I wrote this for Mud Members trying to salvage your ‘3 on the tree’ shifters…..it may help you once the pin is replaced. At the end of the article, there is a paragraph or 2 on ‘how to adjust’ that in the turn signal housing.
FJ40 3 Speed Column Shift Rebuild
Our 68 FJ40, that we have owned since 1992, still sports the 3 speed column shift. My wife and I decided to keep the nostalgia of ‘3 on the tree’ when we resurrected the beast after a 17 year respite. And after the restoration, shifting through the gears, it was as loose and sloppy as we remembered. And because I updated the Saginaw power steering (fixing a 70’s vintage upgrade by the PO), slightly changing steering column geometry, it was enough to exacerbate sloppy shifting into missed gears, partial engagements (popping out of gear) and at least on one occasion, bent linkage.
During the restoration, my only attempt at sorting out the sloppy linkage was installation of spherical rod ends instead of the original ball and sockets. There are quite a few manufactures, all offer metric and ends that are right and left hand thread. On the 3 speed column, there are a total of six, 8mm ends, 3 right hand and 3 left hand thread. The ones I ordered all included a grease fittings. My logic here....‘loose and sloppy’ equated to take up at the rod end....and found it...‘not the case’.
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Another issue causing the sloppy shifting was the original nylon bushing located at the lower end of the column, it was worn to the point of no less than a 1/4” of play....not rigid enough of a structure to push/pull the remainder of the linkage and shift forks into or out of the detents that lock the transmission in gear.
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In the picture, you can see light between the shaft and the original bushing. Yep, pretty worn out.
I decided to go with an aluminum bushing, with a grease fitting. A friend of mine with a lathe and a small versa-mill helped me out here.
We bored out the lower shaft housing, cleaned up the end of the column shaft, and fabricated an aluminum bushing....pressed it all together then drilled and taped a hole for a grease fitting.
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Then reassembly and adjustment. The truck shifted so much smoother. However, it still wasn’t right.
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The next problem to solve....the pin that screws into the turn signal bezel and supports the upper end of the shaft was loose and wobbly. There are no instructions for assembly here.....or adjustment....other than the obvious...but not so obvious. The big question, should the pin be threaded in tightly so it doesn’t move (rigid structure) and shimmed into the correct orientation for the shift lever or left a bit loose, able to rotate as the shift lever is moved up or down, between 1st and reverse and, 2nd and 3rd.
Initially, I left it loose, but continuously worried that its floppiness would eventually shear the pin or strip the threads. This is one of those pieces that you want to be careful with, they are no longer available and as 3 on the trees are generally discarded in favor of a floor mount shifters...piece parts are getting harder to find in the used bins of our FJ40 suppliers.
So I stacked several different thicknesses of washers under it and boy oh boy. What a difference. What’s goofy, no matter where I position the hole in the shift selector it still rotates a tad. Reverse and 2nd tighten and 1st and 3rd loosen. So the procedure is...shim as required to get the orientation close. Run through the gears and if you see any rotation (loosening especially) add (or subtract) another shim....to keep the pin from rotating.
So anyway, I hope this helps any of you trying to salvage your ‘3 on the tree’...there aren’t many left...and people are always in awe...when they see you ‘row through the gears’. And those of you that can double clutch into that straight tooth non-synchro 1st...you have a skill that very very few possess. It’s a lost...art?....become one with machine.
Bee Good.
MMJennings
