Steering Col. question for you guys with Automatics

Comet · Post by **Comet** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:09 am

I am in the process of installing an AT col. in my hiboy for future upgrade to C6 (they didn't come with ATs). I swapped a buddy for his '73-'77 col. because he wanted to go with a stick.
Anyway, since this was not a factory option, but I want it to appear that way, I am in the midst of interchanging 67-72 and 73-77 steering col. parts. I have a question on the AT cols. Does the PRNDL trans. shift dial (the clear plastic indicator on top of the col.) light up like they do on later models when the head lights are on?

Post by **FORDification** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:14 am

Nope.

71-F-250SC-72-F-250C · Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:23 am

I thought the 73-79 did. I am not sure I have never driven a 73-79. Either way the clear plastic deal is not hard to see at night anyways.

Comet · Post by **Comet** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:44 am

Yes, the 73-79 did. I used to have a 2wd AT '72, but I couldn't remember. Thanks Keith. Hmmm, I might see if I can make it light up. It's pretty cool looking when illuminated.

Comet · Post by **Comet** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:46 am

Oh, one more question. On the shift collar. If I recall, the whole collar rotates (as opposed to 73-79s where just the assy inside the collar and a pin outside rotate), and there is a little pointer cast into the collar. Is that correct? Later they had a plastic pin.

capeclassics · Post by **capeclassics** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 2:09 pm

A related question......my '70 with aotomatic usually won't start unless I move the shift lever all the way (as far as it will go)into PARK.What can I do to alleviate this?Thanks...........

fordman · Post by **fordman** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 2:11 pm

you can adjust the linkage to make sure it engauges the neutral safety switch.

1970F250 · Post by **1970F250** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:03 pm

Comet wrote:Oh, one more question. On the shift collar. If I recall, the whole collar rotates (as opposed to 73-79s where just the assy inside the collar and a pin outside rotate), and there is a little pointer cast into the collar. Is that correct? Later they had a plastic pin.

yes

the light from my tach lights up the plastic thing pretty good

Comet · Post by **Comet** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:05 pm

1970F250 wrote:
Comet wrote:Oh, one more question. On the shift collar. If I recall, the whole collar rotates (as opposed to 73-79s where just the assy inside the collar and a pin outside rotate), and there is a little pointer cast into the collar. Is that correct? Later they had a plastic pin.
yes

the light from my tach lights up the plastic thing pretty good

Thanks 1970F250. So yes on my question about the shift collar, right?

Post by **FORDification** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:43 pm

The early collars had the pointer cast into the collar, whereas the later collars had a notch cut into the top for a slide-in pointer. I'm not sure what the cut-off between the two styles were, but I believe it's a '67-'69 vs. '70-'72 thing...but don't quote me on that.

qman · Post by **qman** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 6:12 pm

Edited: Nevermind, I misread Keith's post.

rjewkes · Post by **rjewkes** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 8:28 pm

my 77's column shift colar was identical except that the clear plastic PRND12 Was a little thicker.

Comet · Post by **Comet** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:35 pm

Keith, from the parts catalogs I've seen, I think 1971 was the cut over (but I noticed errors in some of the info., so who knows). Capeclassics said he has a '70 with AT, maybe he can chime in.
Rjewkes, the '77 looks identical, except for what you pointed out and a cover over the clear plastic PRND12 (often times missing) and also the hazard button on the col. instead of the dash.

rjewkes · Post by **rjewkes** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 10:35 pm

Yup. i know my 72 is the rh one in keith's picture. Yeah i put my cover on the 72 it looked nice but even after modifying it it still got knocked around by the lever.

hmills · Post by **hmills** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 4:16 pm

I am replacing my '71 shift collar. The original shift collar is the one with the indicator built in as in the photo on the left. I ordered a new one from Dennis Carpenter and it came in last week. It has the notch in it (as in the photo on the right) for the clear plastic pointer which I had to order separately. I presume my old shift collar was the original so this may answer the question as to the cutoff for the old versus new style shift collar.

Oh and by the way, getting that roll pin out was not easy. I used three large nuts taped together (I like the socket idea better) on one side of the roll pin and a large nail (about the size of the inside diameter of the hole), a large hammer a few choice words and alot of patience and it finally came out.

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