Steering column question

[truck69]

I have a 69 Chevy custom camper and need to know if I have to order a whole new steering column or just a part. When I go from park to any of the other gears (R, D, 2, 1) the indicator that tells me what gear I am in is way off. Example if I put it in Drive...it looks like I am in 2nd. So I usually have to put it in netural first then with my foot on the brake move my shifter down to the next gear. So its always a guessing game where it is. It is a automatic with a 350. Any info you might have would be great.

Thanks. Truck69

[lamar]

I think you can adjust that.

[pjmoreland]

There's a rod that goes from the column to the transmission just in front of the firewall inside the engine compartment. The rod is attached to an arm on the column by a bolt that has a hole in it that the rod slides through. You can loosen the nut on the end of the bolt and slide the rod in or out of the hole in the bolt to adjust the position of the shifter indicator. Here's how I usually go about adjusting this:

1) Get in your truck and move the shifter lever until the indicator is pointing at the "P" (park)

2) Open your hood and loosen the 9/16 nut on the bolt that attaches the rod to the arm on the column. Do not remove the nut. Just loosen it until the rod can be slid freely through the bolt.

3) Pull up firmly on the rod to make sure the transmission is shifted into park. Make sure you don't move the arm on the column at all. While pulling up on the rod, retighten the nut.

This should get you pretty close. If it is adjusted correctly, you should be able to shift between neutral and drive without pulling the shifter lever toward you. If you have a lot of slop in the shifter linkage down at the transmission, it may be difficult to get the linkage exactly right so you can shift between neutral and drive without pulling back on the shift lever. If you can shift into drive, but can't shift into neutral, then the rod needs to be pulled up through the bolt slightly. If you can shift into neutral but can't shift into drive, then the rod needs to be pushed down through the bolt slightly.

In my opinion, it is more important to focus on getting the shifting linkage adjusted so that you can shift between neutral and drive without pulling back, and less important for the shift indicator to point exactly at the letters. It's nice to be able to throw the transmission into neutral quickly when you're sitting at a long stop light by just bumping the shifter lever up. Then to shift back into drive, you just have to bump the shifter lever down.

[purple gas]

Just yesturday I nearly drove my truck through my garage wall. I have a 3 spd auto tranny and a 2 spd column, and the indicators are WAY out of whack. Oh, and my brakes aren't working. It was in high idle and I wanted to move it back a bit, went way too far and thought I'd roll into the street so tried to shift into Neutral and hit drive and launched straight ahead towards the wall. So, I think I'll finally install that tilt with the proper shift pattern and fix the brakes before I even start it again.