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Hi all! New here on the site so I thought I'd get started right away. As the new proud owner of a 71 Mach 1 and all it's glory, I know that all that glory requires lots of upkeep and restoration. Among what will be a huge list of to dos for my new toy I thought I'd pick a job that shouldn't be too difficult but that I know nothing about. Ha! So here goes...
My shift indicator and my shift lever do not line up. When the lever is opposite the "R" for reverse, the auto transmission is actually in Drive. I think that is the short and simple of it. In other words the lever has a very short travel while the gear indication has full travel.
Can someone point me in the right direction to start this fix or this indicative of a larger issue with the tranny?
Thanks
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Pretty easy fix. Put the car on jack stands. Get under and slacken the joint between the selector and the gear box. Get them both into the same 'gear' ie Park, and tighten up.
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After you jack up the vehicle, put the TRANSMISSION in it's neutral position. Crawl under and loosen the locknut on the "shifter" end of the linkage without moving the selector on the transmission. (to make sure the transmission stays in neutral) Next, reach inside the car and line up the indicator on "N". Crawl back under and tighten the locknut without moving the linkage. You want to make this adjustment in the neutral position for two reasons: #1. Neutral is in the middle of the selector's range so the indicator will be more accurate in the other detents - park, reverse, D, 2, and 1. And, #2. You want to make sure your neutral safety switch works correctly for safety's sake. If, after all this, it still doesn't line up, you either have the wrong shift rod between the shifter and transmission, or the shifter itself is wrong for your application. GXR
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(02-18-2015, 09:19 PM)gxr02190 Wrote: After you jack up the vehicle, put the TRANSMISSION in it's neutral position. Crawl under and loosen the locknut on the "shifter" end of the linkage without moving the selector on the transmission. (to make sure the transmission stays in neutral) Next, reach inside the car and line up the indicator on "N". Crawl back under and tighten the locknut without moving the linkage. You want to make this adjustment in the neutral position for two reasons: #1. Neutral is in the middle of the selector's range so the indicator will be more accurate in the other detents - park, reverse, D, 2, and 1. And, #2. You want to make sure your neutral safety switch works correctly for safety's sake. If, after all this, it still doesn't line up, you either have the wrong shift rod between the shifter and transmission, or the shifter itself is wrong for your application. GXR
GXR, very nice explanation
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Thanks guys!! You're awesome!!
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Thanks M1FF and GXR.
Good concise advice.