When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I drive a '78 F150, 300 L6 and a 3 speed. Last Nov. my collum shift linkage broke and the only place i could buy new linkage was from the Ford company, and that was expensive, so i did a floor conversion and my pattern is backwards
1 3
R 2
A guy i know told me to flip the toggles on the side of the tranny, so i tried it but they bump off the body and don't let it shift. it appeared that i would have to heat up the toggles and bend / cut them. is there any other way to do this, would other trucks have toggles that would fit there. if anyone can help that would be great. Thanks.
Do you have a picture by any chance? It should be fairly easy to flip the levers on the side of the transmission and you should be able to orient them the same way. They should turn around the shift linkage axis (front to back of truck) and also around the axis perpendicular to the shift linkage (side to side in the truck). Here's a picture of what I'm trying to explain (it's a 4 speed, but the levers work the same way):
I've tried to flip the levers but the front one bumps off the bottom of the cab, which is why i think bending and cutting is the option im going to have to go with.
If the shift rods are straight, can you rotate the lever to flip the side that the linkage attaches to the lever? In the picture in my last post it looks like the levers are bent inward towards the transmission case. If yours bend away from the case, see if you can rotate the levers in a way to get them to bend inward away from the body. How close is the linkage to fitting? Another thought maybe to try is if the front and rear lever are different, swap them front to back and see if one way has more clearance than the other.
OK. so i looked at the tranny and where the lever goes away from the tranny, it really goes away. i mean like 2.5 inches, i cant really turn it inwards to the transmission, thanks anyway.
You can McGiver an arm for it.
Use a piece of flat metal the same width as the arm.
Remove the nut.
Drill 3 holes in the new arm.
Place the new arm over the old one.
Install the nut and add a bolt where the original shifter was connected.
Attach the floor shifter to the other hole.