MikeKardec
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,157
- Location
- Los Angeles
There's always something ...
I started the old '48 Plymouth today, grabbed the shifter to put it in gear and the shifter just flopped in my hand. I raised the hood, and just as I suspected, the graeshifter control rod bushing had finally gave out. The shifter control rod was just lying there no longer connected. Thank goodness for some bailing wire (everyone should have a stash of baling wire arounf - it's better than duct tape). I wired the two pieces together and that sufficed to get the car moved to where I needed to to be. Now, to order a replacement bushing and I'll be back in business.
My question: Has anyone here ever replaced the gearshifter control rod bushing? Is there anything special that needs to be done, or is it just a matter of a "simple replacement" (like anything is "simple")?
Thanks.
Ha! That reminds me of a couple of times when the pin that held parts of my clutch linkage broke. I don't know what it's called but this would be the cotter type pin that locks vertical to horizontal linkage parts together, once it breaks and the two parts disconnect the linkage drops away from the arm attached to the clutch locking you in gear ... if you were in gear to start with. Of course you can pull the shifter out of gear but then you're going nowhere. The first time was in one of my Mustangs the middle of an intersection in the face of oncoming traffic. I made it across the intersection in a bound and got stopped without scaring myself too badly. Then visualized what had happened and popped the hood. I started getting the linkage bits lined up correctly. I gave my friend a flashlight and told him to look in the street and find a nail or a piece of wire or something or we were stuck there. Miraculously, just as I got the linkage straightened out he found a finishing nail about a block down the street. I slipped that in where the cotter had been and bent both ends with pliers. Then I gingerly drove home.
The second time I was just pulling up to my recording studio in my Corvette. SNAP! LUNGE! Luckily, I was on the brake in a nanosecond and snatched the stick out of gear. I'm not sure what would have been worse, 400 ft lbs of torque crashing that beautiful car into the wall or the damage to the inside of studio that would have been done by my Vette trying to turn it into a garage.
Now I replace those pins with high grade stainless steel as soon as I buy an old car. Two times was two times too many. Both times I nearly had a heart attack!