Column shifter tune up

[Skreddy]

A few thoughts:
Nice work firstly!

Says “disassembly is obvious” and you got it; FSM is always right…. I thought they were a tapered pin the first time and almost ruined some stuff before searching.

If you use grease on or around the rubber parts, I use disc brake quiet grease because it’s rubber safe. Not sure if the rubber parts will stand up to petroleum based lubes.

Never needed a wheel puller in a 40; unscrew the nut and pop backward on the steering wheel and they usually come off.

Lastly, unfortunately I bet the tolerance and looseness you’re feeling is about as good as you’ll get. I could be wrong (it’s bound to happen once…). I feel a good “tight” column shifter provides good shifts and you know where the gear engagements are, but it’s “mushy”. Now, if you can’t reliably find/feel the shift gates, there may be improvement to find. I really was able to fine tune the slop when I put in @Cruiser Cult 4 on the tree adapter because the engagement has a smaller window and it was easier to tell what adjustments and fixes were curing the slop.

 

[120mm]

A few thoughts:
Nice work firstly!

Says “disassembly is obvious” and you got it; FSM is always right…. I thought they were a tapered pin the first time and almost ruined some stuff before searching.

If you use grease on or around the rubber parts, I use disc brake quiet grease because it’s rubber safe. Not sure if the rubber parts will stand up to petroleum based lubes.

Never needed a wheel puller in a 40; unscrew the nut and pop backward on the steering wheel and they usually come off.

Lastly, unfortunately I bet the tolerance and looseness you’re feeling is about as good as you’ll get. I could be wrong (it’s bound to happen once…). I feel a good “tight” column shifter provides good shifts and you know where the gear engagements are, but it’s “mushy”. Now, if you can’t reliably find/feel the shift gates, there may be improvement to find. I really was able to fine tune the slop when I put in @Cruiser Cult 4 on the tree adapter because the engagement has a smaller window and it was easier to tell what adjustments and fixes were curing the slop.

Good advice.

This NEEDED a wheel puller. When it finally let go, I initially thought I'd broken my puller. The release was that dramatic. It was on there good.

I know I can improve the slop. Having issues finding 2nd from 1st.

My 67 Mustang has a toploader with a Hurst shifter with steel bushings. About a precise shifting tranny as you can imagine, but I don't expect anything close to that here. Just want to be able to get 'er in gear!

 

[Skreddy]

Good advice.

This NEEDED a wheel puller. When it finally let go, I initially thought I'd broken my puller. The release was that dramatic. It was on there good.

I know I can improve the slop. Having issues finding 2nd from 1st.

My 67 Mustang has a toploader with a Hurst shifter with steel bushings. About a precise shifting tranny as you can imagine, but I don't expect anything close to that here. Just want to be able to get 'er in gear!

I’ve got the steel bushing in the hurst in my Chevelle. Very precise indeed!

 

[middlecalf]

I actually had a Hurst in my ‘70 Maverick . It was a straight 6 cyl as well. Zoom zoom.

 

[120mm]

Spent the week with kids, in laws and grandkids at Smoky mountain national park but am back at it.

I ordered a 13mm reamer to get 0.512 clearance out of my 0.50 bushing and hopefully fit over my 0.51 pivot.

The plastic bushing I ordered from Toyota fits nothing, so I'm deciding that is just a fluke in the Toyota parts system. The SKF bearing will take up the slack on the lower part of the shifter, which "should" solve the flex down there.

Will update as I fix stuff

 

[DSRTRDR]

Figured it out. There was an additional plate covering up the screw holes

View attachment 3266916

View attachment 3266917

that plate is the so-called contact plate for the horn assembly - it looks like it is missing something . . .

 

[120mm]

that plate is the so-called contact plate for the horn assembly - it looks like it is missing something . . .

It's missing all sorts of random parts.

I'm going to run it hornless for the immediate future, as I have more important fish to fry.

As an aside, the steering wheel was in such poor shape that I tried to rescue it. it now consists of 80 percent PC 7. Waiting for that to dry so I can file and sand it down smooth and cerakote it.

 

[120mm]

I received my bushing reamer and after cutting the bushing to length and drilling a hole to approximate where the old zert hole was, I pressed it into the bellcrank.

I reamed it out using a t-handle and a soft jaw vice.

Pressed it into the bellcrank, and installed it on the pivot. Still, it wobbled from side to side excessively.

I had a short think, and then installed a bumper washer on the inside of the bellcrank, and reinstalled.

Shazam! Literally no lateral movement of the bellcrank.

I'm kind of feeling a bit sheepish right now. It's possible I could've fixed this from the beginning with a bumper washer.

Anyway, I have an acceptable, not completely sloppy shift right now. In order to get it better I would need to pull the steering column and press out the old bearing and replace it with the SKF recommended earlier in this thread.

That will happen in the future, but for now, I need to get the clutch working and the electrical system sorted out.

 

[red66toy]

I received my bushing reamer and after cutting the bushing to length and drilling a hole to approximate where the old zert hole was, I pressed it into the bellcrank.

I reamed it out using a t-handle and a soft jaw vice.

Pressed it into the bellcrank, and installed it on the pivot. Still, it wobbled from side to side excessively.

I had a short think, and then installed a bumper washer on the inside of the bellcrank, and reinstalled.

Shazam! Literally no lateral movement of the bellcrank.

I'm kind of feeling a bit sheepish right now. It's possible I could've fixed this from the beginning with a bumper washer.

Anyway, I have an acceptable, not completely sloppy shift right now. In order to get it better I would need to pull the steering column and press out the old bearing and replace it with the SKF recommended earlier in this thread.

That will happen in the future, but for now, I need to get the clutch working and the electrical system sorted out.

Have any details/pics of this magic bumper washer?

 

[120mm]

Have any details/pics of this magic bumper washer?

I literally dug it out of my highly illegal airplane parts stash from my rollaround.

FAA stipulates that mechanics engaging in maintenance of FAR Part 145 aircraft must order parts through the approved process. Keeping spares and extras of anything in hidey holes is specifically prohibited. I'm retired now, so I highly doubt any FAA inspectors will hunt me down to fine me for having them in my garage.

If I had to guess it was a 9/16" bumper washer. Bumper washers having wider than standard metal around the hole. The extra wide washer flange acts as another bearing surface, which is what I think is taking off the slop. Important to have just enough total bearing thickness to be snug, but not so much as to cause binding when you tighten the nut.

 

[jvincig01]

Don’t know if you have issues with the 33574 retainer at the end of the shift column, mine did and they’re NLA. It retains the grease in that joint. Here’s the aftermarket part from McMaster I used and seems to be functioning, so far. Just some more tech info.


Spring-Loaded Rotary Shaft Seal, for 11/16" Shaft Diameter and 0.999" Bore Diameter McMaster-Carr - https://www.mcmaster.com/5154T14

How's that seal holdin up? I might be doing the same thing.

 

[SlowmoFJ40]

Now that I'm keeping kinda sorta driving my 1969 FJ40 around, I have become fascinated with making the three on the tree as good of a shifter as possible.

I found a bushing for the actual shift lever at Cruiser Cult and ordered it, FJ40 3-speed column shifter bushing - https://cruiser-cult.myshopify.com/products/fj40-3-speed-column-shifter-bushing but I'm interested in tricks and tips others use to keep theirs running in tip top shape.

Picture for attention.

View attachment 3257157

I love the 3 on the tree shifter on my '70 FJ40 - Like yours, I need to do a little fine tuning. This was a good read to motivate me to start looking into the condition of mine.

 

[120mm]

I love the 3 on the tree shifter on my '70 FJ40 - Like yours, I need to do a little fine tuning. This was a good read to motivate me to start looking into the condition of mine.

The 3 on the tree is even more important now, as we got a second dog, and both can crowd under my elbow while I shift and there is still room for my lovely bride in the passenger seat. That's kind of hard to do with a floor shifter.

 

[SlowmoFJ40]

The 3 on the tree is even more important now, as we got a second dog, and both can crowd under my elbow while I shift and there is still room for my lovely bride in the passenger seat. That's kind of hard to do with a floor shifter.

It all that much better when you've got someone (or the dog!) with you on a ride!

 

[rivers479]

Thanks for posting this. I just got a 69 in amazing original shape but she need to be tightened up at the column. This gives me some confidence to start digging in.

 

[65swb45]

Almost all of these came out of rigs that had a floorshift conversion done decades ago, so the bushings are in good shape.

 

[Mark Jennings]

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’.

View attachment 3609524

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.

View attachment 3609525

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.

View attachment 3609526

View attachment 3609527

Then reassembly and adjustment. The truck shifted so much smoother. However, it still wasn’t right.

View attachment 3609528

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

 

[65swb45]

First time seeing your post Mark; thanks for adding it here. I noted the wobbly pin in the turn signal housing thirty years ago, but never thought about adding a shim washer to minimize the wobble. Of course, replacement turn signal housings were not an issue until this year. And I’ve only ever seen one strip out. I just considered it to be part of the Rube Goldberg design, like the F135 carburetor linkage.

I would think that if you used wave washers, like those that originally came on the transfer case bolts, they would be able to keep a little tension even when rotated away from ‘tight’. You’ve got me curious enough to try it on the Karma Cruiser next week.

 

[Mark Jennings]

First time seeing your post Mark; thanks for adding it here. I noted the wobbly pin in the turn signal housing thirty years ago, but never thought about adding a shim washer to minimize the wobble. Of course, replacement turn signal housings were not an issue until this year. And I’ve only ever seen one strip out. I just considered it to be part of the Rube Goldberg design, like the F135 carburetor linkage.

I would think that if you used wave washers, like those that originally came on the transfer case bolts, they would be able to keep a little tension even when rotated away from ‘tight’. You’ve got me curious enough to try it on the Karma Cruiser next week.

That’s not a bad ideal, I have a few ‘waives’ in my parts bin….ill try it also….then compare notes

 

[brian]

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