Jonnyrocket
Member
I'm new to the forum and wanted say thanks for all of the solid info available here. I recently purchased a 1st Gen Expy and it clearly hasn't been loved for the last 10 years. After getting the engine to fire on all 8 with new coils and plugs the next order of business was the super sloppy trans shifter. Starting with a good lead found on this forum I located two loose star bolts holding the shift cable to the end of the shift column. You have to do some yoga to get all up under there to see and tighten them. This helped but it was clear something else was really wrong here. I tilted the wheel down, removed the plastic steering column covers and could easily see a broken shifter clamp. I ordered a Dorman 901-110 Shift Tube Clamp kit online for $12.13 and when it arrived I dug into the repair.
Oops, don't you love it when you're doing something for the first time and you get an "aha," moment? On closer examination I learned there is another clamp w/bushing further down on the shifter tube and this one was broken as well. To get access to this second clamp I had to lower the steering column assembly which is not as intimidating as it first looks. After removing the large lower plastic dash piece there is a 4 point tubular bracket with 4 nuts, I removed those. There are 4 additional nuts holding the column in place. I completely removed the front two and then loosened but left in place the rear two so that the steering column was still supported. While working on it I heard some metal pieces drop, yikes what was that, what are those? There are two metal, spacer inserts that slide over the front 2 column studs. If you do this repair see if you can remove those before they fall on their on.
Now I needed another tube clamp kit. Turns out the local parts house had the same Dorman kit in stock for $19 and they price matched my previous online purchase. BTW-I didn't pressure them into the price match cause I think brick & mortar stores have a right to make a profit but the counter guy insisted. To those of you doing this repair go ahead and purchase two replacement clamps first and replace them both while you are in there.
There was a gray, sludgey mass of goo where the old bushings had been so I cleaned this thoroughly and used dry lube on the new install.
While I had the column down I replaced the shifter lever as well. The overdrive button had broken off of the end and the rubber dust boot had disintegrated. Looking online I had a hard time finding a unit with the dust boot and finally ordered the following: Genuine Ford 4L3Z-7210-BAA Transmission Gear Shifter Lever with boot and overdrive Off indicator light from Wholesale Direct Parts for $54 bucks. Amazon indicated that this unit would not fit my 97 Expy but it did just fine.
The last on my list for this project was the shift indicator pointer was off. Closer examination showed the small white plastic piece that holds the cable adjuster for this mechanism was broken. I wasn't sure if I could get this piece and I was excited to try out the shifter repair so I slapped on 3 small zip strips to hold it together.
Wowsa what a difference!! The shifter is solid and smooth now. Tools used in this repair were: phillips screwdriver, 7mm and 8mm 1/4" sockets, 15mm 3/8" socket, T30 star bit and dental tool to remove the ignition switch assembly.
Oops, don't you love it when you're doing something for the first time and you get an "aha," moment? On closer examination I learned there is another clamp w/bushing further down on the shifter tube and this one was broken as well. To get access to this second clamp I had to lower the steering column assembly which is not as intimidating as it first looks. After removing the large lower plastic dash piece there is a 4 point tubular bracket with 4 nuts, I removed those. There are 4 additional nuts holding the column in place. I completely removed the front two and then loosened but left in place the rear two so that the steering column was still supported. While working on it I heard some metal pieces drop, yikes what was that, what are those? There are two metal, spacer inserts that slide over the front 2 column studs. If you do this repair see if you can remove those before they fall on their on.
Now I needed another tube clamp kit. Turns out the local parts house had the same Dorman kit in stock for $19 and they price matched my previous online purchase. BTW-I didn't pressure them into the price match cause I think brick & mortar stores have a right to make a profit but the counter guy insisted. To those of you doing this repair go ahead and purchase two replacement clamps first and replace them both while you are in there.
There was a gray, sludgey mass of goo where the old bushings had been so I cleaned this thoroughly and used dry lube on the new install.
While I had the column down I replaced the shifter lever as well. The overdrive button had broken off of the end and the rubber dust boot had disintegrated. Looking online I had a hard time finding a unit with the dust boot and finally ordered the following: Genuine Ford 4L3Z-7210-BAA Transmission Gear Shifter Lever with boot and overdrive Off indicator light from Wholesale Direct Parts for $54 bucks. Amazon indicated that this unit would not fit my 97 Expy but it did just fine.
The last on my list for this project was the shift indicator pointer was off. Closer examination showed the small white plastic piece that holds the cable adjuster for this mechanism was broken. I wasn't sure if I could get this piece and I was excited to try out the shifter repair so I slapped on 3 small zip strips to hold it together.
Wowsa what a difference!! The shifter is solid and smooth now. Tools used in this repair were: phillips screwdriver, 7mm and 8mm 1/4" sockets, 15mm 3/8" socket, T30 star bit and dental tool to remove the ignition switch assembly.
