Was about to go home last night from a friends, and started truck up, went to shift it into gear and I heard a crunch in the steering column, The automatic transmission selector **** is now slack and wont shift, just had it towed back to the house, the tow truck guy was able to shift the transmission into neutral under the truck. Its a 1992 ford f350 7.3l dually. Got any ideas what is involved with this fix? I know it cant be THAT bad, but I have talked to the people at the auto parts stores here in town and they dont even know what part i need to buy to fix this. I figure someone on here has gone through this mess.
Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Welcome to the site..

Usually one or more of the issues are..

Most common is the 2 torx screws at the column base that hold the lower shift lever (cable attachment) fall out.. If the lever/indicator was a bit sloppy prior to the failure, usually one screw will finally work its way out causing the lever to have excessive play.. Second,, the shift lever 'tube' will break and cause excessive play.. It runs from the shifter lever along the column down to the lower lever.. Its held in place with 2 half clamps (also held down with torx screws that can come loose) that can break, and also have nylon inserts that generally will wear out over time.. Usually the half clamps/nylons dont cause a failure, but can cause a loose condition.. To repair any of the issues isn't a horrible job, but will require the steering column to be lowered 'in place' for access to the harware since its mounted on the column body/top..

First step would be to make sure both of the torx screws are in place.. 'Look up' from the carpet heel wear plate area, and you'll see the larger aluminium column body.. Look for the shifter cable and follow it to the lower lever.. Should have 2 scews intact and tight..

 

I found the problem, the shifter tube cracked. I am happy its not an expensive part!
Here are some pictures for anyone else that might have this problem.

I havent put the new shift tube assembly in yet, Hoping it wont be a huge deal. Doesnt look like it will be. Gotta wait for it, had to order from napa.

 

I am pretty sure I have the exact same problem but I haven't "lowered" the steering column yet. Can anyone explain how this is done? Please assume that I'm basically ignorant about all this stuff. Just want to get this truck moving so it won't get plowed in by a snowbank.

 

I had to take off the plastic molding under the dash, that was 2 screws i believe, Then I started taking the gold bolts off, from the rear to the front of the steering coluumn, but you only need to remove two to check and see if its the shifter tube. The above pictures will show you, I am not mechanical at all and this was very easy.
Good Luck!

 

Hey thanks! Guess what . . . don't need to do that after all. After my friend checked movement in the linkage all the way to the transmission it appeared that the linkage was intact. When my friend was in the cab and he pushed down on the transfer case shifter. Transfer case was in neutral! Really helps to have a second set of brains sometimes.

 

Have done a few of these and its not common only to 92's also had to change the tube on a 2000 F550. . I found the best way to accomplish the replacement was to remove the entire upper portion of the steering column get it out on a clean workbench and replace the tube. It's not a difficult job , but you need to pay attention to detail since you are disconnecting a lot of pieces to get the column out. From what I was able to determine,, the cause was corrosion between the nylon bushings and the alloy material the tube is made from causing the tube to seize in the bushing. Good lubrication on installation will prevent recurrence.

 

Thank you all for posting. I paid good money for a darn book that doesn't have near the information you have posted here on this problem. Mine is on a 92 F250 and it was indeed one of those "crunches" and immediate limber shifter. I don't recall now what I did to get it into gear and take it home as it's been sitting all winter (5 months) in my driveway waiting on a good weather day for me to tackle the repair. I also subscribed to alldatafiy.com and that was a waste for this problem... nothing at all there, although they did have a fix for a speed sensor defect I had before.

Time is a wasting so I have to go. I will come back to this thread in a couple of days to let you know what I find.

COAKLEYTSEAN, your photos are outstanding! They give me the confidence to take on the repair!

 

The shift lever on the trans can be moved from under the vehicle, BUT you will need to have someone hold the brake pedal down while you shift it into the desired gear, rev ,fwd, to move it to a desirable location. As stated previously, it's not a difficult job if you are careful and pay attention to what you remove in order to do a decent job.
Just lubricate the new shaft with a good lubricant on assembly. You will see why it seized when you disassemble it.

 

Hi again,

I removed the lower dash covers, the column covers, and dropped the column by removing the aft two nuts that support the column to the dash structure and then loosening the forward two nuts to allow the column to drop. The steering wheel rested on the seat which allowed me room to remove the six torx bolts that hold the shifter tube assembly to the column (4) and the ones that hold the shift detent bracket to the column (2). There are also screws (2) that attach the shift cable/bellcrank to the tube assembly.

Mine was broken in the same place as the above photos show... but it was not seized up. What I do believe is that the assembly is simply a ****-poor design from the factory... made of aluminum cast outer with a steel inner rod that definitely can contribute to dissimilar metals corrosion and unnecessary stress on the aluminum body when drivers get in a rush to shift out of PARK before they put their foot on the brake pedal.

I shot photos of the installation as I found it and will post them later after I get it back together. I ran out of daylight so I'll finish the job tomorrow. There are a couple of things to note about the repair and I will document these later with the photos. One of the things I've noted is the inner shaft of the OEM tube assembly was steel, and the replacement assembly came with a cast aluminum inner shaft that I believe is inferior to the original so I think I will reinstall the steel one, but coated with MARINE lube/grease which is a high quality lube formulated to insulate dissimilar metals (used on aluminum props that are installed on steel prop shafts) and shield against interacting corrosiveness as well as to provide a much better anti-seize protection than a general lubricant/grease.

More later...