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T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

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salans7

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

I'll have to look into the orange; I wasn't even aware of it.

The knob will have a jam nut, so is blue thread locker really necessary? I run a jam nut on my Ranger and it's never been an issue. And I drive that truck way more than I'll ever drive this F350.

ArdWrknTrk

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Administrator

I wouldn't.
But I probably would use something like orange gel or the old fashioned 6xx series bearing & sleeve mount products to hold the stud in the stick.

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

Ifitaintbroke

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

In reply to this post by 85pig

A ZF5 uses an external slave, in fact, the same as on our trucks. It literally just pops right on.

Bradley
86 f250 supercab longbed, 4x4, 460 bored to 472 cubes, ported heads, ARP rod bolts, EFI pistons, 5.08/5.41 lift 114° lobe separation flat tappet cam, notched lifters, Smith Brothers pushrods, stock rockers, Eddy Performer intake, Holley 1850 or 3310 depending on mood, custom curved points dizzy, MSD analog 6al triggered by Pertronix module, zf5 swap, 3g alternator, custom instrument cluster, dual tanks with 38 Gal rear for 57 Gal of fuel capacity, far too much more to mention.

98 Ranger standard cab, rwd, 5-speed, 2.5L, glass pack muffler, dual plugs wired to fire at the same time, coming up on 300,000 miles before too long.

Averaging 26-27 mpg.

South Georgia.

salans7

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Since we're on the topic of T19 shifters, I recently came across a pretty good picture of what the "stub" looks like on the later two-piece shift levers. These plastic (Nylon?) inserts often become brittle, and the shift lever may come apart. This is what I believe happened to the original one from my low-mileage T19.

Ifitaintbroke wrote

A ZF5 uses an external slave, in fact, the same as on our trucks. It literally just pops right on.

Unfortunately the small block versions use an internal slave, which makes them no better than a Mazda, and they're likely harder to find than the Mazda M5R2.

ArdWrknTrk

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Administrator

salans7 wrote

Unfortunately the small block versions use an internal slave, which makes them no better than a Mazda, and they're likely harder to find than the Mazda M5R2.

They are WAY harder to find than a Mazda box! 4x4 doubly so, up here where winter happens.
I have one for my buddy with a Flareside that needs welding because the apes at the yard "missed" a bolt before trying to yank it out with the yard crane.
Morons ...... 😡

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

85pig

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

I know of two SBF ZF5s for sale locally at this time, but the prices for used small block gearboxes that I've seen is obscene. I've read of their issues, so I'd have trust problems throwing a used ZF in my truck (not so much with one of the Borg-Warners or New Process boxes). And then the price of having one rebuilt - I can buy a WHOLE lotta gas when you add up the initial cash outlay combined with the rebuild.

I'd still like to stumble onto one cheap one day. A cheap core might tempt me to try a DIY.

1985 F150 4X4 300 I6 4-Speed
1970 Torino Cobra "Twister Special" 429CJ 4-Speed
1965 Mercury Comet Caliente Convertible 331 5-Speed

ArdWrknTrk

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Administrator

I lucked out and got my 4x4 Zf from a muffler shop that parted out it's completely destroyed plow truck. ($100!!!)

I had plans to rebuild it but when I snapped the input off my T-19 I threw it in there and changed out the strawberry milkshake.

That was almost exactly 13 years ago and aside from rollover rattle at idle it keeps plugging away.

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

salans7

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Well my 3/8-16 to 3/8-24 studs finally arrived, and it looks like this is going to work out nicely.

I did buy a box of 10 studs, so I might do my 1987 handle as well, although it hasn't been mangled like the one I'm working on.

Gary Lewis

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Administrator

Yippee! But are you going to run the stud farther in, cut it off, or?

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

salans7

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Gary Lewis wrote

Yippee! But are you going to run the stud farther in, cut it off, or?

The picture was taken with the stud resting against the shift lever, but has not been threaded into the lever as I haven't drilled the lever out to size. Once I do, the only thing that will be visible is the small center section of the stud. The studs I ordered are less than an inch on the 3/8-16 side so I'm not having to cut too far down into the lever and also so I don't have to cut the studs down.

ArdWrknTrk

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Administrator

In reply to this post by salans7

Looks good! 👍

Definitely seems the KISS solution

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

Gary Lewis

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Administrator

In reply to this post by salans7

Sounds great, Shaun!

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

salans7

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Thanks guys! Once the threads are cut, I'll soften down the edge near the splines so that it doesn't tear my fingers up.

salans7

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

This post was updated on .

Well this went alot easier and quicker than I expected, so here is the "finished" product. I still need to loctite the stud in, but test fit works perfect and it feels nice and solid.

Two things to note however.

The inside expands outward to match the outside profile. I noticed that after my tap was halfway into cutting, the tap went through easy for the remainder as if it was no longer cutting. I stuck a light in, and sure enough, it tapers outward not far from the splined section. Had I completely cut the splines off of the shaft, I likely would have very little threads. Luckily I have complete thread engagement on the studs I bought, so no issues on my end. Just something to note if anybody else attempts this with the newer shift lever.

The second issue is that the shift levers seem to be much closer than I remember seeing in photos. If I were to have the transfer case in say Neutral or 4L, the 1st to 2nd shift would hit the transfer case knob. I'll have to investigate this more once everything is in the truck, so it's not a huge concern at the moment. But I am going to dig through my photos and see if I can find manual/manual trucks with the same transfer case lever I have, because I might have figured out why there is a difference in the curves of the shift levers..... (I have since determined that is not the case)

ArdWrknTrk

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Administrator

Glad it's worked out with the stud!

Interesting about the bends.
There's always a good reason to change expensive tooling on a production line.

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

salans7

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Thanks!

I've already debunked the shift lever curve assumption as I have pictures of manual/manual trucks with the same bend shift levers I have, and I also realized my spare T19 that this shift lever I modified came from had the same style bend on the transfer case lever that came with it.

Gary Lewis

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Administrator

In reply to this post by salans7

Glad it worked. But given the taper might it be better to drill the shift lever and tap it to a larger size?

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

salans7

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Gary Lewis wrote

Glad it worked. But given the taper might it be better to drill the shift lever and tap it to a larger size?

No, because then it would be hard to find a stud that would be the larger thread on one side, and 3/8-24 on the other. A thread reducer for shift knobs could work to fix that issue, but it wasn't really necessary.

Remember, I cut down the splined section due to how mangled it was. Had I not done that, there would have been over 2 inches worth of thread. The threads cut into the lever after I cut it down are still longer than my stud's threads so I have full thread engagement. No need for more threads unless I went to a longer stud which wasn't necessary for this application.

Gary Lewis

Re: T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

Administrator

Makes sense.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

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