F4Gary

Shifter went all floppy yesterday at a get together. Got it home in 2nd gear and have found that the upper mounting bolt it loose and stripped. Not the bolt unfortunately, the mount. The shorter lower bolt is also loose and may be stripped too.
So...can I get the mount out without the whole shifter? Is there a secret to getting the shifter out so I can get the mount out without removing the tranny?
I am not a happy camper right now. I can run the bolt back into the mount, but it doesn't tighten. Maybe I can get a nut on the end of the bolt even though that's not the way it is supposed to be.
Ugh.

69Vett

you will need to remove mount, then weld new threaded nut ontop of old stripped nutweld, reassemble. good luck !

jim-81

What is the 'mount' you are talking about? The cross member?

MelWff

The mount or bracket bolts to the crossmember and the shifter bolts to the mount. The mount and the shifter can be removed without taking the transmission out.

69Vett

yes the shifter mount bracket, bolts to the crossmember.
the original design is a thin square nut about 1/8" thick, with threads for shifter mounting bolt.
they strip out very frequently.

F4Gary

Well, got the bracket out. Yay. Shifter is still in car. Now...once I get the bracket fixed, how do I get that lower short bolt back in? Seems the shift levers at the base of the shifter are in the way to tighten it. Or do I need to get the shifter out too in order to tighten the two bolts that hold it to the bracket.
So far I haven't had to remove the exhaust pipe.

gg521

You may have to remove the shift rods off the transmission shift arms. This way you can move the levers out of the way. You can buy a new bracket but if you can fix the old one, have at it.

F4Gary

I did remove the shift rods and levers off the side of the tranny in order to get at that lower shift lever bolt and get the bracket out.

F4Gary

New problem, I welded nuts to the backside of both mount bracke bolt holes. Have it all back together except for the tranny crossmember and the shifter won't move. Won't go forward, backwards, or left and right. That's with the clutch pedal in. Also no diff if I disconnect the reverse rod.
The front tranny shift lever is straight up and the aft shift lever is forward. Do I need to put the aft tranny shift lever straight up too?
I can't shift gears. Now what?

theandies

Did you use the shifter alignment tool? This will line up all the gates and also allow for proper rod adjustment.

F4Gary

I didn't take the rods out of the tranny shift levers, I unbolted the levers from the side of the tranny. So I shouldn't have to adjust the rods. On another forum, a guy said I need to move the aft lever to verticle like the forward lever and have the reverse lever forward. I will try that tomorrow.
I don't have that shifter alignment tool.

theandies

You can make one out of scrap or an old scraper.


With the tool you don't have to guess where the levers should be.

MelWff

neutral is the 1st/2nd and the 3rd/4th lever on the transmission straight up and the reverse lever forward..

F4Gary

That was it! The tranny was in second gear. Once I got it in neutral and hooked everything back up, it went nicely in to all gears.
Man, I wish this had happened 5 years ago now. Took it for a drive and it shifts almost like new. No rattling, no vibration, nice crisp shifts!
Thanks guys.