Shift Coupler Question
 

for my 1982 - after the Shift Coupler bushings practically crumbled, I am in the process of replacing them myself. Seems like an easy enough task. Anyway, I got the old coupler out, cleaned up, and placed the new Pelican purchased bushings into the assembly. After getting it all together, the part, not in the car yet, but just the coupler assembly is very tight in its movement. Like a lot of friction in the joint. Is this normal and will it loosen up with time? Come to think of it, I may have not put and lithium grease on the parts, may have to check that out. Any advise or insight would be appreciated. Like to finish it up this weekend. Also replacing the Shift Rod Bushing as well as the Shifter Bushing. Oh, and the alignment freaks me out a bit too. I did mark where everything was before I disassembled. Time like this I miss Grady Clay. He lived a mile away from the house and I would run into him at the grocery store - always good with advise.

ps, the cone set screw looks like it had Locktite (blue) is that necessary?

Thanks.

My replacements were tight as well. Don't forget the lithium grease

My replacement bushings were very tight also and I found grease helped but only marginally. Looking at the YouTube video online and it shows that they shouldn't really be that tight but I don't know how to make them better except to go with the more expensive brass bushings. The tight plastic bushings in my 83 SC worked ok but made down shifting hard at times so I went with a New PSJ coupler from Pelican and couldn't be happier as it's much smoother now.

Blue locktite is a good idea. Otherwise they tend to loosen and start to mimic a bad coupler.

After I assembled mine it was tight also. I just worked it back and forth by hand for few minutes and it seemed to loosen up.

I've got brass bushings in my coupler and it was also a bit stiff when first assembled.
I took it out after about 300 miles and everything was smooth and loose. I'm hoping that the trend stops there.

Given that you've changed bushings, the alignment marks may not do it anymore.
It's worth a try, but the factory adjustment procedure is pretty straight forward, and it's easy to make finer adjustments once you do it and understand how it works.

If have trouble with it I'd be glad to help. I'm only a few miles from Grady's house, so we can't be too far apart.

Good Luck

Stiff bushings are just fine. The pin does not need to rotate in the bushing to any significant extent. If the long shift rod is on exactly the same axis as the shift rod coming from the transmission, it does not need to move at all. If there is a small angle, once you have installed the assembly you have set that angle, and the amount of fore and aft motion is so small compared with the length of the long rod that the angular change is tiny. On top of that, the leverage created by the shifter under your hand is plenty high enough to overcome any stiffness over this tiny range.

The engine/transmission movement on the mounts is mostly rotational side to side, isn't it? Stiffness isn't going to make a difference here, is it?

In short, don't worry about it. The increase in precision is so beneficial you won't notice any stiffness effect.

Spend your time setting the shift adjustment so it is spot on. Where you were is a good starting point, and the side to side part ought not to change. Setting the fore and aft part is easier anyway, so set that so the shift lever up front is right in the neutral plane and the 5th/reverse lockout part works smoothly, and you should be good.

Well everyone, after a few hours on Saturday, I was able to get this all put back together. Including the ball cup bushing. The shift rod bushing appeared to be fine.

The car shifts smoothly 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and R - Took the car out Saturday afternoon and all things work as they should.

Shifting feels purposeful, smooth and positive. There was no grinding or missed shifts. I did not need to do any adjustment(s) Did I miss something?

Sounds like you got lucky! Took me at least 3 tries to get it adjusted.
-C

Good work.

Guy - no secret gotcha here - if it shifts fine, it is fine.