Gretch

Gonna do it this weekend. I have the schematic and I have read all the related threads. One thing I did not see a reference to was lubrication of the ball cup. Strikes me that a bit of grease would make ratcheting the cup onto the ball a bit easier AND serve a positive purpose going forward. Any thoughts on the subject?

WallyP

Yep, should be lubricated.

One additional comment - the vertical position of the shift lever can be changed by how far you screw the cup fitting onto the shaft. Decide before you remove the old one whether you would like the lever learing forward or backward a little more, and adjust the fitting accordingly.

Be careful to not tear up the plastic and rubber shaft support bearing just forward of the shifter housing. You have take the torque tube out to replace it ...

Gretch

Thanks Wally,

I envision the car on stands, exhaust (right side) removed, shifter pressed down (to lift warn cup off of ball) and moved forward to the second gear position. From here I am hoping to be able to reach the ball cup lock nut and shaft with a wrench and long nose vice grip or some other similar tool. Once I get the lock nut loose, it seems to be all down hill aftet that.....

Any advice or counsel from anyone?

LT Texan

Gretch,

For me, popping that ball cup on was a <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" /> <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" />

deserving of many... <img border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" title="" src="graemlins/drink.gif" />

Gretch

Dan I read a good tip in another thread. See what you think.

The tip is to wrap a ratcheting strap up over the top of the ball cup, around the TT, with a short piece of 2x4 under the TT. Ratchet the whole thing down slowly until the ball cup seats on the ball.

I used this tip to come up wit my own technique:

Take a nylon strap and wrap it around the top of the ball cup and around the bottom of the torque tube. place the jack on the bottom of the torque tube between it and the strap. (I used a piece of potlatch with a square knot). Use the jack to take the slack out of the strap and "snap" the cup onto the ball. Wally P said to use a bit of grease in the cup to help.

Gretch

updated and Bumped for someone looking for it.

Sean79 5spd

The wratcheting thing does work. However, the trick is getting the cup to stay in the correct orientation to the ball, when applying downward pressure to the cup it tends to want to roll sideways.
To do this I had to disassemble the shift linkage in the car and use a vise grips ( and various other bits and peices) to keep the cup properly oriented to the ball.

Gretch

I just held the rod/cup in place with my hand, once I had taken all the slack out of the strap with the jack. You can also put the shifter in a gear. that will keep it from slewing side to side......