Stiff column shifter when cold

[AirSpeed]

My 72 GMC column shifter is really stiff in the morning (wow that sounds funny) It is hard to pull the lever back in order to move the lever into gear or back into park. This happens when its cold outside, specially early in the morning. Once I get the lever back it rotates into gear fine, it's just pulling the lever back to unlock it that's difficult. I have looked at all the linkage and cant see anything binding up. I am guessing the grease is stiffer when it's cold but I cant imagine it getting as stiff as it's getting. Any ideas? Thanks! Aaron

[northerngmc]

I had a similiar problem with a 69 GMC I had. What I ended up doing was pulling the column out of the truck and flushing varsol through the tube then relubing the tube with spray graphite.

I would imagine the grease in the tube has many years of dirt in it, at least mine did when I flushed it.

The column is fairly easy to pull out, I think it was less than 2 hours total to remove, flush, relube and install. Made a world of difference.

[cdowns]

i've sprayed the heck out of it with WD40 without removing column and managed to loosen up to where it was easily usable


it's a good thing to clean and lubricate 40year old moving parts as a step to keep movable parts moveable

[Wrenchbender Ret]

Pull the pin & remove the gear shift lever. Spray in the hole with a penatrant/lube. Put the shift lever back in. If that doesn't do it spray around the lower part where the lever comes out to hook to the trans. You can remove one of the 1/4 in bolts & spray into the hole.

[70BLAZERX2]

Pbblaster. The best stuff a shop can have

[sleepertruck72]

Originally Posted by 70BLAZERX2

Pbblaster. The best stuff a shop can have

Attachment 633708

PB Blaster is awesome !

I had the same problem with the shifter on mine. I used a few drops of some lubricant I cant remember the name of now, it has been easy to pull now. PB blaster will work nice, and it will give that great PB blaster smell

[slikside]

Originally Posted by cdowns

i've sprayed the heck out of it with WD40 without removing column and managed to loosen up to where it was easily usable


it's a good thing to clean and lubricate 40year old moving parts as a step to keep movable parts moveable

At minimum, do this......and very soon. Years ago I had this same problem, put it off, and one cold night I broke the darn shift lever...the original one too. Just recently had the steering wheel off while fixing my turn signal switch (lever screw hole stripped out), and found the broken part of the shift lever inside!! At the time I just bought a new shifter and wd-40'd the shaft as above and kept on truckin.. been working fine ever since. But yeah, 40 year old grease mixed w/ dirt and dust gets mighty stickey!!

[AirSpeed]

Originally Posted by slikside

At minimum, do this......and very soon. Years ago I had this same problem, put it off, and one cold night I broke the darn shift lever...the original one too. Just recently had the steering wheel off while fixing my turn signal switch (lever screw hole stripped out), and found the broken part of the shift lever inside!! At the time I just bought a new shifter and wd-40'd the shaft as above and kept on truckin.. been working fine ever since. But yeah, 40 year old grease mixed w/ dirt and dust gets mighty stickey!!

I may go ahead with the spray lube until I get the time to remove the column, I just painted the truck and installed all new interior, if I spay lube the column am I going to get lube all over the interior from dripping? Does the lube run out under the hood or drain inside the cab? Thanks! Aaron
Posted via Mobile Device

[slikside]

Originally Posted by AirSpeed

I may go ahead with the spray lube until I get the time to remove the column, I just painted the truck and installed all new interior, if I spay lube the column am I going to get lube all over the interior from dripping? Does the lube run out under the hood or drain inside the cab? Thanks! Aaron
Posted via Mobile Device

Can't say for sure, been a long time since I did it and wasn't concerned enough to notice. I can understand not wanting to bugger up your new interior job (congrats!), but the more I think about the column design, I don't think you should have too much leakage in the interior. Just use enough to reduce the friction to an acceptable amount, and be at the ready should it begin to run on your new paint. Good luck.

[AirSpeed]

Thanks guys! I will do something tomorrow and see how it works. I have been wanting to replace the rubber gromet that fits the column against the dash so I may just remove the column and replace it at the same time.
Thanks again! Aaron
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