Reply to "Shift Linakage setup procedure"

Not mine, but may be of use? - Are you talking about the linkage that runs from the shifter box, through the trunion bearing thought the firewall, through the tunnel to the shifter lever?

If so, the is no real adjustment specs to speak of. The way I set mine up was up is by hooking everything up without tightening everything yet. Also loosen the turn buckle on the linkage and the trunion bearing. Have someone hold the shifter lever centred in the gate and tighten down the turn buckle on the linkage. This sets your left to right centre position. Then tap the shifter linkage buckle forward or back until it also sits centre in the shifter gate. This sets your forward & back centre position. Then tighten down the buckle. Shift it a few times and see where the trunion bearing wants to sit. Tighten it up making sure you clear your fender well and the bell housing when shifting to all gears. There's not a lot of clearance so check it after tighten it down. You may have to adjust the trunion bearing up or down a little.

Some very small final adjustments may have to be made with the splined buckle forward or back depending on how you’re engaging gears.

I have you’re solution. I just purchased a pristine 72 Pantera out of an Amish barn in northern Indiana where it had sat under hay for many years! I just drove the car to my home in Tampa (1000 miles; 14 hours) and encountered the first gear problem. You’re analysis is correct, sometimes it stays in third even though the lever is in first. Easy solution. When you want to go to first, bring the lever to the neutral position and tap it to the left as far as it will go. Do this twice and then move the lever to first. Bingo. It worked great with my car. Hope this helps. Mike Sankey

I have painstakingly adjusted the shift linkage per the usual procedure. It's absolutely centred fore and aft in the gate. I have it centred side to side and absolutely inline with 2nd and 3rd slots in the gate. I have experimented at what seems to be all point around neutrally centred.

Is the clutch arm (where the slave pushrod connects) close to vertical or leaning slightly forward? If it is leaning aft of vertical, you may be able to rotate it one spline forward.

...Read this very carefully! I had the same problem with a Second Pantera I sold a few years back! I was always 'Fighting' to get it into Reverse and First. It was a simple problem that the 'Back-Up Indicator Light', SWITCH was screwed ALL THE WAY IN; preventing the 'Cross-Shaft', with-in the 'Small Shifter Box'(the one Mounted on the Left Rear of the ZF) From Sliding TO THE LEFT.

Before you pull everything apart to check the clutch, First, BACK/UNSCREW the Switch OUT and give the Shifter One more try! You Might Be Lucky There!

Be sure to pop the ashtray out and check that knuckle. That one has come loose a couple of times on me.

Although it is not the cure for your specific problem, you need to change your clutch fluid. The fluid same as brake fluid will absorb moisture over time. Next, is rusting in the cylinder bores and eventual seal failure.

I neglected mine for years and paid the price when the master failed with no warning. Flushing is easy with a brake bleeder. I now change the fluid out annually.

I suggest that you stabilize the length of the shifter mech first; centre the shifter lever in the gate per the manual and if the length requires adjustment it should done with the rod length adjuster which is just in front of the swivel joints @ the Transaxle.

I adjust mine by first putting the trans in neutral, put the shifter in neutral, loosen the turnbuckle, carefully wedge small pieces of wood between the shift lever and the shift plate(it has to be centred front to back AND side to side),then tighten the turnbuckle. It may not be the most scientific way but it works like a charm. I’ve tried to have someone hold it in the centre but that doesn’t work very well. It sounds like your pretty close.

I just put my transaxle back in this weekend. Adjustment is a bit tricky. I had to do it twice because when I came home the turn buckle lossened up. When I could not get mine into reverse, it was not adjusted over far enough. I had to get 4/5 as close to the right as I could before it would go over to the left for reverse. Once set it was fine though.

It's really easy once you've done it a few times.
You know that the linkage is adjusted by use of the turnbuckle, which has one right-hand and one left-hand thread (the nuts on the left-hand thread have an indentation marked in each corner).
With the gearbox in neutral, the shift lever should be in the middle of the fore-aft range between 2nd and 3rd gear. If it needs to move forward, or back, loosen both locknuts on the turnbuckle, then turn it in whichever direction is required to get the proper fore-aft center position.
Once that is done, tighten ONE of the locknuts. The shift lever will flop side to side without turning the rod aft of the turnbuckle. I usually pull the lever back into 3rd gear, and hold it centered in the gate (or perhaps just displaced slightly towards the driver) while somebody else tightens the nut. If I'm by myself, I'll fabricate shims to go between the fingers of the gate and the shift lever, to hold it centered while I tighten the nut.
Then, test it out. It should go into reverse/first, and also 4th/5th. It may be displaced too much to one side or the other, so it's a trial and error process. But you'll get it eventually. :>)
I had a similar problem, I think. Mine was shifting fine one day and then the next I could not get third or fifth gears. I played with it and looked at the linkage. The U-joint or whatever you call it near the tranny had loosened and had pulled out some. I did not notice this at first and tried adjusting it a bit and ended up with the rod and the u-joint out of wack. I finally got the u-joint set correctly and then could not get reverse. I had to play with the someone holding the shifter in the middle and adjusting it, then holding it a bit off center. I finally got it right and it shifts fine now. Hope this helps, if you can understand my description.

Removing the little 'plunger' will not cause any problems. I would suspect that one of your three UJ's is not gripping it's splined shaft tight enough. I suggest you check all three. There are two bolts on each. These need to be very tight. The first one is under your centre console. You can just about access this though your ash tray hole. The other two are visible in the engine compartment. You will need a long 13mm spanner to get enough leverage to get them really tight. I had one on my car that kept slipping, no matter how tight I did up the bolt. In the end I got over this by putting molly grease on the bolt threads, this allowed the nut to go that much tighter. It never slipped again.

Once you have eliminated any slipping in the for and aft movement, you now have to check the adjuster turn buckle. If this is not tight, it will allow torsional slipping (left to right in the gate)

Now to make the final adjustment. Put the transaxle into neutral position and loosen the turn buckle. The nut with the notches cut out of the corners is a left hand thread. With the turn buckle loose, get a friend to hold the stick in centre of the gate, and tighten it off. Try the gears, there should be an even gap between the stick and the gate (for and aft) when in 2nd and 3rd. If not, loosen the turn buckle and wind the gear stick forward or back a little until you are happy with the for and aft movement. Now check to see if you can get reverse and 5th. If not, loosen the buckle again and move the stick a tiny bit t the left or right, and tighten it off. Keep doing this until it is right. I have only ever done this on my own, but I am sure it would be easier with help.

Don't forget to oil the UJ's and lubricate the shaft with anti seize grease where it passes through the trunnion bearing (under the left hand header).

If all of these are clearly not slipping as the linkage is moved, you will have to adjust the shaft which goes into the shifter box. If it comes to that, I will step you through that also. Best thing to do with shifter linkage is to do the easiest things first

1,3 & 5 means the shift mechanism back at the tranny is not being pulled out far enough, the linkage needs to be shortened up.

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There is another adjustment besides centering the lever in the
cockpit. The shifter shafts can be adjusted by removing a small
plate on the right rear of the ZF case. Behind the plate are two
grub screws that can be loosened and tightened to reposition the
shifter shafts internally.

I had a similar problem on my 72. Turns out, the big trim panel behind the seats would press down on the rear part of the console making it just slightly touch the shifter shaft. After some slight cutting of the trim panel where it meets the console and a small block of wood cut to the right thickness inserted under the rear of the console, all is good. Try pushing down on the back part of the console to see if that changes the shifter operation.

Well, I solved the issue yesterday, and like the ZF ring gears bolts, it involves a bolt that backed itself out and caused interference.

The little box on the side of the ZF, the selector housing, is held to the ZF case by four bolts: three to the rear gearbox cover and one to the larger gear housing.

The single bolt to the gear housing had backed out and was blocking the selector arm (the piece that encircles the greased ball) from sliding to the three forward position gears. It is a round, allen headed bolt and of course, it is blocked about 10% by the operating shaft. But a ball end allen key seemed to do the trick and I hope it will stay out of the way for another 25K miles.

I've thought of drilling and tapping a small hole (for a set screw) in the tubular boss that spaces the box off the gear housing as the bolt is a single and doesn't lend itself to safety wiring like the ring gear bolts.

Q Over the years my cover rear trans cover( visible from rear) has been painted,undercoated and oversprayed. Is this removable for cleaning without springs and things flying?

A It can be tricky, you have one spring for the reverse detent and the shims for the pinion and input shafts,but the main problem is in the reverse idler shaft,sometimes it will stick in the rear cover when removing and that will cause the idler gear to fall in the case,then the ZF needs to be split to repair.