Update on fixing the sloppy '59 shifting

[YellowRose]

Rich and I worked on fixing the sloppy shifting problems inherent in an old Bird due to wear and tear. It is more like, Rich worked, while I cleaned excess paint off the chrome horn ring someone had screwed up while painting it in the past, and handing him tools when he needed them...

The steering wheel assembly came off easily enough. Then it was into it to take out the components, being veryyyy careful not to drop the screws down inside the steering column! We had the printed out instructions from the Squarebird Technical section to go by, but Rich is not a newbie at pulling steering gear or working on cars like this. He cut his teeth on cars of this era when he first started working as a mechanic.

It took him several hours to complete, but he got the new detent plate, new shift lever, and bell housing cowl in place and all back together again. It works great! The sloppiness is gone. The potential problem of it slipping out of park should be gone. The new detent plate is better then the original one. Mine was pretty well worn and grooved heavily. The rubber grommet on the end of the shift lever was GONE! The "key" end of the shift lever was pretty badly worn off also. The bell housing cowl piece where the shift lever goes into was pretty worn also. It appears that we will not have to change out the bushings at the transmission end.

If you have this problem and you can do this yourself, or have a good mechanic who can, get the parts and do it! The bell housing collar was the most expensive thing. But it will probably need to be replaced also. It is all tight and right now! Ray ~ Yellow Bird.

[Dan Leavens]

Ray that's great that you got the detent plate installed along with other parts. Now you don't have to worry about having the car running, closing the door and the bird moving. The other thing is that starting it up, is a lot easier not having to hold the shift lever to activate and missing from time to time.
Now it's good for another 50 years.

Dano Calgary,Alberta Canada

Rich and I worked on fixing the sloppy shifting problems inherent in an old Bird due to wear and tear. It is more like, Rich worked, while I cleaned excess paint off the chrome horn ring someone had screwed up while painting it in the past, and handing him tools when he needed them...

The steering wheel assembly came off easily enough. Then it was into it to take out the components, being veryyyy careful not to drop the screws down inside the steering column! We had the printed out instructions from the Squarebird Technical section to go by, but Rich is not a newbie at pulling steering gear or working on cars like this. He cut his teeth on cars of this era when he first started working as a mechanic.

It took him several hours to complete, but he got the new detent plate, new shift lever, and bell housing cowl in place and all back together again. It works great! The sloppiness is gone. The potential problem of it slipping out of park should be gone. The new detent plate is better then the original one. Mine was pretty well worn and grooved heavily. The rubber grommet on the end of the shift lever was GONE! The "key" end of the shift lever was pretty badly worn off also. The bell housing cowl piece where the shift lever goes into was pretty worn also. It appears that we will not have to change out the bushings at the transmission end.

If you have this problem and you can do this yourself, or have a good mechanic who can, get the parts and do it! The bell housing collar was the most expensive thing. But it will probably need to be replaced also. It is all tight and right now! Ray ~ Yellow Bird.

[YellowRose]

Update on Fixing the Sloppy '59 Shifting

Thanks, Dan! Yes, that was one of the first things I noticed when I cranked it over. No pulling the shift lever towards you to get it to start! It looked like to me that the slot for parking is a bit narrower on the new detent plate. I think Alexander Sosiak did a better and great job in replicating the old one. I have read the stories about how the Ford engineers found out pretty quickly about their detent plate engineering and their attempts to improve it. Ray ~ "Yellow Rose"

[FeFranco]

Ray,
Glad to hear that you have successfully replaced your detent plate. That is not a job for the meek, but, very rewarding for the results and peace of mind. My question, though, is what do you mean that "the sloppiness is gone". With the new detent plate, lever, bell and grommet replaced, I still have a lot of wiggle when I place it into gear. Does your shift lever go solidly/firmly into gear when you put it into N or D1, or do you have to FEEL it go into gear? Does anybody else have any suggestions?

[bcomo]

FeFranco:

I went through this too. New detent fixes park solid.

But, you need to check, and probably replace the rubber bushing where the shift rod goes to the transmission shift lever. That needs to be a tight fit. You can get the bushing from Bird Nest.

Any other slop is caused from within the shift lever in the engine compartment, above the gear box, in the steering column. That is not possible to fix without removing the entire steering column and fabricating a replacement -- of what I'm not sure.

[YellowRose]

Update on Fixing the Sloppy '59 Shifting

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the information on Stan and his business. I will contact them and see what he has to say.

Regarding replacing the detent plate, et all, when I shift from Park to N, or any of the Drive positions the gear shift now snaps or clicks into place and stays there. Before, you could hardly tell which position you just moved the lever into! It was loosey-goosey but no longer. It smartly locks into the position you move it to until you move it again into a new position and snaps and locks into that position. I guess that is the best way to describe it.

Bart has given you the same recommendation he gave me. To check things out at the transmission level. We will probably do that also the first time we have it up on a rack, but it looks like mine is working the way it used to when it came off the line. Ray ~ Yellow Rose

[TOM1960SQUAREBIRD]

sloppy linkage

Hi Guys am i to believe that the detent plate will fix loose colun shifter, or just the lock park position and start auto without pullin northward on handle, c-o-m in my newly acquired bird has both problems also is this a 3 speed trans or 2 it only seem to shift once maybe because linkage is to loose .. iam just a rookie so be nice
thanks guys
Tom

[jldevlin]

sloppy Shift

good Day Tom

I had a very sloppy shift in my 59, it would pop out of park if I was not careful and pulling down hard on the shifter I could get it into low gear but VERY tough pulling it back into other gears once I did that, for me I purchased a new shift handle, had to drill out the retainer pin and once I got the old one out I had to wiggle and push the new one into position and once you hit the sweet spot it is in, I was very surprised when I found my shifter now moved smooth and easy and solid into park, I looked at my old handle and saw how round and warn the end of the shifter was, thats the area that sits in the detent plate, it has been perfect since that day.

John