Recently my Trans gear indicator broke. 85 F150 Auto trans. looked for replacement indicator new was $30.00 and junk yard ones were not in good shape. The problem with it was the tube the cable is contained in was cracked and broken into about 8 pieces. This is what i did to fix it.
Items Needed
Oil pressure gauge tubing plastic type. cost $3.99
Electrical heat shrink. allready had it and if you dont get some way better for electrical repairs than Tape.
Industrial Epoxy 5 min type
Small fishing swedges, the kind used to make steal leaders for fishing, also the small steal leader material if you cable is broken.
Tools used were,
Phillips screw driver nut driver to remove the gauge bezel and the shift indicator.
pliers regular and needle nose.
Scribe.

Step 1
Remove instrument panel, and steering column cover to acess shift indicator connection to shift lever.
Step 2
Remove shift indicator from gauge panel and steering column.
Step 3
remove the swedge crimp from one end of the cable IMPORTANT DO NOT JUST CUT THE CABLE THIS WILL MAKE THE CABLE TOO SHORT AND YOU WONT BE ABLE TO ADJUST FOR PROPER SHIFT INDICATION!!!
I did it with the regular pliers by squeazing the swedge and was able to seperate the swedge without damaging the cable.
Step 4
Take broken pieces of cable tube lay them out so you can measure them. Cut a piece of oil pressure tubing the same length. slide cable through the new tubing cut 2 pieces of heat shrink slide them over the new tube. on the end that screwed to the shift indicator i had a piece of the origional long enoug to push the new oil tube up against and then push the heat shrink over that and heat the heat shrink down to hold tube in place. did the same with the other end extcept there was not enough so i took a file and file it down to give me enough space to fit the heat shrink on both sides and shrunk it down to hold it in place. then applied epoxy over that to make it more rigid and to keep the heat shrink and the tubing from seperating.
Step 5
Reinstalled shift indicator on to gauge cluster and remonted it to the dash. also ran the cable the way it was origionally mounted and screwed that end in place leaving it alittle loose for adjustment. take small fishing swedge and slide it over cable. Using regular pliers pulled cable out far enough to be able to wrap cable around piecs on shifter and made a loop in cable putting end of cable back into swedge and crimped it down. moved shifter to check for proper indicator allignment adjusted shifter and of cable mount did not get proper indication. removed swedge from cable and loosen or shorten depend on which way you need to go, my case i needed cable just a hair longer took new swedge put on cable and made loop this time befor crimping made sure it was jut a hare longer and was able to adjust. Recheck for proper indication and adjust mount if necessary if it works good put dash and steering column cover back together.

Hope this helps some one. took me a couple of time adjusting the cable length with the Fishing swedge. but for $1.00 for a box of 20 wasnt a big deal to waste a couple of swedges. Total cost for the things i had to buy that i didnot allready have was about $7.00 If you have an questions at all drop me a message.

 

Great fix and write-up. I did one several years ago that had one break. I just used a long length of shrink tubing, but your fix sounds better.

 

Hi... I did the same sort of thing to fix mine... but I used vacuum tubing and epoxy.


I've got it hooked up but I'm having a problem when it shifts.... basically, for each shift between gears the indicator doesn't move enough. So when I'm on OD it looks like its in Neutral.

Any suggestions? I've played with it for over an hour and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. When its in Park, the indicator is on P. But as I shift it I don't get enough movement on the indicator.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Sal

 

Center needle over "D" in drive; it'll be off a little at "P" and "1" but most are.