Has anybody attempted to take apart the shifter on their steering wheel before? I bought a repair kit from my local truck shop that has a few replacement parts. I am still having the problem of my truck not shifting into reverse and I think the problem is in the shifter itself. It feels like I can not pull the shifter back towards the steering wheel far enough to get it in reverse, I think it is just goin up into 2nd gear. Just wondering if I am opening a can of worms. This shifter looks like it has a little rivet from the factory so I didn't think you could take them apart but then I found this kit so I figure it can be done. Just wondering what your guys thoughts are. Thanks, Scottys 54
Column Shifter Service Notes Scotty ; IIRC the '54 has the threaded bushing in the upper shifter pivot , it's adjustable and yes , you can take it all apart and clean out the accumulated dirt & old rock hard grease , re-grease with lots of white Lithium grease & re-assemble , the top of the shifter rod has a 90° bend on it and a little hard plastic bushing that'll likely come out in tiny pieces , once you replace and grease that , you should be able to easily lift the tip of the shift lever to-wards the steering wheel and _SEE_ the shift rod slide up a little bit , this is how it selects between 1st/reverse and 2nd/3rd gears . If you're now able to shift between 1st. and 2nd. gears , that's _NOT_ why I won't select reverse , prolly just worn out and all gummy with dirt and needs adjustment . After you clean and lube the upper pivot and bushing , take the shift box off the bottom of the steering column and open it up , clean 100 % as the old hard grease really screws things up , then re-grease it & re- assemble , wedge the sheft lever to 3:00 and then set the shift box arms paralell , then snug up the clamp holding the shift box to the shift shaft on the column . now , go underneath the truck and remove the two shift rods from the tranny , replace the hard plastic bushings , if the replacement ones don't fit , use PVC pipe etc. to make you own , then use stacked thin flat washers to shim the rods where they pass through the tranny shift arms , so they're not all floppy ~ all done so far ? I know this took a lot of time , stick with me and it'll be great , you'll see) Now , the shift lever is still formly wedged @ the 3:00 postion , adjust the ends of the shift rods so they each slip into the tranny shift arms , _dead_center_ and snug up those adjustments , use NEW cotter pins please . Now , top up the 90W gear oil in the trannny (it's always low) and go for a test ride , it should shift much better and once you learn " SquareShifting " (archives) it'll shift like a dream . If it shifts O.K. now , put it into first gear and look closely at the shift lever , there MUST be clearance betwee the lever and the mast jaclet , a sliver will do but if it's touching , loosen the pinch clamp holding the upper shift rod to the shifter box and rotate the lever up a skosh , hold it there wilst you snug up the pinch clamp and try it again . GM saw the need for major wear compensation and made it easy to clean , lubricate and adjust everything , you must follow the right order of steps though and NO MISSING SCREWS ! . Lots and lots of info and good posts on this subject , I hope this quick one helped out .
Thanks Nate!!!!. Tou said a mouthful. I will get started on this as soon as I get my turnsignal lights figured out. Scottys 54
Turn Signals To use the original taillights with turn signals , you need a 6 wire switch and one additional wire to the right rear taillight... Or , mount up seperate turn signals and use a three wire switch , the choice is yours .
Hi Nate, I have th3e 7 wire turn signal switch with the 3 connector flasher. I have downloaded the directions on how to hook this up from the stovebolt page but my wires are different colors than the directions have. I got the left turn signal working yesterday but could not get the right. In order for my right to work they both are flashing. I would love to figure it out on my owne, but I might have to take it someplace to have it done. Do you know any place on the net that might have a diagram of how the wires work? Scottys 54
Turn signal Switches I just sit down with a battery , test light and pen & paper plus some pape to mark 'em once firgured out . the way it works is this : With the switch _OFF_ , feeding current in the brake light feed , will send it out the to rear lamp wires . then there's the flashing in wire that'll feed it out to the left or rigt circuits when the switch is operated . Sounds complex but usualy comes clear after you sit and fiddle with it for a while . I know the various color combinations have been posted here over the years if you search for them... As I tend to use old junk switches I find on long abandoned junkers , there's never any color on the old cloth covered wires
Scotty, here's the wiring diagram that came with my cheap Taiwanese turn signal. Hope you can read it.
When you wire for turn signals, the directions will have you take the wire off of the brake switch and it splits the two and runs them through the turn signal switch. There was a part that was difficult to understand but I actually wired up what I knew to be correct and then used alligator clip jumper wires until I was comfortable that all the lights worked as they should before making permanant connections.
Greg, You are correct. They tell you to split the wire near the brake light switch and connect to a grey/black and a grey wire. I have a black wire and a grey wire but no grey/black. I tried all kinds of combos but could only get both tail lights to flash when I put the switch to turn left. I will take a look at this diagram in the post above and see if I can get a better idea. Thanks guys for the continued help. On a good note I took apart my columnshifter and replaced the parts with the rebuild kit from my local truck shop and that was my problem I can now get my truck into reverse. Scottys54
Ken, Thank you for the diagram. I will try to figure it out with this new info. I am much better at figuring things out with pictures than words. Wish me luck. Scottys54
Scotty ; You do understand that you need to run a seperate wire for the right brake light now , correct ? . when you add turn signals to one of these oldies , the brakes lights become TWO sperate circuits , the switch controls where the current goes .
Nate, Ya I know I need to run a seperate wire. I am still just trying to get my left tail light to flash without my right one also flashing. I might have to take it to a place that will probably have it done in 15 min. I am close I am just missing something. It's frustrating cause I want to figure it out myself...... Scottys 54
Ifthey both flash it's usually due to poor grounding of one bulb socket ~ go get a battery brush and spray paint it red so you'll know to never use it on batter posts and then use it to clean the bulb sockets sniny clean , rinse with Ether (aerosol starting fluid) then carefully smear the brass part of the bublb's base with Moly grease NOT Dielectric grease , unplug both taillight and run a jumper wire dircetly from the battery and so some testing ~ once both taillights work fine (IE : you can have the running light on and add current to the brakelight portion with no dimming) you're done with the back end , test and label the turn signal wires and hook 'em up . It's simple but laborious work , this is why most mechanics never do it correctly , it's not ' important ' enough to bother doing the full monty so do it your ownself and be happy . 15 minutes isn't going to do it .
