Column shifter gummy

[mellie]

Hey, on my 1940 Deluxe going back together, I found the shifter is quite gummy (though the garage is fairly cool) Not the up and down shifting which is moving the rod to transmission but the "in and out" which moves the cable. I have gotten the cable itself sliding smoothly so its all in the column somewhere. The question is where it might be gummed up and can I get some clean/lubrication in there without having to pull the whole thing. Saw Keith's video but it never covered that (floor shift?)

 

The other peanut gallery question is based on the photo - what might these switches be for? Is there supposed to be a knob on the gold coloured one?

 

Thanks

Neil

[Eneto-55]

By "in and out", do you mean the movement of the shifter control toward the front of the car, and toward the rear?  That rod has to be able to move back & forth from front to rear in its guides.  The other motion (up & down in line with the steering wheel) is just turning the rod.

[junkers72]

The toggle switch is for the dash lights and has 3 positions dim, off, and bright. The round switch is a heater switch with a light bulb to illuminate the missing knob when it’s on . It probably has off, low, and high positions if it’s like the one that was in my ‘41 Plymouth 

[mellie]

48 minutes ago, Eneto-55 said:

By "in and out", do you mean the movement of the shifter control toward the front of the car, and toward the rear?  That rod has to be able to move back & forth from front to rear in its guides.  The other motion (up & down in line with the steering wheel) is just turning the rod.

Yes - forward and back motion which is pretty sluggish. When I pulled the engine and tranny a while back, someone actually had a spring clippe to that cable at the transmission and back to a bracket on the parking brake to pull  cable to the back of car. (Rather than fix issue I guess)

[mellie]

8 minutes ago, junkers72 said:

The toggle switch is for the dash lights and has 3 positions dim, off, and bright. The round switch is a heater switch with a light bulb to illuminate the missing knob when it’s on . It probably has off, low, and high positions if it’s like the one that was in my ‘41 Plymouth 

Ahh - OK - it does seem to rotate in three positions - prob needs a shot of contact cleaner/lubricant.  Thanks.

[Loren]

I had a very similar problem on my 49.

The shifter kept getting stiffer and stiffer.

The cause was a fabric bushing at the top of the shifter that was dry.

Once I lubed it things went back to normal.

Hope this helps.

[mellie]

8 hours ago, Loren said:

I had a very similar problem on my 49.

The shifter kept getting stiffer and stiffer.

The cause was a fabric bushing at the top of the shifter that was dry.

Once I lubed it things went back to normal.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Loren - will go searching - did you have to pull wheel to get access?

[Loren]

On the 49 and later, no.

It has two screws to the steering column.

I took mine completely apart trying to figure it out, but if you know its fabric you could just drop some oil in there and let it do its work.

If you wanted to you could remove the screws and slide the bushing down to reveal the bearing surface. ( for cleaning and oiling )

Now after the oil treatment it works better and better.

[mellie]

Thanks. I think yours might be an external rod for the shifter. This is all buried within the column under the steering wheel. Thinking surgery is necessary.