I just replaced my lower steering column bushing while the unit was still in the car. Cover the cowl and windshield with a heavy blanket and place a 2x4 between the hood and cowl. The front of the hood needs to be propped up or tied up for support or bad things will happen. Mark the hood hing location with a marker and remove for lower bushing access. My bushing was MIA. If you have a 64 - 66 this either needs to be done or has been done. Thanks Nick, awesome job explaining the functions and compatibility!!
Excellent video Nick, but I was hoping that you would show where that one rod goes that has the long slot and a single bolt hole in it. I has been months since I took mine apart.... shame on me for not taking pictures! The shop manule does not show it either!
Hey Michael, the rod attaches to another shorter L shaped rod with two threaded holes. The two bolts that go into those two threaded holes pass through the long slot on the rod. The two rods bolt to the slide mechanism on the drivers side of it. There is an adjustable bolt with the rubber head, the rod bolts to that with a nut. The other side of the rod, the drivers side. bolts to where the lower dash bolts to the side wall. There is a threaded stud with a nut in the middle, . that stud holds the dash to the L bracket on the side wall and the rod bolts to the other side of that stud. I hope that makes sense. Thanks.
Hey Mike, I dont have a video about removing the shift lever, I only have one showing how to repair it. Sorry. I should have done one and Ill try to do one in the future. Thanks.
When installing new shift lever , do you have to have the lever in a specific showing in the selector to line up the selector end into the detant then punch in the roll pin.
I put the car in park and both remove and reinstall the roll pin from there while I'm holding onto the shift lever very tightly trying not to force the shift hub too far counter clockwise beyond park while hammering on the roll pin. Its not hard as much as its an awkward position. I use a punch thats just smaller than the roll pin and insert that into the roll pin hole to set the shift lever into position so I can then insert the roll pin. I hope that makes sense. Thanks.
My slider doesnt clear over the plastic slider tab. I cant adjust the springed mechanism to slide over the top of the steering column where that plastic piece snaps into. The plastic tab broke off do you have info where i can buy the plastic tab? And also any suggestions on how to adjust the black spring mechanism. It wont clear over the column by about a centimeter or less. It barely catches and i cant seem to adjust it to not do so
Hey Alex, call the Birds Nest, they sell used Thunderbird parts. If you look at my video, 1964 66 Thunderbird steering column and slide mechanism PT 3 Operation I think this video shows exactly how this spring loaded lever or slider works and how to adjust it. I dont know what else to add to that. Without seeing your car in person, I cant tell you whats wrong with it. Look at the video and see if that helps. Thanks.
I was changing the shift lever detent and i can not reassemble the turn signal switch hub with the shift hub, it gets like stuck, leaving a huge space between both hubs and i am doing it with the column in the car. Do you have any advice for it?
Hey, without being there to see it first hand, its impossible to tell you whats wrong. However, the two square head bolts that hold the small outer hub (smaller hub holding the turn signal and detent) to the steering column are the only things that I can think of that would cause the outer hub not to slide in all the way to meet up with the larger inner hub holding the shift lever. When I put on the outer hub (smaller hub holding the turn signal and detent), I take the two square head bolts, put the nuts on barely, just a turn or two at most, hold them in all the way in with my thumbs so that the square head of the bolt is sticking out the back as far as possible, and slide the hub onto the steering column until the square heads of the bolts slide into their slots on the steering column. I bet that is the problem hopefully. I hope that helped. Thanks.
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 Okay, it is very helpfull because i was trying to do something like that but not quite the right way as you have explained on your answer and as you did on the column assemby video that i just watched. I'll do it as you told me but first i have to check the shift lever for any wear, if so, i can get it out to weld it as you did in other video. Thank you!
Great video! Thank you! I was wondering if you'd have any idea why my 65's turnsignals don't stay on constitantly? Diagnosis so far: - all lights work, the warnings (both sides) work perfectly every time, the sequential relay works perfectly as well (when they blink). - the lever stays in position but lights just stop flashing and back on again randomly, and wiggling it doesn't bring back. - the turnsignals miswork every time they're used, same behavior. - I havent opened the hubs yet (hence watching your video) Thanks :)
Hey Mac, assuming you still have the original sequential bag, my guess is that the original sequential motor, not the relay, is defective. Sounds like its starting but then stopping. Could even be bad point contacts in there. My recommendation is to purchase a new solid state turn signal bag that will replace the old one. Make sure everything is grounded together and to the car. You can also open the bag and watch to see if the motor is working. You can also hear the motor work. You don't really know if the sequential relay is good if your having a problem. First step is to diagnose the sequential motor. If you see the motor working and the lights stop, then Id look at the relay. Good luck.
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 Thanks! I'll check all the grounds. I actually have a an early version of Vic's (Cougar) sequential replacement. We've exchanged on it and it appears to be working properly on this part. Thanks for your amazing videos!
Hi Nick. Thanks for the great video. I've got a 66 T'Bird Town Landau and appreciate very much your videos and hints. In this video there is a black metal rod with holes on both ends laying on the table just in front of the sliding mechanism. What is it and what does it do? In my car, this metal rod is hanging from the top but not being attached in the bottom. Thanks. Juraj (Slovakia, Europe)
Hi Juraj, that rod is a mounting or stabilizing rod for the slide mechanism. It is bolted to one end of the slide mechanism and the other end bolts to the transmission tunnel. There is a metal bracket welded to the transmission tunnel and it bolts to that. Thank you, Nick
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 Hi Nick. Many thanks for your fast reply and explanation. There must be a reason why the rod is not bolted to the transmission tunnel. I just hope the bracket is not missing. Thanks again also for your great videos. Please keep doing. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Keep safe ! Regards. Juraj
where can i find shift lever return spring and upper steering bearing spring ,1965 thunderbird,cant seem to find them what compatibility with other vehicles for these parts bearing spring from a 65 mustang ? help
Hey tlccav, I dont know if any other Ford shares these parts but I would not be surprised if all of them had similar parts. Id call Birds Nest for these parts, they sell used parts. Good luck.
The group number is 3D560, this is the number shown on the Ford illustration. The part number is C4AZ-3D560-A. The name of the part is "Pad - moveable steering column locking bracket" as it is shown in the Ford book.
Not at the moment. Lately I've been making videos as I am restoring this car and the gear box is already in and hooked up. Also, I do not rebuild them myself, I order them from the T-bird dealers. I don't have the tooling or equipment to rebuild them. However, Ill keep a removal and installation video in mind if one comes up. Thanks
I lived in California back in the mid 80s and bought a very low mileage 62 hardtop. The gearbox was jerky and hard to keep the car centered on the road. The Ford dealer could not help, but I am almost certain I ordered a rebuilt box from Nicks when you were still in SoCal. It was perfect and made that car drive like a dream. Of course I did not keep it. I had an assignment to England (USAF) and sold it.
Hi Nick Gez here from Australia. Hope you r safe and well sorry to bother you but I have a 63 Monaco bird and need to replace the roof rail seals and the trunk seal, with the trunk seal should the seal u face in or out. I have been told to fit a 64 bird roof rail seal to it due to informed that the 63 seals do not fit correctly. Thankyou
Hey Gez, man you caught me unprepared with this one kind of. Its been a million years since I've installed roof rail seals onto a 1961-63 hardtop. I remember them being very hard rubber as opposed to the soft rubber the factory used originally. This causes the windows to not roll up into the rubber correctly because the rubber is actually conflicting with them now since the rubber is too hard to allow the window to roll up all the way and seat properly. They were very poor reproductions as I remember. I have not seen a pair of those in quite some years, maybe 15 years so I don't know if that has changed. I never tried using 64-66 rubbers on them so I don't really know if that would work or not. I also remember that 1961-63 windows were a funky design too and didn't roll up and seat together all that well which also cause problems. So with these two issues makes its a tough job. That was no help at all, sorry. As far as the trunk seal goes, I'm going to say that the C or U (depends on how you look at it) faces in towards the interior of the trunk. I remember using my hand in the shape of a C or U to show others how it fits. In other words, if we use the shape of a U, then the outside bottom of the U is facing out, the right side of the U, the shorter side, is glued to the trunk lid and the left side of the U, the longer side, touches the body of the car. So the inside of the U is facing inwards towards the inside of the trunk. I found a mustang video that uses almost exactly the same rubber seal that is U shaped just like yours and attaches to the trunk lid and he clearly explains how to install it. Check it out. ua-cam.com/video/ihIHiay2N1E/v-deo.html I love Monacos and think they are very cool. We hope you all "down under" are doing okay too. We hear about the fires and CV and it seems that you guys have your hands full with disasters. Take care, Nick
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 Thank you so much Nick your advice has been so helpful, we are going ok here but the fires did cause so much devastation my daughters house was so close but we are lucky that the country fire brigade were able to save her area but many areas were not so lucky. We are currently on lock down in Australia but going ok. Hope you are safe and well, again thankyou so much for your help.
@@gezsanderson3798 Yes we are on lockdown too but that is starting to ease up a bit. Im in Colorado and its a little more lax here and it seems like nobody is really taking it that seriously. Its probably because everyone is stoned since marijuana is legal here so they are like, "far out man, we get to stay home and smoke pot all day and eat munchies." Who knows. We had two bad fires here several years ago and many people lost their homes. I met someone who watched their home burn down on tv after they had evacuated. Devastating!!! I cannot imagine that. The firefighters are real heros and should be commended for their efforts and help. I feel sorry for all the businesses that had to close during this CV thing and now they are all going bankrupt. Its sad. Anyway, cheers mate.
Hey Nick, Belated question: Where did you place the socket when you sized the holes...was it in between the holes? If so, how did you keep it in place while tapping or was it a tight fit? Regards, John
I put the socket (I used a deep 1/2" socket) on an extension and then placed the extension in a vice so the extension and socket are sitting horizontal with the socket sticking out of the vice. I then slide the hub onto the socket, the part that I'm showing in the video, the part that holds the shift lever, and tap the roll pin holes with a small ball peen hammer making sure that the hub is against the socket and directly behind the roll pin holes while I am tapping. I am not hitting it hard, just tapping it enough to flatten the metal around the roll pin holes. The socket is almost the same size as the shift lever hole, the tighter the fit the better. You want to use something that fills the hole as much as possible. When ever you pound metal, you need something behind the metal to support it. The vice holds the socket, one hand holds the hub in place on the socket and the other hand holds the hammer.
The Ford Dealer mechanics HATED to,work on those! Everything had to be perfect or they would act up. They would pop out of park and the car would slam into reverse etc. Just a poor design!
Hey Craig, your mostly right. Over the years I've see how people abuse and neglect their cars, not always on purpose, some just don't know, they treat the shifter just like any other car and you cannot do this. I'd say (roughly) that 50% of the damage I see is avoidable and is caused by user abuse or ignorance. Ignorance meaning they just didn't know, not meaning that anyone is stupid. In learning the Thunderbirds I've broken everything at least twice because of ignorance, because I just didn't know. I know now, that's for sure. Its a weak design at best and is damaged easily. Even steering columns that are 100% can fall into reverse because the driver placed it in park incorrectly, hastily, without thinking, what ever the reason. So yeah, bad design. It is pretty cool though that you can slide the wheel to the right. Nobody else can claim that. Thunderbird, Unique in all the world! Thanks.
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 A lot of Fords of that era got sloppy shifters that required the driver to hold the shift lever up Irv wiggle it before the starter would engage. A story....Years ago I managed the Auto Service Dept for a large Sears store. We were doing an alignment on a ratty 1965 TBird. The car was on an alignment rack. The car was idling as required to set the toe in. Suddenly the damm thing popped out of park and into reverse. Of course the auto parking brake popped off! The car took off at fast idle across the shop! My tire installers scattered and the TBird slammed into my upholstery guys bench shattering it! The shock put it back into neutral or drive...dont know. It went back across the shop and went head first into one of the alignment pits! Thankfully nobody was hurt or worse! Making things worse, the customer was a jerk about it and the damage was in the thousands. It ruined one alignment rack. It took two tow trucks to get it out. Ford should have recalled those cars!
@@craigjorgensen4637 Hey Craig, wild story. How long did everyone just stand there in shock with their jaws open totally amazed at all the mayhem? I bet you heard "Holy Shit" about 100 times. This is how we learn this problem. I learned this problem when during my first year as a professional shop, 1984, I had an employee moving a 65 Thunderbird and he put it in park and got out of the car to do something while it was still running, the shift lever fell all the way down to drive and the car took off and hit another car. I had to pay for the damage but, in the scheme of things, it wasn't astronomical, certainly not as much as you had to pay. The owner of this car was a jerk about it too. From that moment on, we never left a car running or we jacked up the rear wheels. I never had that happen again in the years since. You bring up a good point, once the car comes out of park, the ebrake comes off automatically. STUPID DESIGN!!! However, these days, most peoples ebrake release doesnt work anyway so they dont have to worry about that. I constantly tell everyone, never leave the car running!!! Thanks.
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 My alignment guy was an older guy. He was in the pit setting the toe when he heard a pop. He looked up and the car was GONE! He screamed GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY! It all happened so fast. I still can’t believe nobody got killed! Have you ever done upper control shafts in one of those? One dangerous job if the spring compressor breaks then that huge spring is compressed!
@@craigjorgensen4637 Having a Thunderbird restoration shop I've seen a few individuals that tried to do their own springs with the external SK spring compressor, this was back in the day, the 80's. One guy was in a shoulder and arm cast and the other guy had his hand and wrist up to the elbow in a cast because the compressors broke and they paid the price. I'm not kidding, true story. My first spring job I used the SK external spring compressor with a friend who was helping me. We got the spring out of the car and had the compressed spring standing on top of my Black and Decker Work Mate table (flimsy work bench at best) and the spring compressor broke. The spring launched vertical between the both of us and landed in the street. That was it for me. After changing my underwear, that day I went out and purchased the Moog spring compressor that I show in my coil spring removal video. That spring compressor is the same one I bought in 1982-3, around that time. I have since replaced the bearing and long bolt but its the same kit otherwise. Those springs are to be taken seriously, they are no joke. Thanks.
I just replaced my lower steering column bushing while the unit was still in the car. Cover the cowl and windshield with a heavy blanket and place a 2x4 between the hood and cowl. The front of the hood needs to be propped up or tied up for support or bad things will happen. Mark the hood hing location with a marker and remove for lower bushing access. My bushing was MIA. If you have a 64 - 66 this either needs to be done or has been done.
Thanks Nick, awesome job explaining the functions and compatibility!!
Well said Chuck. Thanks
Excellent video Nick, but I was hoping that you would show where that one rod goes that has the long slot and a single bolt hole in it. I has been months since I took mine apart.... shame on me for not taking pictures! The shop manule does not show it either!
Hey Michael, the rod attaches to another shorter L shaped rod with two threaded holes. The two bolts that go into those two threaded holes pass through the long slot on the rod. The two rods bolt to the slide mechanism on the drivers side of it. There is an adjustable bolt with the rubber head, the rod bolts to that with a nut. The other side of the rod, the drivers side. bolts to where the lower dash bolts to the side wall. There is a threaded stud with a nut in the middle, . that stud holds the dash to the L bracket on the side wall and the rod bolts to the other side of that stud. I hope that makes sense. Thanks.
nice video
Thank you
Hi Nick, so you have a video of the complete removal of the shifter lever, I feel mine may have a notch in it and would like to get it welded? Thanks!
Hey Mike, I dont have a video about removing the shift lever, I only have one showing how to repair it. Sorry. I should have done one and Ill try to do one in the future. Thanks.
When installing new shift lever , do you have to have the lever in a specific showing in the selector to line up the selector end into the detant then punch in the roll pin.
I put the car in park and both remove and reinstall the roll pin from there while I'm holding onto the shift lever very tightly trying not to force the shift hub too far counter clockwise beyond park while hammering on the roll pin. Its not hard as much as its an awkward position. I use a punch thats just smaller than the roll pin and insert that into the roll pin hole to set the shift lever into position so I can then insert the roll pin. I hope that makes sense. Thanks.
My slider doesnt clear over the plastic slider tab. I cant adjust the springed mechanism to slide over the top of the steering column where that plastic piece snaps into. The plastic tab broke off do you have info where i can buy the plastic tab? And also any suggestions on how to adjust the black spring mechanism. It wont clear over the column by about a centimeter or less. It barely catches and i cant seem to adjust it to not do so
Hey Alex, call the Birds Nest, they sell used Thunderbird parts. If you look at my video, 1964 66 Thunderbird steering column and slide mechanism PT 3 Operation I think this video shows exactly how this spring loaded lever or slider works and how to adjust it. I dont know what else to add to that. Without seeing your car in person, I cant tell you whats wrong with it. Look at the video and see if that helps. Thanks.
I was changing the shift lever detent and i can not reassemble the turn signal switch hub with the shift hub, it gets like stuck, leaving a huge space between both hubs and i am doing it with the column in the car. Do you have any advice for it?
btw it is a 1964 Tbird
Hey, without being there to see it first hand, its impossible to tell you whats wrong. However, the two square head bolts that hold the small outer hub (smaller hub holding the turn signal and detent) to the steering column are the only things that I can think of that would cause the outer hub not to slide in all the way to meet up with the larger inner hub holding the shift lever. When I put on the outer hub (smaller hub holding the turn signal and detent), I take the two square head bolts, put the nuts on barely, just a turn or two at most, hold them in all the way in with my thumbs so that the square head of the bolt is sticking out the back as far as possible, and slide the hub onto the steering column until the square heads of the bolts slide into their slots on the steering column. I bet that is the problem hopefully. I hope that helped. Thanks.
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 Okay, it is very helpfull because i was trying to do something like that but not quite the right way as you have explained on your answer and as you did on the column assemby video that i just watched. I'll do it as you told me but first i have to check the shift lever for any wear, if so, i can get it out to weld it as you did in other video. Thank you!
@@ildefonsojauregui4605 Good luck.
Great video! Thank you!
I was wondering if you'd have any idea why my 65's turnsignals don't stay on constitantly?
Diagnosis so far:
- all lights work, the warnings (both sides) work perfectly every time, the sequential relay works perfectly as well (when they blink).
- the lever stays in position but lights just stop flashing and back on again randomly, and wiggling it doesn't bring back.
- the turnsignals miswork every time they're used, same behavior.
- I havent opened the hubs yet (hence watching your video)
Thanks :)
Hey Mac, assuming you still have the original sequential bag, my guess is that the original sequential motor, not the relay, is defective. Sounds like its starting but then stopping. Could even be bad point contacts in there. My recommendation is to purchase a new solid state turn signal bag that will replace the old one. Make sure everything is grounded together and to the car. You can also open the bag and watch to see if the motor is working. You can also hear the motor work. You don't really know if the sequential relay is good if your having a problem. First step is to diagnose the sequential motor. If you see the motor working and the lights stop, then Id look at the relay. Good luck.
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 Thanks! I'll check all the grounds. I actually have a an early version of Vic's (Cougar) sequential replacement. We've exchanged on it and it appears to be working properly on this part.
Thanks for your amazing videos!
Hi Nick. Thanks for the great video. I've got a 66 T'Bird Town Landau and appreciate very much your videos and hints. In this video there is a black metal rod with holes on both ends laying on the table just in front of the sliding mechanism. What is it and what does it do? In my car, this metal rod is hanging from the top but not being attached in the bottom. Thanks. Juraj (Slovakia, Europe)
Hi Juraj, that rod is a mounting or stabilizing rod for the slide mechanism. It is bolted to one end of the slide mechanism and the other end bolts to the transmission tunnel. There is a metal bracket welded to the transmission tunnel and it bolts to that. Thank you, Nick
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 Hi Nick. Many thanks for your fast reply and explanation. There must be a reason why the rod is not bolted to the transmission tunnel. I just hope the bracket is not missing. Thanks again also for your great videos. Please keep doing. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Keep safe ! Regards. Juraj
@@Juraj22772 Merry Christmas and happy New Year to you too in Slovakia. Eat some good food, drink some Vodka, see friends and family. Ciao, Nick
where can i find shift lever return spring and upper steering bearing spring ,1965 thunderbird,cant seem to find them what compatibility with other vehicles for these parts bearing spring from a 65 mustang ? help
Hey tlccav, I dont know if any other Ford shares these parts but I would not be surprised if all of them had similar parts. Id call Birds Nest for these parts, they sell used parts. Good luck.
Hello great video, was wondering if you could tell me the name of the plastic piece that the steering column slides on the lock lever thanks
The group number is 3D560, this is the number shown on the Ford illustration. The part number is C4AZ-3D560-A. The name of the part is "Pad - moveable steering column locking bracket" as it is shown in the Ford book.
How can i find that plastic piece to purchase?
Hi, first of thanks for posting a video of the stealing column, would you happen to have a video on how to remove it. Many thanks
Sorry, I do not have one that shows that. Ill keep that in mind for later. Thanks.
Great any chance of showing the steering gearbox removal and rebuild
Not at the moment. Lately I've been making videos as I am restoring this car and the gear box is already in and hooked up. Also, I do not rebuild them myself, I order them from the T-bird dealers. I don't have the tooling or equipment to rebuild them. However, Ill keep a removal and installation video in mind if one comes up. Thanks
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 ok thanks
I lived in California back in the mid 80s and bought a very low mileage 62 hardtop. The gearbox was jerky and hard to keep the car centered on the road. The Ford dealer could not help, but I am almost certain I ordered a rebuilt box from Nicks when you were still in SoCal. It was perfect and made that car drive like a dream. Of course I did not keep it. I had an assignment to England (USAF) and sold it.
Hi Nick Gez here from Australia. Hope you r safe and well sorry to bother you but I have a 63 Monaco bird and need to replace the roof rail seals and the trunk seal, with the trunk seal should the seal u face in or out.
I have been told to fit a 64 bird roof rail seal to it due to informed that the 63 seals do not fit correctly. Thankyou
Hey Gez, man you caught me unprepared with this one kind of. Its been a million years since I've installed roof rail seals onto a 1961-63 hardtop. I remember them being very hard rubber as opposed to the soft rubber the factory used originally. This causes the windows to not roll up into the rubber correctly because the rubber is actually conflicting with them now since the rubber is too hard to allow the window to roll up all the way and seat properly. They were very poor reproductions as I remember. I have not seen a pair of those in quite some years, maybe 15 years so I don't know if that has changed. I never tried using 64-66 rubbers on them so I don't really know if that would work or not. I also remember that 1961-63 windows were a funky design too and didn't roll up and seat together all that well which also cause problems. So with these two issues makes its a tough job. That was no help at all, sorry.
As far as the trunk seal goes, I'm going to say that the C or U (depends on how you look at it) faces in towards the interior of the trunk. I remember using my hand in the shape of a C or U to show others how it fits. In other words, if we use the shape of a U, then the outside bottom of the U is facing out, the right side of the U, the shorter side, is glued to the trunk lid and the left side of the U, the longer side, touches the body of the car. So the inside of the U is facing inwards towards the inside of the trunk. I found a mustang video that uses almost exactly the same rubber seal that is U shaped just like yours and attaches to the trunk lid and he clearly explains how to install it. Check it out.
ua-cam.com/video/ihIHiay2N1E/v-deo.html
I love Monacos and think they are very cool. We hope you all "down under" are doing okay too. We hear about the fires and CV and it seems that you guys have your hands full with disasters. Take care, Nick
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 Thank you so much Nick your advice has been so helpful, we are going ok here but the fires did cause so much devastation my daughters house was so close but we are lucky that the country fire brigade were able to save her area but many areas were not so lucky. We are currently on lock down in Australia but going ok. Hope you are safe and well, again thankyou so much for your help.
@@gezsanderson3798 Yes we are on lockdown too but that is starting to ease up a bit. Im in Colorado and its a little more lax here and it seems like nobody is really taking it that seriously. Its probably because everyone is stoned since marijuana is legal here so they are like, "far out man, we get to stay home and smoke pot all day and eat munchies." Who knows. We had two bad fires here several years ago and many people lost their homes. I met someone who watched their home burn down on tv after they had evacuated. Devastating!!! I cannot imagine that. The firefighters are real heros and should be commended for their efforts and help. I feel sorry for all the businesses that had to close during this CV thing and now they are all going bankrupt. Its sad. Anyway, cheers mate.
Hey Nick,
Belated question: Where did you place the socket when you sized the holes...was it in between the holes? If so, how did you keep it in place while tapping or was it a tight fit?
Regards,
John
I put the socket (I used a deep 1/2" socket) on an extension and then placed the extension in a vice so the extension and socket are sitting horizontal with the socket sticking out of the vice. I then slide the hub onto the socket, the part that I'm showing in the video, the part that holds the shift lever, and tap the roll pin holes with a small ball peen hammer making sure that the hub is against the socket and directly behind the roll pin holes while I am tapping. I am not hitting it hard, just tapping it enough to flatten the metal around the roll pin holes. The socket is almost the same size as the shift lever hole, the tighter the fit the better. You want to use something that fills the hole as much as possible. When ever you pound metal, you need something behind the metal to support it. The vice holds the socket, one hand holds the hub in place on the socket and the other hand holds the hammer.
Nick,
So you're actually using the socket wall as the support rather than the end, right?
Regards,
John
@@joernone Yes, the curved side wall of the socket sits behind the roll pin holes.
Got it. Thanks Nick.
Regards,
John
The Ford Dealer mechanics HATED to,work on those! Everything had to be perfect or they would act up. They would pop out of park and the car would slam into reverse etc. Just a poor design!
Hey Craig, your mostly right. Over the years I've see how people abuse and neglect their cars, not always on purpose, some just don't know, they treat the shifter just like any other car and you cannot do this. I'd say (roughly) that 50% of the damage I see is avoidable and is caused by user abuse or ignorance. Ignorance meaning they just didn't know, not meaning that anyone is stupid. In learning the Thunderbirds I've broken everything at least twice because of ignorance, because I just didn't know. I know now, that's for sure. Its a weak design at best and is damaged easily. Even steering columns that are 100% can fall into reverse because the driver placed it in park incorrectly, hastily, without thinking, what ever the reason. So yeah, bad design. It is pretty cool though that you can slide the wheel to the right. Nobody else can claim that. Thunderbird, Unique in all the world! Thanks.
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 A lot of Fords of that era got sloppy shifters that required the driver to hold the shift lever up Irv wiggle it before the starter would engage. A story....Years ago I managed the Auto Service Dept for a large Sears store. We were doing an alignment on a ratty 1965 TBird. The car was on an alignment rack. The car was idling as required to set the toe in. Suddenly the damm thing popped out of park and into reverse. Of course the auto parking brake popped off! The car took off at fast idle across the shop! My tire installers scattered and the TBird slammed into my upholstery guys bench shattering it! The shock put it back into neutral or drive...dont know. It went back across the shop and went head first into one of the alignment pits! Thankfully nobody was hurt or worse! Making things worse, the customer was a jerk about it and the damage was in the thousands. It ruined one alignment rack. It took two tow trucks to get it out. Ford should have recalled those cars!
@@craigjorgensen4637 Hey Craig, wild story. How long did everyone just stand there in shock with their jaws open totally amazed at all the mayhem? I bet you heard "Holy Shit" about 100 times. This is how we learn this problem. I learned this problem when during my first year as a professional shop, 1984, I had an employee moving a 65 Thunderbird and he put it in park and got out of the car to do something while it was still running, the shift lever fell all the way down to drive and the car took off and hit another car. I had to pay for the damage but, in the scheme of things, it wasn't astronomical, certainly not as much as you had to pay. The owner of this car was a jerk about it too. From that moment on, we never left a car running or we jacked up the rear wheels. I never had that happen again in the years since. You bring up a good point, once the car comes out of park, the ebrake comes off automatically. STUPID DESIGN!!! However, these days, most peoples ebrake release doesnt work anyway so they dont have to worry about that. I constantly tell everyone, never leave the car running!!! Thanks.
@@vintagethunderbirdrepair9426 My alignment guy was an older guy. He was in the pit setting the toe when he heard a pop. He looked up and the car was GONE! He screamed GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY! It all happened so fast. I still can’t believe nobody got killed! Have you ever done upper control shafts in one of those? One dangerous job if the spring compressor breaks then that huge spring is compressed!
@@craigjorgensen4637 Having a Thunderbird restoration shop I've seen a few individuals that tried to do their own springs with the external SK spring compressor, this was back in the day, the 80's. One guy was in a shoulder and arm cast and the other guy had his hand and wrist up to the elbow in a cast because the compressors broke and they paid the price. I'm not kidding, true story. My first spring job I used the SK external spring compressor with a friend who was helping me. We got the spring out of the car and had the compressed spring standing on top of my Black and Decker Work Mate table (flimsy work bench at best) and the spring compressor broke. The spring launched vertical between the both of us and landed in the street. That was it for me. After changing my underwear, that day I went out and purchased the Moog spring compressor that I show in my coil spring removal video. That spring compressor is the same one I bought in 1982-3, around that time. I have since replaced the bearing and long bolt but its the same kit otherwise. Those springs are to be taken seriously, they are no joke. Thanks.