any gear with my 67. I ended up putting a new shift tube in the column and everything was fine. I recently left it in a buddies garage while I was moving to a new house.

basically, he tried to back it out of his garage one day and it got stuck in gear when it was parked. I assume he slammed the gear shifter around and now a new problem has come up.

shifting into Reverse and first works fine. But now I cannot shift into second. Third I can get into but not very easily. There seems to be a lot more play in the shifter between those gears.

I am guessing something has come loose or free in the column, but thought I would ask here before I went taking it apart again. Any ideas?

 

Yeah, I would check all external forces before digging into it deep again! Good job on fixing a shift tube before. That's as deep as it gets when it comes to columns.

I would first check the adjustment, and at the same time the condition of the lever bushings where the rods attach. You should be able to see if they're loose, but they do last an amazing amount of time with little maintenance.
Speaking of that though, a few squirts of your favorite light lube might not hurt. Nothing exotic or that leaves a thick film to collect dirt. Just something to free things up for awhile. Thinking WD40 or Silocone spray.

For the adjustment, if it's like other Ford columns, look for a small "half-pipe" welded to the topside of the column, near where the shift arms poke out. And loot at each arm for an alignment hole.
Down at the transmission shift levers, disconnect the rods and rotate the levers to be sure that each one is in neutral. At this point you can get a feel for how things are working inside the trans. Do they move easily and smoothly? Do they still click into place? That kind of stuff.

With them disconnected move the arms on the column so that their holes line up, and that they line up with the tube on the column housing. Insert a 3/16" or similar drill bit to hold them in place, then go back down and re-install the shift rods into the arms.
If any of them don't reach the holes properly, adjust the (I forget what they're called) adjusters so that the pins line up easily with the holes. Clip 'em in, remove the drill bit from the column and voilá! Adjusted!

Well, in theory at least. This is only going to help if you don't have buggered detents, shafts, bushings or other things. But if all of that other stuff is good, a little bit of adjustment can make a big difference.
And now's the time to change the gear lube if you haven't done it before. It only lasts so long...

Good luck!

Paul

 

Oh, and sorry if yours does not have the alignment sleeve/tube/thingy. That's the only way I've done them, but don't know if all trucks were the same.

Paul

 

Paul,

thanks for the response!
I ended up taking a look at everything you said, and it all seemed to be in working order.

So I ended up pulling the steering wheel.

turns out the pin that is attached to the actual gear shifter in the cab was worn down so much that it was not spinning the shift tube at all. Though when it was pulled forward (to shift into 1st and Reverse) it was put at an angle that was enough to shift the tube.

since the shifter pin was worn down, it had done some slight damage to the tube, and bent the tube inwards.

I ended up pulling the shift tube half way out of the column and sticking a bolt through the hole in the shift tube that that shift lever pin is supposed to be going through. I put two nuts on it (one on the end, one on the inside wall of the shift tube). I held the inside nut while I tightened the bolt on the outside. This bent the tube back to its original shape (or maybe a little bit further) and now the shift lever pin sits in there correctly. The lever may have to be replaced at some point, but it is working correctly for now!

not sure if this will ever clear anything up for anyone but thought I’d make a post (trying) to explain what my issue was, in case anyone runs into a similar issue!

Thanks for your help!

 

Great fix! Way to MacGyver it!
And definitely thanks for posting up the details about it. Might not happen often, but that makes it all the more important that there is a fix for the next person.

Paul