I recently reinstalled the engine in my 1966 Ford Thunderbird (before the “tradition” police come jump on me, the basic design dates to 1964), and found that I can no longer throw the transmission into park. It acts as if it’s in neutral when I put it in park on the column. A friend of mine with 50 or so years more experience than me suggested looking at the linkage from the column to the transmission and using it to put the car in park, but I must confess I am ignorant of where that is, and how to use it to throw the car into park. Help?
Jack it up Put the trans in park ( confirm it’s in park) Then work your way up the linkage next making adjustments
I suigest you take it to a transmission shop. The linkage goes into the drivers front side of the transmission. To check it you need to get the rears up and also have enough room for you under the car. Such a low car can kill you if it comes off the stands. Let a pro do it. Fords were bad about breaking the park pawl off. It's a tooth about the size of a 50 cent piece inside the transmission, You can't fix that.
find a repair manual that covers your car and shows pictures of transmission, linkage, etc - at least that way you will have a good idea as to what helps control shifting gears - then when you have it repaired you will not be totally in the dark about what works with what
You stated that "It acts as if it’s in neutral when I put it in park on the column." Its likely that it is not in Neutral, its likely in between Reverse and Park. Thus, it could be that your shift linkage is loose or not adjusted correctly. There isn't much on the outside of the C6 transmission to actually fiddle with, so I suggest that before you pay someone to look at it, that you look at the easy stuff first. Start by jacking up the car, and put good jack stands under it. Make sure your rear wheels are also off the ground so put all 4 corners up onto stands. Crawl under the car and disconnect the shift linkage rod that goes from the column down to the transmission's shift linkage. Manually put the transmission into park by pushing the linkage all the way in the up position (it only goes two ways and you can feel it engage each gear selection, so its easy to figure out). Once you put the transmission's shift linkage into park, crawl back out and try to turn the rear wheels by hand. If the wheels now lock (as if the car is in Park), then crawl back under the car and check the shift linkage rod's length. If its too long and not allowing the level on the steering column to pull the linkage all the way up into position (the transmission's shift linkage will stop somewhere between Reverse and Park and not fully engage into the Park Position). If this is the case, you need to shorten the linkage rod and how this is done will depend on what kind of shift rod is used. If its the old plain rod, you can just bend it to take out some of the slack. If its a newer style (like a Lokar adjustable type), you shorten it by screwing one of the ends inward or take it apart and cut a little of the length of the rod . If the wheels do not lock, try moving the Transmission Shift linkage through each position and back to where the Park Position is located. If you verify that the transmission linkage is indeed going into the correct position for Park, and the transmission is not engaging the Parking Pawl, either pull the ****** for repair, or take it to a shop.
There's got to be an adjustable portion of the linkage between the column and the transmission. Take the linkage off, put the trans in park and the column in park. Then adjust the linkage rod so it just fits at that correct length. I'm guessing when you reinstalled the engine, that maybe you used new engine and trans mounts. They (non-sagging) probably spaced the trans up a bit and made the old linkage adjustment out of whack for the new measurement.
A friend ran over himelf with a 65 or 66 Ford. He thought he'd put the trans in Park and when he got out to open a gate the car slipped into Reverse. He wasn't badly hurt. We put the car on a lift and found a couple of places in the linkage that were worn. Everything was replaced with new Ford parts. It's been 35+ years since it happened so I don't don't remember all the details but I do know that Joe's experience turned out to be fairly common as we found out from the Ford Service Manager. My advice is to do a thorough inspection and not be shy about replacing parts.
That generation Ford did have issues going into park. I had a 68 truck and had put in in park and opened the door the truck went into reverse and the open door almost knocked me down.
I had a similar issue with the C6 behind the 460 in my 61 F100. Slipped into reverse and the end of the front bumper ripped the garage door track off, bringing down the whole garage door. Door didn't hit the truck, but bent the bumper and a bit of the fender. Took it to a "shop" to get the transmission adjusted and all the did was tighten so much you could barely move the shifter. With advice from Hamber's here I did it myself, seems to be fine now.
About '69 or '70, Ford finally recalled or made some kind of effort to fix this problem that had existed for years. When I started wrenching in '68, one of the first lessons new guys learned - if it's a Ford with no clutch pedal, block the wheels.
I will certainly try and see if I can figure out linkage vs interior of trans. Mounts are the old ones, still were in decent shape
The slipping into reverse from park thing should be blamed more on the detents on the column shifter not the transmission itself. From cycling it back and forth from park to reverse or drive a million times it would round off the square cog that firmly holds the lever park. As said block the wheels and set the emergency brake if your working under the hood.
IIRC sometime in the 70's instead of recalling all the cars that were slipping out of park and into reverse, Ford sent all the owners of said cars a sticker to stick the on the dash that said to apply the emergency brake when parking the car.
That was a common problem with sixties Ford’s. I recall that it was an internal transmission problem, exasperated by a poorly adjusted linkage.
IF you have a suitable jack and four stands, you might follow some of the advice given. If you do not, your safest, quickest and very possibly least expensive approach would be to take it to a decent (honest) shop and let them fix it....as recommended in post #3 above. Ray
I have 4 stands and a pair of jacks at my disposal. Will be looking at linkage in the morning. In the meantime, does anyone have a convenient photo/diagram of a proper linkage setup?
The Ford C6 has a rod that pushes the parking pawl into place to lock into park. Over the years I've had to replace a number of these rods because they break. When the end brakes off the rod - no more park. Of course proper diagnosis would make sure that the shift linkage was getting the trans lever into the park position before removing the pan. Good safety recommendations above. Don't take shortcuts in that area.
If your T -Bird has a swing-a-way steering column that adds more places for the linkage to get sloppy. Jack it up and put it on stands and manually put it in park using the linkage on the side of the transmission . Then adjust the linkage to match and check worn parts.
Fixed. Trying to line the engine and transmission up, we popped a pin out in the linkage. It’s back in, took it for its first drive since October this morning
It was very common for a C6 to come out of park and go into reverse, especially on an uphill. One place I worked had a Ford service truck. One off the guys put it in park and it went almost a mile down a hill and around a corner before stopping against an embankment, luckily never hitting anything. We installed a heavy spring and a Mico Lock on it after that. We had a customer park his car and bring the keys in. While filling out the work order, his car rolled away across the street and stopped against the curb. I don't know how it didn't hit or get hit by any cars on a fairly busy street.
Thanks for posting about what the cause/cure turned out to be. Too many guys don’t do this,and it’s pretty helpful to everyone who may have a similar problem,and when guys contribute advice to a thread like this,it’s a nice courtesy to let them know the outcome. Thanks OP! Scott Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
As a precaution I always use my emergency brake with my 62 Cruise-o-Matic. Park seems to work fine on flat land but not on any slope/grade. Glad you found it.
If I had a working emergency brake, I would just use that. I don’t, so I really rely on Park working.
There is your next worthwhile project....The car is equipped with both for a reason.....it is not intended to be an ‘either or’ proposition. Ray
Once we have to worry about having anywhere to go (read: bugs are all sorted out), parking brake is next
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