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All , I had my steering column out to replace the shift levers that had wore out. I didn’t touch the upper end. The car had been shifting and driving like a dream! All of a sudden, it would go into either first or reverse. Just 2nd and third. Got it going and headed home shifting between 2nd and 3rd. All of a sudden the lever fell on the floor. Doesn’t appear broken. How can this happen? Anyone with experience with the steering column?

Pin musta worked loose. There's a parts diagram in the literature here.

Well, I figured out what happened. Receiver for shift knob is broken. Must have been all those gear slams I was doing! Lol. Where can I find this at?

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I expect you will need to find a parts car -- either a vendor or someone on the forum. Should be a relatively easy find but as the broken lever mounting piece and shift tube is more or less pressed together as an assy I believe it would be necessary to get the entire shift tube. Same part is used on all 51-4 passenger car manual shift. For the Ultramatic, a different item but still all the same for 51-4 original Ultramatics. Different part for the 54 gear start Ultramatic.

Might be able to make a connector with some JB Weld. Not sure what exactly it's supposed to look like though so maybe not. But it seems small enough that such a thing could be viable.

Not sure….it is a pivot and has stress moving between reverse/first and second / third

Not sure….it is a pivot and has stress moving between reverse/first and second / third

It does take a lot of stress particularly if there is binding issues with the linkage. I don't know if JB Weld would be strong enough but if you drilled a few holes in the remaining piece so it had something to grip and molded it in place it might be. I think that would be asking a lot though.

I had a similar issue and did a repair on my 47. Machined a piece of steel and screwed that to what was left intact on the broken part. Flattened the side of the remaining piece just a bit to provide a good flat surface for the patch and drilled and tapped for the screws. On mine only one side had broken at the pivot hole rather than both sides of yours breaking. You might be able to do the same thing as it looks as if you have barely enough of the main piece left to fasten to. Reinforcing with some steel might help the JB weld take the pressure.

The nut and bolt on yours should be a clevis pin and the repair does need to be shaped somewhat so the rubber boot cover will fit over the area.

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Thank you sir. You are a wealth of knowledge!

Thank you sir. You are a wealth of knowledge!