Not what I was looking for but I could not pass this up!

[1986F150Six]

It’s not difficult to remedy, but the thought of it breaking off in your hand at an inopportune moment is unsettling.

Is there ever an opportune moment for your shifter to fail?

This kind of thing even happens to those of us with automatics. Me in 2011:

Matthew, your problem was that the shifter was on the wrong side!

[Ford F834]

I’m not sure why this is such a common fail, as the stub is a fairly substantial piece of metal.

You just reminded me of something I hadn't thought of for many years. I was doing some forestry work for a while back when I finished college and we were driving an F350 diesel dually 5spd every day. It was a cab and chassis truck and I forget what year it was, but it was definitely a Bricknose...1988-1991 somewhere. This happened in late 1992 I would say and the truck was already a few years old. Anyway, we were back in the woods...probably 20 miles from civilization, and the damn shifter snapped off when we went to leave one day. I remember Terry went to push the shifter forward and his hand smacked the dash with the shifter in it...lol. 27 years ago I forget how big that broken stub was, but we used a bunch of extensions out of the tool box to make a shifter out of. It was sloppy as shit, but it worked to get us home.

Jon, that truck doesn't look all that crusty in the pics....well, at least not what I call crusty anyway...lol. In any case, not a bad investment imho. Even if you did have to part it out, the bed would be worth what you paid for the truck (in my area at least). I didn't even realize until recently that some of these trucks had fiberglass bed sides?

PS: Is that your Jetta in the pics? ALH or BEW? I had three different Mk4 ALH cars, and man those things were so awesome. Consistently in the high 40's for MPG, and if you drove them easy on the highway 50MPG was achievable.

Corey, by rust belt standards I’m sure this is salvageable, but with so many rust free trucks/parts around in my area it isn’t worth messing with:

The Jetta is a late 1999 with the ALH engine. It’s pretty consistently 50 mpg, although I’ve gotten as low as 48 driving like a real jerk. Well, I did get 44 once but I had a horrible Leak in my IP seal which does not count in my book if it’s dripping all over the road. It’s neat when you have a ~13 gallon tank and the fuel warming light comes on at 600+ miles since fill up. I bought it with 109K miles and I’m at 286K now. Still runs just like it did when I got it. I’m getting ready to do timing belt change number 3. As long as you don’t let that break you can easily get 500K+ out of them before rebuilding... which I probably will do since the newer ones are not as good as these.

Gary, carrying a spare stub is a pretty minimal item, and you can usually improvise with a piece of pipe, vice grips or similar extension to get you home. What gives me the creeps is it happening while changing lanes in fast city traffic, or while downshifting on a steep grade with a trailer or... or... 😬. I just wish there was perhaps a way to preemptively reinforce it so it wouldn’t break in the first place. I’m going to explore that possibility along with attaching a more period correct lever.

[salans7]

Corey, by rust belt standards I’m sure this is salvageable, but with so many rust free trucks/parts around in my area it isn’t worth messing with:

The Jetta is a late 1999 with the ALH engine. It’s pretty consistently 50 mpg, although I’ve gotten as low as 48 driving like a real jerk. Well, I did get 44 once but I had a horrible Leak in my IP seal which does not count in my book if it’s dripping all over the road. It’s neat when you have a ~13 gallon tank and the fuel warming light comes on at 600+ miles since fill up. I bought it with 109K miles and I’m at 286K now. Still runs just like it did when I got it. I’m getting ready to do timing belt change number 3. As long as you don’t let that break you can easily get 500K+ out of them before rebuilding... which I probably will do since the newer ones are not as good as these.

Gary, carrying a spare stub is a pretty minimal item, and you can usually improvise with a piece of pipe, vice grips or similar extension to get you home. What gives me the creeps is it happening while changing lanes in fast city traffic, or while downshifting on a steep grade with a trailer or... or... 😬. I just wish there was perhaps a way to preemptively reinforce it so it wouldn’t break in the first place. I’m going to explore that possibility along with attaching a more period correct lever.

Because of my body lift and center console on the Ranger, I have to run a custom extension on my shift lever. I've had a couple incidents where the bolts would come loose and the lever would not be able to move the stub and my extension. I carry tools so I was able to fix it each time, but it was still nerve racking when you're sitting in traffic and everyone else is going but you're not. I can only imagine what it must be like for the stub to snap off. I learned pretty quickly with my shifter that blue Loctite, lock washers, and locknuts are my best friend and I haven't had a problem since.

[Ford F834]

Corey, by rust belt standards I’m sure this is salvageable, but with so many rust free trucks/parts around in my area it isn’t worth messing with:

The Jetta is a late 1999 with the ALH engine. It’s pretty consistently 50 mpg, although I’ve gotten as low as 48 driving like a real jerk. Well, I did get 44 once but I had a horrible Leak in my IP seal which does not count in my book if it’s dripping all over the road. It’s neat when you have a ~13 gallon tank and the fuel warming light comes on at 600+ miles since fill up. I bought it with 109K miles and I’m at 286K now. Still runs just like it did when I got it. I’m getting ready to do timing belt change number 3. As long as you don’t let that break you can easily get 500K+ out of them before rebuilding... which I probably will do since the newer ones are not as good as these.

Gary, carrying a spare stub is a pretty minimal item, and you can usually improvise with a piece of pipe, vice grips or similar extension to get you home. What gives me the creeps is it happening while changing lanes in fast city traffic, or while downshifting on a steep grade with a trailer or... or... 😬. I just wish there was perhaps a way to preemptively reinforce it so it wouldn’t break in the first place. I’m going to explore that possibility along with attaching a more period correct lever.

I got a chance to mess with the 6.9 a little. I put in a new starter, borrowed a couple batteries from my other vehicles, bought some ether, and tried to start it off a gallon jug of fresh diesel. It has been a comedy of errors but I did get it to fire up and run. It sounds pretty decent for a truck that’s been sitting for a couple years. I pulled the oil filler cap and it has remarkably little blow by for an IDI. I don’t have an oil pressure gauge on it, but overall the engine health seems decent. I’d say it can be run the way it is for a while if I want. I’m still undecided what to do with it, but at least I know it’s not a block of scrap.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I got a chance to mess with the 6.9 a little. I put in a new starter, borrowed a couple batteries from my other vehicles, bought some ether, and tried to start it off a gallon jug of fresh diesel. It has been a comedy of errors but I did get it to fire up and run. It sounds pretty decent for a truck that’s been sitting for a couple years. I pulled the oil filler cap and it has remarkably little blow by for an IDI. I don’t have an oil pressure gauge on it, but overall the engine health seems decent. I’d say it can be run the way it is for a while if I want. I’m still undecided what to do with it, but at least I know it’s not a block of scrap.

Sounds like you got a deal that was too good to pass up, Jonathan!

[Gary Lewis]

I got a chance to mess with the 6.9 a little. I put in a new starter, borrowed a couple batteries from my other vehicles, bought some ether, and tried to start it off a gallon jug of fresh diesel. It has been a comedy of errors but I did get it to fire up and run. It sounds pretty decent for a truck that’s been sitting for a couple years. I pulled the oil filler cap and it has remarkably little blow by for an IDI. I don’t have an oil pressure gauge on it, but overall the engine health seems decent. I’d say it can be run the way it is for a while if I want. I’m still undecided what to do with it, but at least I know it’s not a block of scrap.

Congrat's! Maybe with that and all the other bits and pieces you can get the crew cab on the road?

[Ford F834]

Sounds like you got a deal that was too good to pass up, Jonathan!

Jim, I would say I got a deal... I realize there can still be plenty wrong but so far his story is checking out and it’s probably a good used runner.

Gary, that’s the direction I am leaning with this since the grandkid situation creates a pressing need for a back seat. I don’t relish the idea of putting a “temporary” engine in, since swapping IDI engines is not what I call a breezy task, but I don’t want to rush the performance 7.3. It has crossed my mind to leave it in the 89 since it is a SuperCab with a back seat. But it isn’t a vehicle I want to keep and I loath to put parts and labor into it. On the surface it does not seem to need to much but I know better... so if I pull it, it has to go in something. If not the crew cab then my other wish would be a Bronco. The immediate plan will be to pull the bed off the 89 and put it on blocks behind out pump house. Get the fiberglass camper shell from my folks house and put it on the bed. Pull drive train and anything useful and stuff it in the covered truck bed so it won’t get ruined. Get the rest out of our yard.