Rear shift rod bushings

John2kx · John2kx's Garage

I'm in the process of replacing my bulkhead and rear shift rod bushings and installed the rear white plastic bushing purchased from Pelican yesterday. (Note: my car is a '73 with side shifter)

I checked the shift rod/bushing play to start with and found the rod to wiggle about a 1/8" or so checking in every axis (bulkhead and rear). Pushed out the old rear bushing and installed the new. Noticed that the new bushing (after installation) was a little sloppy in the transaxle mounting hole so I mixed up a bit of 24 hr. epoxy to secure bushing to trans. mount hole. The cured epoxy took care of the first issue but after installing the shift rod, I find the same amount of play (between rod and bushing) as I had to start with.

Is what I've described as good as it gets? I've read many articles about getting the slop out for better shifts and have my drivetrain removed now. I'd like to get this done right the first time vs. tackling the bulkhead bushing with my engine installed.

I've also seen mention of a brass bushing but can't find a source.
Is this the hot setup?

I also checked the dimension of shiftrod and the stepped down portion that rides in bushing is the same the entire length of rod.

Any suggestions?

John Rogers · 07-21-2002, 12:15 PM

The rear rod may be worn some from years of use? The bronze bushing is one fix, but that can cause even more rod wear in that area. We use black plastic wire ties ( 3 or 4) to take up the clearance and that seem to wear out about the same time the bushing does (and they are cheap). I loop them through the bushing and over the metal housing and tighten. Good luck

John2kx · John2kx's Garage

John,

I follow your plastic tie wrap idea and like it......could have saved me the 24 hr. epoxy cure time.

What are you doing for the bulkhead bushing? I've not tried that one yet but is 1/8" play acceptable or as good as it gets? That's about what I had in both bushings before starting.

John

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Once you get the bushing solid set, you may want to work on the shift rod. I used brazing material I picked up from the hardware store and a MAPP gas torch. I brazed extra material onto the rod, then smoothed it out with a file and emory cloth. Took a lot of slop out.

James

John Rogers · 07-21-2002, 09:22 PM

The rod on my cars (both) that comes through the bulkhead seem to have been sleeved it appears? The front coupling area on both is different than stock too?

John2kx · John2kx's Garage

James,

The bronzing idea sounds like the proper fix but John's mention of sleeving material made me think about using some heat shrink.

Have either of you tried this before with any success?

Regards,

John

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Heat shrink plastic tubing? no. Maybe some steel heated up and heat shrunk on.

The easiest fix, but I haven't tried this yet...would be to use plumbers silver solder. Just flux the thing very well first. The softer solder would be easier to work than the brazing rod I used, and it still should last, since it's running in a plastic bushing.

James