Manual column shift bowl broke
 

Hey guys I broke a piece off the steering column bowl where the shift knob goes into the steering column. Talk about bad luck. That's the only thing from keeping me driving. It's aluminum I believe so I don't trust my welding as a repair. I found the part number and its: "7816163 bowl, steering column." Problem is I ca t find it. Can i use an automatic bowl? I guess I might have to look for another 3ott steering column somewhere. Any help would be much appreciated.

Re: Manual column shift bowl broke
 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But automatic bowls will not work for you. 3 spd trucks were rare even when these trucks were being built. You will probably have to buy a whole column to get the part. Another solution is, have you thought about converting to a floor shift.
I was out at my local wreckers last weekend I seem to remember seeing a 3 spd truck. But I can't remember if the column was still in it. I might be going back this weekend I could check into it for you.

Re: Manual column shift bowl broke
 

If you do would you please grab me the spring from the Z bar on the chassis?id gladly pay for that and shipping I had no luck near me finding that

Re: Manual column shift bowl broke
 

Hope you find one.

Some interesting history.

I worked in the Chevrolet parts plant that made those shift bowls.
In an effort to improve fuel economy GM "downsized" their vehicles starting in 1977. This effort involved, among other things, replacing zinc die cast parts with aluminum (or even plastic) parts(think metal headlight bezels replaced by plastic bezels)

The process of manufacturing aluminum shift bowls involved pouring molten zinc alloy into multiple shot dies, then the molten metal would cool, a "Unimate" robotic arm would remove the parts in one sheet, transfer the parts to a trim die, then the trimmed parts would fall down a conveyor into a big wire basket.The parts then went through a deburr process and finally were sent to the assembly plants. This was the same process used for the former zinc parts - that was the problem.

The aluminum parts were much more fragile than the zinc die cast parts. So, many of the shift bowls came out of the molds in an out of round condition. Other parts became out of round in the rough handling. Still other parts had weak webbing inside the bowl because the aluminum casting process was not yet fully understood.

Ultimately, after about 3 months of attempting to build good parts, the plant lost the job and some other factory supplied the parts to the assembly plants.

So, you might have an early version of the aluminum cast shift bowls. If you get another bowl, check the webbing inside as were as the area around the shifter to make sure there are no visible cracks.

Re: Manual column shift bowl broke
 

Thanks tucsonjwt, that makes sense. I couldn't believe it when it snapped. I could install an outer shell of sheet metal and it thru but that is super ghetto and not what I want after a frame restoration. I was toying maybe getting the aluminum welding gun but after reading this I'm just gonna find another steering column for parts.

Any particular differences between the 3ott thru the 70-80s?