Sm465 swap and transmission problem

[nanonanopico]

So I'm swapping a sm465 into my '84 6.2, and I've just about gathered all the parts. I was looking for any sort of general advice about the swap, since I'm sure a lot of y'all folks have done this. Any dangers or pitfalls of this swap?

Also, more importantly, my craigslist sm465 rows through all the gears, but it doesn't return to neutral. When I press the lever rightwards towards reverse, I feel the resistance of a spring, but there's no corresponding resistance when I pull it leftwards. It just sorts of flops around laterally. I'm assuming its a broken spring, but I need to know which one it is so I can order the part or pull something equivalent out of something else.

Cheers all!

 

[nvrenuf]

It's pretty normal for a 465 shifter to feel a little sloppy and loose floating left to right in neutral, there is only spring resistance going to the right beyond the 3/4 gate towards reverse so you feel a difference and don't accidentally go there. There are no springs or such to make the shifter "snap" to neutral from any forward gear.

All that said, if the shifter feels too sloppy (difficult to find gears) then you might look in the tech articles on pirate4x4.com, there's a write up there about doing some welding on the lower end of the stick to tighten up the feel.

I would suggest finding someone near you with a 465 and compare the shifter feel, yours is probably normal.