Hello:

I have a 1976 F150 automatic 2wd with c6. I am having a problem with the shift linkage, and it has happened three times now. I am wondering if some kind of bushing is missing or what I am doing wrong.

On the shift linkage there is a large nut inside the transmission, to get to it you have to drop the pan and to work on it you have to drop the valve body. It basically basically connects the external shift arm with the internal linkage. It is the one that is hard to get to, you have to move the kick down lever way out to slide the wrench up over the nut then on the outside hold that shifter arm and crank the daylights out of it. Well, I have done this twice, gotten good strong shifting action without the pan then put the pan back on. Shifting goes well when refilling the tranny then starts to get sloppy then is simply not connecting to the arms inside the pan. Further, when I use the column shifter there is some interaction with the kick down lever, it moves. This doesn't seem right. I literally run it through the gears like 15 times then...it starts to get sloppy, then...the external shift arm basically spins freely when disconnect it from the linkage to the column shifter because that nut inside is loose.

So my question is, what the heck is going on? Is this a common problem to have this big nut work loose and is it normal to have some interference with the kick down lever when I am using the column shifter? I'm getting a little tired of doing the same thing over and over, wasting all of that transmission fluid, and so...any thoughts? What am I missing? I cranked as hard as I could putting a giant wrench over the external shift lever to hold it steady, and a nice long wrench on the nut and cranked as hard as I could.

(BTW-Thank you all for all of the other amazing content that has helped me learn about my truck and do so many things successfully so far!)

Thank you in advance.

Kate

 

Okay. Update. Thank y'all for not replying earlier so that I could have an opportunity to see my stupidity in the mirror. So here it is for anyone else:

The linkage on the inside that the large nut tightens down on actually is keyed to align with the shaft in a certain way. If you can't see clearly or the shaft is not fully through the wall of the transmission you might not see it and might think that you are just supposed to crank the bolt down to hold it tight. If you don't key it right eventually it will wiggle the bolt loose enough that the shaft can just slide around inside the linkage inside the transmission. It's a pain to get it in there with the spring tension, but that fixes it.

Damn.