70 727 difficulty moving shifter between gears.

[Yellow Submarine]

One of the hang ups getting my 70 drivable is the shifter is difficult and inconsistent moving between gears. With the engine running or not the floor gear shifter/selector doesn't want to move. The problem doesn't seem to be the selector itself rather something in the linkage or , God forbid, the tranny itself.
At the moment the ignition switch assy is apart as well as some under hood wiring not connected so starting the engine is a problem.
Also what is the rod coming off the steering column going to the tranny fore? Can this be the problem? It is currently disconnected from the steering shaft.
Sorry for ignorance here I have not worked with auto transmissions before.
Thanks,
John

[Yellow Submarine]

A little more info with my tranny. Right now the selector will move freely between 1-2 gear. I can hear the linkage moving under the car with no drama. But it won't move to any other position and the button is stuck in the down position. I removed the button earlier and squirted some WD 40 down the hole and it helps it spring up for a short thine then sticks down again.

Hopefully someone here knows what to look for.

John

[Yellow Submarine]

Ok, found out what the linkage coming off the steering column going to the tranny is. One year only lockout. I tried changing the position of this linkage to no avail. Still stuck in gears 1-2.

[dutch]

make sure the button moves down far enough.  Mine had the same problem. Stuffed some tin foil into the button which took care of the problem.
I`ve not investigated what the correct repair should be since I`ll change shifers in the future anyway, but it works for now.

[Yellow Submarine]

Thanks Bart will give it a try

John

[tman]

Try screwing down the button more.  Have to loosen the ball and turn the assembly to thread it down further.  There is a happy balance between threading it down too far or not enough.  Too far down the ratcheting or Slap shift will not work. 

[Yellow Submarine]

Thanks atman, I'll try that.
John

[dutch]

Try screwing down the button more.  Have to loosen the ball and turn the assembly to thread it down further.  There is a happy balance between threading it down too far or not enough.  Too far down the ratcheting or Slap shift will not work.

button on mine has a small crack   

[Chryco Psycho]

Usually it is the other way you have to unscrew the ball on top to get more length to depress the detent far enough to shift & yes the plastic button is usually stripped , also lubing all of the moving parts in the shifter can make a big difference

[Yellow Submarine]

As I found when I originally moved the car into the garage when it arrived in the transporter WD-40 helped with the button for a short time. By the way the original button was broken but the car came with a new one.
So today I removed the console and shifter mechanism. After cleaning the grease and crud out of it I found the the rod going through the shifter was bent and a piece of flat metal attached to it was all cock-eyed inside the mechanism. In the process of poking around inside the rod fell out haven broken where a small hole goes through it.
Anyway someone had been rough with it breaking the button off and bending the rod causing it to break off. (I didn't do it!).
So does anyone have a good shifter for a 70 727?

John

[Yellow Submarine]

Ok while looking for a good slap stick to replace mine I managed a temporary repair. After seeing online that it can be disassembled I ground off the rivets to the main section and disassembled it. I welded the broken rod back together. Welding left the rod diameter too large to allow assembly. I drilled out the chrome shifter lever to accommodate the thicker diameter rod. I did not attempt to drill the rod out and use the roll pin as I felt if would fail again very quickly. I re-assembled the shifter and lubed it. Amazingly it works, at least while it is out of the car.  So now I am able to shift the car until I find a suitable replacement.

John

[Katfish]

Nice, got any pics of the repair?

[Yellow Submarine]

No, it's not pretty. It's back together now

John

[Yellow Submarine]

Photo of detent rod welded back together. Not pretty but works for now.

[Yellow Submarine]

Here is the shifter body welded back together. This is only temporary thill I find another one.