Mike Frye

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Good to know.
The good news is, once you've driven with the temporary fixes and the worn out bushings for a while it will be much more noticeable when you get it back to 100%.

jwillman

I still have not figured out how to get the forward cup clear of the ball. Do I need to disconnect at the shifter to get more room? Has anyone else had an issue with the cup not clearing the top of the ball?

Dave928S

Here's a link to a recent thread where Landseer and I posted pics of the layout of the whole linkage assembly from front to back .... https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...to-access.html

You can see from the pics that Landseer posted that there is a bracket just in front of the shifter to guide the forward linkage, which restricts the movement you can get in that section. In fact, if it wasn't for that bracket/sleeve, you would be able to manouvre the front linkage shaft back, and probably get it out with some difficulty, after disconnecting the shifter.

Disconnecting the shifter will definitely give you a little more movement, and should allow you to succeed in getting the cup off the front ball.

Dave928S

...... once you've disconnected the shifter, it will give you slightly increased clearance, but it will also allow you to roll the ball cup to one side as you lift it up, which will help to get it off.

WallyP

Be careful while wrestling the front shift rod around. There is a brittle plastic bushing in the rubber support in that bracket forward of the shifter. If you destroy the plastic ring, the shifter gets a little more sloppy.

Dave928S

+1 on that

Erik N

The bellhousing needs to be drilled and tapped to accommodate the later, beefier ball stud. The ball itself is the same diameter, just the cone part is bigger IIRC. My original broke, so I upgraded.

LT Texan

When I did mine ages ago, I seem to remember sliping the new cup on sliding it on the side and twisting it on to the top of the ball.

I don't remember any issue in getting it off.

jwillman

Thanks all for the help. Got home tonight and jacked up the car and the rear shift connector is definitely part of the issue. Bushing is completely gone on both sides!

Got a call into Roger. Whats the best process for pushing out the pin and installing new bushings? I recently read a post on another site where the owner modified a set of stock auto store rubber bushings but that seems a bit desperate!!

Thanks again. Looks like I am driving the truck to *** this weekend - damn it!!!

Dave928S

I have to rush out the door but can post the process later today ... BTDT. Get the delrin bushes from Roger ... they have less play and give a better result than the stock ones.

jwillman

Thanks Dave. BTW I found the l;ast piece of the old bushing under the car. Thought I had seen a bushing in there when I looked before starting the front

WallyP

You could take the opportunity to adjust the fore/aft and side-to-side position of the shift lever while you are working on the rear coupling.

jwillman

I looked over the WSM procedure. Looks like center vertical for fore and aft and 2-3 deg left for the upright for lateral setting. Correct?

Rob Edwards

I found it very difficult to get only 2-3 degrees, and if you have it tilted too far to the left, it can make getting 1st and/or reverse a bit tough. I think just sticking it straight up and down in 2nd/3rd gear is fine. If you have 2 people to do the adjusting, it's easiest for you to be in the car holding the shifter where you want it, and have person #2 tightening the 13mm nut on the rear shift coupler connection. Then just run thru the shift pattern until you can grab all gears and have it where you want it.

Dave928S

Jim ... here is an exploded view of the rear coupler parts.

One bush has been left out of the rear coupler body with the two alternatives shown below it. You can see that the standard bush has an oval hole (from new) which adds to the slop, whereas the delrin replacement is a neat fit and is therefore preferable, as it removes some of the total play in the whole shifter linkage setup. Part #2 has been laid over from its correct orientation so that you can see the hole through which the pin goes.

To remove and replace the coupler, do the following:
1. Loosen the pinch bolt on the shifter rod (#1), and push it forward so that it disengages from the front knurled shaft of the coupler assembly (#2)
2. After soaking the grub screw with whatever you use to free seized/rusted bolts, and cleaning the recess to fully accept an allen key ....gently and carefully back the grub screw out so that you can remove the coupler assembly from the gearbox shift rod.
3. With one side of the coupler body supported on a plate with a hole, or some other support, carefully press the pin (#3) down and out of the coupler body.
4. Remove the existing bushes, or what's left of them, and fit new bushes (delrin are better).
5. Place part #2 back in position so that the holes in the coupler bushes and that part line up.
6. Press the pin back in.
7. Put the coupler back on the gear box shift rod, line up the detent in the shaft for the grub screw, and tighten the grub screw (a drop of non hardening loctite will stop it loosening)
8. Put the shaft of part #2 back into the shift rod and adjust the rotation of that connection to give the correct shift lever position left/right (and you can also get some forward/rear). Adjustment of the front ball cup gives front/rear adjustment.
9. Remember to fit the rubber protective boot as you go.

If you want any more pics or info let me know.