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shift detens in column

mctrigger

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are there shift detents in the steering coulomn for a th350 i seem to have a lot of slop in my shift points but my linkages are all tight and the tranny detents are tight aswell. thanks.
 
The detents are in the trans not the steering column. Have you checked the plastic bushing at the frame where the shifter pivot point is? If that is broken or the spring is bad it could affect the amount of slop in the shifter.

Classic Parts #91-431 is the bushing and #91-432 is the spring.
 
I don't know what "detents" are. What are they?

There is a plate inside column with groves in it for each "gear". Is that what ur talking about? Otherwise the bushing at the end of the column or the ones Scott is talking about can give you a lot of play. Sounds like the linkages are tight though....
 
I don't know what "detents" are. What are they?

There is a plate inside column with groves in it for each "gear". Is that what ur talking about? Otherwise the bushing at the end of the column or the ones Scott is talking about can give you a lot of play. Sounds like the linkages are tight though....

I would love for you to show me that because it doesn't exist in any column i've ever worked on. You can install a 700R4 in place of a TH350 or TH400 and still use the same column because of the fact that there is no gate plate in the column even though there is an extra gear in the 700R4.
 
I agree with Scott no detents in the column. dis connect the shifter from the trans and it will flop all over the place.

And once again a second on what Scott said its probably the plastic piece that the rod rotates on. The rod goes from the column, then connects to the rod that goes to the trans, the plastic piece goes on the rod that goes to the trans and is located on the frame of the truck. There should be a spring in there too
 
Like I said, I don't know what detents are. The only thing I'm talking about is this thing which only acts at a shift lever stopper between gears. I second the 350 to 700 column working as my column came off Vee's truck, which I believe came with a th350.

2065.jpg
 
So where did that come from anyways? I have never seen anything like that in any of the columns i've worked on.
 
It came from my tilt column. My 85 and Vee's 83 (IIRC) are the same column (except for high beam area). Take the entire guts out of the column, including the tilt base that has the 4 torqs screws in it. This is attached to the tilt base on the side with two screws. A spring holds the shift lever in the groves.

that's all I know. Both columns I've taken apart have used this part number. Not to say they couldn't have been changed already. One was in a working th350 truck and the other in a 700r4. However, the 700 plate could be used on a 350, the shifter just wont go to the end of the plate. Switch them and I don't think they would work.
 
I think that's just a position lock plate to keep you from accidentally bumping the shifter into a lower gear or into park while the vehicle is still moving, notice when you move the selector you have to pull out towards you to release the movement, but once moved out the detents they are referring to are in the trans, the clicking motion that if your gear selector indicator isn't working, you can count to get into the right gear.. without the linkage hooked up, the shift lever will just slide up & down. :doah:

I have never seen one either, but then again I have never been all the way down past those 4 torx bolts either. If the column is that bad, I usually just replace it.. :D
 
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i had the pan off and the dentens on the shift rail were dandy the bushing is there and spring the linkage is tight too. it happens mostly in 1 2 3 gear you shift down and the handle is tight pushing down but you can pull up on it enough to make it look like it is in the last gear about a inch of travel at the tip of the shift knob this makes manualy shifting the auto difficult as i dont have a kick down cable.
 
Like I said, I don't know what detents are. The only thing I'm talking about is this thing which only acts at a shift lever stopper between gears. I second the 350 to 700 column working as my column came off Vee's truck, which I believe came with a th350.

2065.jpg
That's the part that I suspect is bad on my column. I know for a fact the trans setup is tight, the white bushing and spring are in place and intact, but my shift feels sloppy at the column. All of this was worked with last year when I rebuilt the trans.

It is very hard to even tell which gear I am in, because the lack of feel is right there in the column. I need to get a new column though so I haven't worried about tearing it down that far. With that part worn, you can still feel the detents in the trans, but there is so much leverage at the column that without that plate working correctly the shifter feels sloppy and vague (if that makes sense). If you look you can see that it wouldn't affect the 700r4 except to feel a bit sloppy in the 4th gear position since there is no detent position between 3rd and 4th on the plate. I don't even have to pull back on my shifter to move it and it is possible to get from drive to reverse without pulling forward on the shifter.
 
gezz, it may be missing or lose
you can check it's condition without pulling the tilt base off, of course everything in front of it has to come off to see it, but to remove it, the base has to come off cause it's screwed to it.

The "4" in 5994 is the side where "Park" is....so park is on the right. When you look at it in the column, the numbers are upside down.
 

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