onecarnut
5th-February-2007, 06:47 PM
What feature in the steering column provides for the park position on a column shift, automatic?
I dismantled two steering columns; one automatic, one standard.
The only difference that I can see is the pattern on the shift lever.
The standard lever has a small ball at the end that goes in the column.
The automatic has small steps at the end.
There must be something inside the column, besides the lever, that allows the lever to lock into place when selecting the park position.
What am I missing?
Ray_McAvoy
5th-February-2007, 10:52 PM
Hi onecarnut,
I don't know for sure about the 68 columns, but the later year ones (69 up) have a notched detent plate that holds the shift lever in park until it's pulled back. The detent plate also stops the shifter in the drive (D) position when it's pulled straight down from reverse as well ... to shift down into the lower range(s) you have to pull back on the lever to clear that notch in the detent plate.
The detent plate I'm talking about is located on the lower end of the upper column bowl/housing ... the part that houses the turn signal switch. It's attached to the column housing with a couple screws and is only accessible when that upper part of the column is removed by taking out the screws located under the turn signal switch.
If you happen to have a Haynes Nova repair manual handy, page 237 shows an exploded view of a steering column and the detent plate is numbered 21. There is also a photo on the next page (figure 11.14) that gives a real good view of the detent plate.
There is a good chance that the standard shift steering column uses the same upper turn signal housing assembly as the automatic column. In which case it will have the mounting provisions for the detent plate present but unused.
onecarnut
6th-February-2007, 11:50 AM
Ray,
I took out the detent plate that was in the standard shift, and replaced it with the one from an automatic.
I had already changed out the long shift rod; eliminating one of the shift levers.
The difference that I can see in the two detent plates is that the standard shift plate is flat and does not have the notches that you mentioned.
The automatic plate has three little "feet" that point down. I think they are to insure the plate does not move out of alignment.
I now have a automatic column that now has the park feature. Thanks for the help.
Lou