column shift lever

[bbchevy]

how come there is no return spring pressure for my shift lever? it feels limp. and how do i fex it.
-scott

[morglan]

I have the same trouble. I started tearing apart the steering column on my parts truck (which does have the spring pressure) to figure it out.

I found out 2 things--

1. there is a compression spring located under the inside end of the shifting lever,

and

2. I'm not good enough to put the column back together!

(And I couldn't get it apart enough to remove the spring!)

Is it possible to

a) buy a replacement spring, and/or

b) drive out the pin that holds the shifting lever in place, and replace the spring that way (to avoid having to tear apart the column)?

bbchevy--if the answer to my question "b" above is yes, I'll try to take some digital pics when I make the repair, so I can email them to you for assistance.

Eric

[morglan]

I've found out that if you punch out the pin that holds the lever in place, and remove the shifting lever, you can look in the hole and see the compression spring. If yours is broken, you can use some needle nose pliers and pull it out. You can then measure it and estimate the length of the replacement spring (if yours is indeed broken). I also found out that there are 2 different sized springs--probably depending on whether your column is tilt or not. (If yours is NOT a tilt column, let me know--I have a good spring I can send you that I pulled from my parts truck when I was trying to figure this out.) If it IS a tilt column (like my 82), the overall diameter of the spring is 5/16" and the best guess for the length is about 1 inch. Hope this helps.