Reply to "Shift Linakage setup procedure"

Ok. I had to psych myself up to attempt this. But anyway I tried to follow the instructions but I just got more confused. I'm no mechanic. So basically I cleaned all the splines of paint and removed as many of the burs as I could. I was hoping this would allow the spline lock so slide easier. I had to lube and realign the rubber boot to prevent it from binding. It was pointing in one direction when I removed it. I set the trunion nut high enough so it would clear the axle half shaft. I also lubed the trunion and set it an angle that the rod moved freely. I loosened all the nuts on the spline locks and lubed the u-joints.

I removed the cover from the gear shifter selector housing on the transaxle so I could see the position of the selector arm. Plus I backed out the reverse light switch but I'll reset it when I put it back on.

I built a gear selector plate to put over the shifter knob and cut a hole out to hold neutral. I didn't have anyone to help he so I had to improvise.

I set the throw length and tightened the spline locks and made sure the U-joint didn't strike the wheel well and none of shifter rod ends bottomed out on the inside of the u-joints when I shifted.

Then I marked the trunion with a couple of reference points and undid the nuts. I worked out which direction the trunion had to move to align the gates of the gears on the shifter plate and then set it.

The adjustments didn't seem to make sense at first. Small movements caused me to lose reverse or 4th and 5th. Eventually I just made sure I threw it in 2nd and 3rd before setting the shifter knob in the central position and gently tightened the trunion and made sure nothing moved. It took about 8 attempts but its set perfectly now.

I think I got lucky in the end. You're still going to need you work your mojo,because there is no logic to the system and I'm convinced there was some serious voodoo going on when they designed the setup all those years ago.