Shift Collar (1969 f-100)

[Ford Mid Life Crisis]

My shift collar(auto,c-6) wants to fall out of drive into 2nd. I want to beleive that is not a tranny problem because I can lay my index finger under the lever and with very little pressure it will never slip out of gear. My best guess is that is probably something to do with the column. This normaly happens when you are going 50-60 mph. Is there tabs or fingers in the shift collar that should hold the lever in gear? When you put the lever in drive it doesn't take much pressure at all to bump it into 2nd. It has occasionally slid out of reverse and into neutral also. I'm sure hoping that this problem is in the column somewhere. In LMC they got the shift collar in there, it is part # 43-7352 and I was wondering if that would be it. I have not pulled the steering wheel yet because we drive this old horse alot. I would rather wait until I had the part in my hand.

[fordman]

i dont have a pic but kiethe has one on the site soemwhere. abotu this. the shuift arm can wear down . as well as the detent position that the arm locks into. the detent is not replaceable because they dont make new ones. the shifter arm can be found on ebay once in a while. you will have to take the column apart and see what part is worn out and replace it.

[Ford Mid Life Crisis]

I pulled the steering wheel today to take a gander at the problem, it appears that the shifter arm is wore, as well as the 'detent' position. It was really dirty, so I cleaned it up good and put washers behind the 'detent' (not sure of proper word-plate-)to bring it out a little bit. Also filed some on it to make the edges more staight and not rounded. I hope the arm will lock into place a little better know. I will drive it this evening to town and see how it does.