Is this column part replaceable, or am I missing something?

[joeydurango]

Been looking over my new 72 K10 Super closely to see what's what. The shifting action is very sloppy (350). The bushing/pin that holds the shift lever to the collar is worn, but that's not all - I can shift into any gear without pulling the lever towards the steering wheel.

Looking at this thread gave me some great info, but my column doesn't even have the part marked in red in the last attached photo, which I borrowed from the linked thread. The linkage rod simply bolts, with the standard drawbolt, to the collar lever. See attached photos of my truck above the borrowed one.

Is this part replaceable? Or is there another method of keeping the shifter solidly in gear that isn't working on my 72? The truck in the other thread is a 70, so not the same year as mine.

EDIT: Looking at those photos, I just realized the "collar lever" on my truck doesn't have the formed shape in the middle of the lever anyway, so it wouldn't work with a plate like that 70 has. What's going on here, and how is this column supposed to keep someone from shifting into reverse accidentally, etc?

[LockDoc]

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I call that a detent plate.

Is your column a tilt? It looks to me like that is a tilt outer tube. If your column is not a tilt it may have been put together from various parts and the easiest thing to do would be to get the correct column for it..

If I am wrong on my thinking someone please correct me.... I am not up to speed on the 4x4's.

LockDoc

[joeydurango]

It is indeed a tilt column. Do tilt columns not have the detent plate? I don't see any sign that it's ever had one, and that makes sense since the "collar lever" has no indentation to interface with the detent plate. But then how do tilt columns prevent accidental changing of gears? There's got to be some system...

[joeydurango]

Okay, so I'm all wrong here. LockDoc clued me into the fact that tilt and non-tilt are completely different, and using that info, I found a thread or two with info on the tilt column detent. For future searches, that detent is inside the column near the shifter itself... now I've just gotta figure out how to rebuild that assembly. Onward...

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by joeydurango

Okay, so I'm all wrong here. LockDoc clued me into the fact that tilt and non-tilt are completely different, and using that info, I found a thread or two with info on the tilt column detent. For future searches, that detent is inside the column near the shifter itself... now I've just gotta figure out how to rebuild that assembly. Onward...

Well, I'm glad I got you started in the right direction anyway...... Good sleuthing on your part.

LockDoc

[snipescastle2]

Yeah, I found my detent plate on my non tilt column had a groove worn in it from all the hard use over the years. I was tempted to build it up with weld, then grind it down, but I am running a 700R4 transmission, and the detent positions wouldn't matter any way.so, I just tightened up the clearances of all the linkage bell cranks, and made myself an adjustable shift rod with rod ends on either end threaded like a turnbuckle.
I have positive feedback from the detent in the transmission to know when it's in each gear, and since no one makes an "OD" shift indicator for non tilt wheels, I made one using the factory shift indicator lens, tracing the pattern onto a piece of clear Lexan. I then bought the "Ididit" OD indicator for one of their tilt columns and super glued it to the lexan, fits the stock shift indicator well, at least until someone makes a better, silk screened lens for OD trans.
Ben

[Bigdav160]

Not that it's going to improve the feel (my shifter action is not precise either) but my rod is attached to the other side of the lever.

[joeydurango]

What's worse, just figured out that the truck left the East Coast with the detent working perfectly. The shipper had to crawl out of the window to exit the truck inside his enclosed trailer, and he was a big guy. The windshield mirror was laying on the floor, instead of attached where it was when it left Maryland... I guess he must have also kicked the $%!# out of the shifter and broken something in there. ARRRG.

So, I guess I'm going to pull the column and try to repair the detent, fix a little slop in the tilt, and replace the first joint in the column to the shaft, whatever that's called (steering wheel moves back and forth some without any effect on the shaft to the steering box). Good thing it's wintertime and I wasn't really planning on driving this much until spring...

[Cali72K20]

If you look in the first two pictures, your whole column looks like it slid down about an inch. There is that little bump should be all the way against the bracket right below the retaining ring. You may have to loosen the column under the dash and that retaining ring and push the column all the way up until it hits that little bump/stopper.
Mine had that same issue then the linkage just bound up and I couldn't get it to go into gear, that solved my problem, hope this helps!

casey