T19 Shift Lever/Rail Woes

[ArdWrknTrk]

If I intended to drive this truck more often or for farther distances cross country, I would have gone ZF5 and have even had multiple chances to pick one up over the last few years. I really enjoy driving my somewhat fuel-efficient Rangers, and my lifted Ranger can handle almost everything I throw at it including loading up the bed with half of a cut-up F250 so there's really no need to bother with a ZF5 when I can just use that truck for most of my truck needs.

Rangers are really useful vehicles, at a size that's not as awkward as my 250 is in some situations.

It's a shame there are almost none left on the roads up here.

[85pig]

If I intended to drive this truck more often or for farther distances cross country, I would have gone ZF5 and have even had multiple chances to pick one up over the last few years. I really enjoy driving my somewhat fuel-efficient Rangers, and my lifted Ranger can handle almost everything I throw at it including loading up the bed with half of a cut-up F250 so there's really no need to bother with a ZF5 when I can just use that truck for most of my truck needs.

I'd love to have a ZF5, but the cost of a rebuild makes the T18/T19 much more attractive. I've read that it's a difficult rebuild with some specialized tools, so not going to attempt to tackle that myself.

Interesting info on the T19 shifter differences.

 

[ArdWrknTrk]

I'd love to have a ZF5, but the cost of a rebuild makes the T18/T19 much more attractive. I've read that it's a difficult rebuild with some specialized tools, so not going to attempt to tackle that myself.

Interesting info on the T19 shifter differences.

'Alvin in AZ' has done a couple of teardowns over in FTE.

If you're willing to beat it up you don't really need special tools.

If you need to shim a new gear stack you definitely don't want to go there....

I remember the BSA manual I used to have.

It said "in order to split the cases, drop smartly".

[85pig]

'Alvin in AZ' has done a couple of teardowns over in FTE.

If you're willing to beat it up you don't really need special tools.

If you need to shim a new gear stack you definitely don't want to go there....

I remember the BSA manual I used to have.

It said "in order to split the cases, drop smartly".

The way my luck goes, I'd drop the cases "smartly", and they'd split......but not where I wanted them to.

[salans7]

Rangers are really useful vehicles, at a size that's not as awkward as my 250 is in some situations.

It's a shame there are almost none left on the roads up here.

I'm fortunate to have two, with one of them only having 70,000 miles. Even down here, most of them are pretty beat up by now since the last of the small Rangers rolled off the assembly line 13 years ago. Good condition versions with less than 100k are going for $12k and above still.

I'd love to have a ZF5, but the cost of a rebuild makes the T18/T19 much more attractive. I've read that it's a difficult rebuild with some specialized tools, so not going to attempt to tackle that myself.

Interesting info on the T19 shifter differences.

That's one of my biggest reasons for not going ZF5 either. They're also prone to cracking just like the T19 bellhousings, and some people refer to them as glass transmissions.

You would be surprised how many differences there are in 1980-1987 manual transmission AND transfer case shifters. I attempted to map them out once, but still ended up finding even more versions I didn't know about. Below are the most common, but there's different shift levers for all of the 4-speed overdrive transmissions, bolt-on transfer case levers, different curves, etc.

Here's two different transfer case lever bends.

Left one is 1980- early 1982 due to threaded shift knob, but this curve went through 1986.

Right one is late 1982 - 1986 with a splined knob, but this curve was also used on 1980 - early 1982 with threads.

1980-1982 NP435 Transmission Shift Lever on top (1980-early 1982 have threaded shift knobs, 82-86 have splined shift knobs)

1983-1987 T-18/T-19 Transmission Shift Lever on bottom (This one is for a T19)

[ArdWrknTrk]

Rangers are really useful vehicles, at a size that's not as awkward as my 250 is in some situations.

It's a shame there are almost none left on the roads up here.

I'm fortunate to have two, with one of them only having 70,000 miles. Even down here, most of them are pretty beat up by now since the last of the small Rangers rolled off the assembly line 13 years ago. Good condition versions with less than 100k are going for $12k and above still.

I'd love to have a ZF5, but the cost of a rebuild makes the T18/T19 much more attractive. I've read that it's a difficult rebuild with some specialized tools, so not going to attempt to tackle that myself.

Interesting info on the T19 shifter differences.

That's one of my biggest reasons for not going ZF5 either. They're also prone to cracking just like the T19 bellhousings, and some people refer to them as glass transmissions.

You would be surprised how many differences there are in 1980-1987 manual transmission AND transfer case shifters. I attempted to map them out once, but still ended up finding even more versions I didn't know about. Below are the most common, but there's different shift levers for all of the 4-speed overdrive transmissions, bolt-on transfer case levers, different curves, etc.

Here's two different transfer case lever bends.

Left one is 1980- early 1982 due to threaded shift knob, but this curve went through 1986.

Right one is late 1982 - 1986 with a splined knob, but this curve was also used on 1980 - early 1982 with threads.

1980-1982 NP435 Transmission Shift Lever on top (1980-early 1982 have threaded shift knobs, 82-86 have splined shift knobs)

1983-1987 T-18/T-19 Transmission Shift Lever on bottom (This one is for a T19)

Thank you for the comparison photos Shaun!

I've never really thought much about the bends, as long as the stick was comfortable to reach.

[Gary Lewis]

Rangers are really useful vehicles, at a size that's not as awkward as my 250 is in some situations.

It's a shame there are almost none left on the roads up here.

I'm fortunate to have two, with one of them only having 70,000 miles. Even down here, most of them are pretty beat up by now since the last of the small Rangers rolled off the assembly line 13 years ago. Good condition versions with less than 100k are going for $12k and above still.

I'd love to have a ZF5, but the cost of a rebuild makes the T18/T19 much more attractive. I've read that it's a difficult rebuild with some specialized tools, so not going to attempt to tackle that myself.

Interesting info on the T19 shifter differences.

That's one of my biggest reasons for not going ZF5 either. They're also prone to cracking just like the T19 bellhousings, and some people refer to them as glass transmissions.

You would be surprised how many differences there are in 1980-1987 manual transmission AND transfer case shifters. I attempted to map them out once, but still ended up finding even more versions I didn't know about. Below are the most common, but there's different shift levers for all of the 4-speed overdrive transmissions, bolt-on transfer case levers, different curves, etc.

Here's two different transfer case lever bends.

Left one is 1980- early 1982 due to threaded shift knob, but this curve went through 1986.

Right one is late 1982 - 1986 with a splined knob, but this curve was also used on 1980 - early 1982 with threads.

1980-1982 NP435 Transmission Shift Lever on top (1980-early 1982 have threaded shift knobs, 82-86 have splined shift knobs)

1983-1987 T-18/T-19 Transmission Shift Lever on bottom (This one is for a T19)

Shaun - Would it be ok if I used your pics on the page for transfer cases and a new page for transmission shift levers?

As for a "glass" transmission, I've gotten quite a few miles on my ZF5 w/o cracking it, both behind the 351M in Dad's truck and behind the 460 in Big Blue. But I will admit that the synchros are delicate. Before rebuilding there were spots in the rotation where it would NOT go into reverse. Turns out the reverse synchro was broken. And after rebuillding third isn't quite right, in spite of having new synchros.

[salans7]

Shaun - Would it be ok if I used your pics on the page for transfer cases and a new page for transmission shift levers?

As for a "glass" transmission, I've gotten quite a few miles on my ZF5 w/o cracking it, both behind the 351M in Dad's truck and behind the 460 in Big Blue. But I will admit that the synchros are delicate. Before rebuilding there were spots in the rotation where it would NOT go into reverse. Turns out the reverse synchro was broken. And after rebuillding third isn't quite right, in spite of having new synchros.

Thanks Jim!

Shaun - Would it be ok if I used your pics on the page for transfer cases and a new page for transmission shift levers?

Yes, I'm fine with that. Let me see if I have others I've taken.

1987 only transfer case lever.

Late 82-87 Shift Knobs (1987 on the left)

My previous attempt at mapping out the differences (incomplete since I realized there's way more variations than I can fit in this image):

-Upper right hand corner: Typical 1980-early 1982 with NP435, 4x4, and 1980-only shift boot trim ring.

-Lower left hand corner: Typical 1982-1986 with BW T-18/T-19, 4x4, and larger transmission shift boot.

-Lower right hand corner: Typical 1987 with T-19 straight lever, 1987-only 4x4 lever, and slight variations in boots.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks Jim!

Shaun - Would it be ok if I used your pics on the page for transfer cases and a new page for transmission shift levers?

Yes, I'm fine with that. Let me see if I have others I've taken.

1987 only transfer case lever.

Late 82-87 Shift Knobs (1987 on the left)

My previous attempt at mapping out the differences (incomplete since I realized there's way more variations than I can fit in this image):

-Upper right hand corner: Typical 1980-early 1982 with NP435, 4x4, and 1980-only shift boot trim ring.

-Lower left hand corner: Typical 1982-1986 with BW T-18/T-19, 4x4, and larger transmission shift boot.

-Lower right hand corner: Typical 1987 with T-19 straight lever, 1987-only 4x4 lever, and slight variations in boots.

Shaun - Please check these out:

• Documetation/Driveline/Transmissions/Manual Transmissions/Manual Transmission Shift Levers

• Documentation/Transfer Cases and then the Linkage tab followed by the Shift Lever Pictures tab.

I'm happy to edit any of it, add more pics or descriptions, etc.

[salans7]

Shaun - Please check these out:

• Documetation/Driveline/Transmissions/Manual Transmissions/Manual Transmission Shift Levers

• Documentation/Transfer Cases and then the Linkage tab followed by the Shift Lever Pictures tab.

I'm happy to edit any of it, add more pics or descriptions, etc.

Thanks Gary! I'm gonna send you the photo of all the shift levers together in an email so you can post it with better resolution (if Nabble allows that).