Column shift to floor shift?

[Zeitgeist57]

Hello everyone! I recently bought a 1986 C10 2WD w/8ft bed for $300. It was owned by an old guy who bought it from a city auction in 1996 with 66k miles on it, drove it 51 miles til he had a heart attack, and parked it for 7 years until I bought it a few weeks ago. It was an old Columbus (OH) Highway Department truck so it's bright yellow with serial numbers on the fender and large spray-painted-over city stickers on the doors . RPO Codes: LB1, MM3, GU2, E63

I am AMAZED at how cool the 73-87 C/K pickup line is. Simple engineering, great aftermarket supply, and a loyal fan following. Count me in the bunch for life :7

MY QUESTION...after a junkyard Rochester got the 4.3L running on 7 year old gas o ) I can't get the shifter out of Reverse. After freaking out that it was the transmission, someone suggested that the linkages on the column may have binded. Does anyone make a FLOOR SHIFT conversion kit for the manual transmission? That would help me out greatly. Thanks!

 

[sparkysko]

Howdy,

I did the swap on my 73 C10. Apparently the linkage binding is a common problem. My shifter was ripped out of the collar in the column, forcing me with the decision of 50$ to replace the collar, or to spend 50$ on a hurst (I'm pretty sure it was hurst, maybe mr. gasket, i don't know, i'm hungover today shifter. If you have a 3 speed, I recommend you go to Kragen, Pep Boys or Autozone (in that order) and pick up a manual 3 speed kit. There are quite a few moving parts in the linkage for your transmission, I have a nice pile in my garage. Pretty straightfoward, you will probably need a hacksaw, and something to put a hole in the floor of your truck ( Saw bit for a drill, or a dremel, that works wonders and was nice and clean). You pretty much bolt together these pieces to make the 'main' piece which holds the linkage arms and the shifter stick and slap them onto the bellhousing bolts. Drill the hole in your floor and attach the shifter, and then adjust the linkage and cut accordingly. They give you alot of different ways you can do this with the various parts, so you'll eventually find a combination that works. My speedo cable and e-brake cable was in the way, and took some hacksawing of the shifter kit to give adequate clearance. Also, make sure the shifter throw is within reason, 1st gear (forward left) is about 1 inch short of the dashboard, but this also is adjustable (I just didn't have the option, say hello to a backwards three speed . All in all, for 50$, a bunch of beer, and the help of a tweaker, I'd have to say it was worth it. Make sure you get one of those 1lb skull shifters with the LED lights well worth the 10$ too. LOL.


- Joe
- Team leader of the SparkyMobile

 

[80chevybeater]

I got one of those kits it's still in the box guess I don't have enough beer at the house to do the conversion yet. I got a HURST Indy 3 speed it doesn't come with the shifter boot. Or you can get a Mr. Gasket conversion it comes with the boot. They are for sell everywhere you can buy them online if you just type 3 speed conversion in a search engine. Did you do something special to hook up the shifter backwards? That's the way I want mine first up front rear to the rear.