Is This an Easy Fix?

[Hydro-idi]

Here is a question that I got for you guys. Ever since I have owned my truck, I have noticed that the gear shift linkage is a bit sloppy. It goes into gear so easily shifting through park, reverse, neutral, drive, 2 and 1. I am thinking it should have a "catch" from gear to gear but it doesn't. Is their a simple fix to this issue? I have never taken the steering column apart but the PO has many times apparently. It currently has a push button start because the key mechanism quit working a while back when he owned it. I really don't know why it glides through all the gears like that or if it came from the factory like that. Any help would be greatly appreciated like always. Thank you

 

[LCAM-01XA]

No detents in the column, just gates you have to clear by pulling the shifter towards you. Detents are down in the trans, there's a rooster comb attached to the same shaft as the shift lever, on this rooster comb rides a roller attached to the end of a miniature leaf spring. If you want stiffer detents you can grab another spring and roller from the junkyard, chop the roller off, and stack the leftover spring on top of what you already got in there - double spring means double force on the detent, and a noticeable effort increase at the shifter.

If on the other hand your shifter just slides from gear to gear without you having to pull it towards you first, that's a problem with column, not the trans itself.

 

[Hydro-idi]

Thanks for the reply. I do have to pull the shifter towards me when it is in P. Where is this rooster comb contraption located at?

 

[LCAM-01XA]

The rooster comb contraption is inside the transmission, on the other side of the wall the shift lever shaft passes thru. Drop the pan and you'll see it, along with its spring. It's really pretty self-explanatory once you're in there and looking at it.

 

[icanfixall]

Sounds like maybe the spring is missing or broken on the rooster cob. Bout the only way to look at it is remove the pan but I'm not sure what can be done once your inside if the spring is gone. Hopefully someone will have a pic to guide you along.

 

[Hydro-idi]

Now that I think of it, I do remember seeing that comb mechanism that when I dropped the pan last year. I don't think anything was broken because I remember giving everything a good checkover when the pan was off and didn't see anything in the bottom of the pan. Thanks for the replies guys! Always very helpful

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Sounds like maybe the spring is missing or broken on the rooster cob. Bout the only way to look at it is remove the pan but I'm not sure what can be done once your inside if the spring is gone. Hopefully someone will have a pic to guide you along.

If detent spring and roller were broken or missing entirely, the shifter wouldn't stay in reverse, it would drop thru neutral into drive (shifting the trans accordingly) at the slightest bump on the road. Nevertheless, spring and roller can be easily replaced, it bolts on top of the valve body using one of said body's own bolts IIRC. Hit the junkyard and find any C6 truck, don't have to be a diesel, drop the pan and pull that one valve body bolt and there is your replacement spring and roller. That's how you double stack springs too, just chop the roller end of the new spring as close to the roller pivots as possible. Tho a doubled-up spring is a bear to shift thru, at least with a short floor shifter. With the long column shifter it may just be what Hydro-idi is looking for.

 

[icanfixall]

There is a way to test the cob. Remove the shift linkage from the trans.. Its a simple job. then make sure you have the wheels blocked. then hand shift the trans thru all the gears. See how that feels. Might tell you if the trans is ok and the problem is somewhere else.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

Aye, good idea to test it that way, it should be pretty hard to move the lever (the one on the trans, not the big one on the column) by hand thru the gears, and it will click quite firm in each detent position. Tho dropping the shift linkage being a simple job, yes and no - it's simple in idea yes, but them bushings are a bear to pop off the shift lever, sometimes the lever wants to bend before the bushing lets go. So keep that in mind, and don't get too brutal with it. Not that a bent lever can't be straightened without ill effects on the transmission's further operation and use. It's just annoying is all.

 

[idi_econoline]

I was gonna grab a C6 from one of our old work trucks, just in case, Ian. Sadly, in the years it sat over at our fleet mechanic's, it mysteriously lost its converter and.... yep... shifter shaft and comb... sat outside, too.

Still belongs to my boss, but no one asked him if they could rob parts out of it. Or let it decay in the weather.

Lucky for me my E4OD is doing well.......