My 53 is still running the 3 on the tree, but when I shift from first to second it often locks up and I can't get it into second. The linkages (in between the steering box and firewall) are pretty lose and the rubber bushes are fossils. Anyone had to tackle this problem before and know a good solution? Cheers.
The bushings being worn are causing play and misalignment between the gear positions on the shifter and the gear position on the ******.You will have to make new bushings or find a suitable replacements . I once made one out of piece of fuel line in a jam (temporarily).Three speed GM's are famous for the hanging up between first and second gear thing.Sometimes the trans and shifter get out of adjustment or sinc with each other.Have a friend sit in the car and hold the shifter in nuetral while you get under the car and visually see where the shifter arms are located when the shifter inside is in nuetral.Have them move through the gears slowly and call out which gear they are in as they are moving shifting ,so you can watch and see whats happening. It doesnt take much misalignment or slop to make one hang up between 1st and 2nd gear .There should be adjustments on the shifter arms to make them in sinc with the shifter ...
satans ride got it. I have looked all over for the correct bushings, nothing. I bought some for a 55-57 chevy and the OD was too big so I filed them down to fit, they work great but I am still looking for the right bushings.
If you can't find bushings, why not weld the holes and redrill to eliminate them. the newer stuff don't have bushings. they're just trouble. JMO
When I had my 52 it happened to me a lot also. I converted it to a floor shifter. 4 bolts into the trans. real easy and it eliminates all that extra linkage
I would be willing to bet you can find bushing at www.chevsofthe40s.com that place has everything else. then it's just a matter of adjustment. be sure to grease up the junction box... take off the cover. it should have a big blob of grease in there and be spilling out making a big mess. old chevies like thier grease.
Yeah. Looks like the jamming is occurring in the junction box there. (I ground some new bushes out of some old door stops) Tomorrow I'll get my dad on the gears and see how I can make the shifts from R/1 to 2/3 more precise so I don't have to persuade the shift as much.
No problems big Z. I'll be fine for the moment. After installing the 'door stop' bushes, adding a bit of grease and adjusting the length of the reverse/first linkage rod - the whole things come good. I can slam it into any gear no troubles
http://www.nationalchevy***oc.com/shop-online/search.html?terms=shift I haven't tried it yet, but i'm going to try changing mine over to rod ends. Go to http://www.mcmaster.com/ and type in "rod ends" and see what comes up...
Back in the day the family 61 chevy had 3 in the tree, and I would always have a spare shifter handle under the seat. If you just tried to cram second gear---snap---off came the handle. It was a happy day when I put a Borg Warner 4 speed with a compe***ion plus behind the family 235. Ole Gramps said I had turned the car into a truck---But when I put a 327 in it, he said I turned it into a plane, Man I miss him opps sorry for the OT rambling, I just got hooked by the topic of tree shifters---Oh dude rambling B.S. syndrome
This is the way to go, NO slop. I went over to the 'dark side' (floor shifter) but will head back into the light when I have my $hit together. The (above) are articulating ball and socket joints and you can get male/female ends to them...... pull off the old shifting rod with the last vestiges of rubber hanging on and replicate it using the new ball joints and rod that you thread....no need for R/L threads...you'll just use a lock nut behind the rod end. People not here on the board or not in yer local car clubs won't even know how to drive it ..they'll think it's an automatic.
summitracing has a nice hurst floor shifter meant for converting column shift to the floor...if you have some money and are good at fabbing up little things to work it shouldnt be to hard of a converstion
I have 3 in the tree on my 53 Pontiac and i replaced all the bushings on mine with ones from a 72 chev half ton, or even the floor shift bushings on a mid 70s camaro, they used same bushing and spring type clip then and are available thru your local GM dealer parts counter. They usually come in packages of like 8-12, but they are pretty tough and last a long time. I have only replaced mine when i built the car 15 years ago and they are still good and tight, and i have over 85,000 miles of wear and tear on them.
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