Hi. I have a 1963 Plymouth Valiant. My three on the tree shifting sticks sometimes in first. I have to play w/ it and force it out of first. The shifter moves around but doesn't pop into gear. This has been occurring w/ more frequency and I would like to take care of it before it gets worse and/or I get stuck driving home in first gear. It feels like the problem is up at the shifter itself, though this may be wishful thinking. Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks. John. My email is jjohnroody@yahoo.com

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'63 signet 200 owner

I have not done this, but there are 2 small hex head bolts at the end of the steering collum in the engine compartment. If you lossen both of them (one is under the housing) and rotate one direction or the other it is supposed to tighten the shift collum.
Or you might have to adjust the linkage so both arms are in neutral position at the same time.

Great. Thanks for that. I will let you know the outcome this week. JW.

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'63 signet 200 owner

While you are under the car check out all your bushings in your shift linkage. I had the same problem and found my bushings to be shot. I made up some home made bushings and cured the problem.

thanks for the responses. i will look into both. thanks so much. John.

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'63 signet 200 owner

I tightened the bolts and that helped. I don't know about the bushings. The steering column slides around which does not contain the shifter well enough to smoothly shift. i have to push down on the wheel to keep the column tight so i can pull the shifter foreward to get in to 1st and reverse. i am wondering if the plastic sleeve in the shaft in the engine compartment is worn but had a hard time trying to figure out how to tighten the column (the steering bolt is tightened all the way). Any thoughts? Thanks much. John.

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'63 signet 200 owner

I was wondering about replacing the plastic sleeve that is in the shifting column. Any knowledge about that? I have been fidgeting w/ adjusting the shifting mechanism and think that replacing this should tighten things up. Thoughts? Thanks. John W.

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'63 signet 200 owner

You say you "tightened" the bolts at the base of the column...what do you mean by that? They're actually an adjustment mechanism for that plastic piece you now have your eye on. The bolt holes in the column are slotted and angled. Loosen the bolts, grasp them and use them as a handle to rotate that plastic collar such that it moves up (rearward) in the column. Hold it in that position and then retighten the bolts. See if that doesn't take the slack out of the mechanism.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I did that and it does take up the slack. The actual steering wheel moves towards and away from me about 3inches. I have to push on the center of the wheel to get it to engage in the reverse and 1st gears. I think this slack is the column but have fugured out the slack at the shifting mechanism, I think???? JW.

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'63 signet 200 owner

If your steering wheel moves then you have something wrong at the top of the column, probably a missing or broken snap ring. This is a very dabgerous situation; you should get it fixed ASAP.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

[quote="dakight"]If your steering wheel moves then you have something wrong at the top of the column, probably a missing or broken snap ring. This is a very dabgerous situation; you should get it fixed ASAP.[/

Holy crap. I will take a look at it tomorrow. Thanks for your follow up. Hope your halloween was a good one. John.

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'63 signet 200 owner

Sep. 2, 9:00 am EST
Update edit for defective brain:

Gezz I'm loosing it, there are four steps needed to see snap ring not three as listed below. The forth being pulling the steering wheel to expose the ring to human view. Dang, I apologize for this, it all seemed so simple last night...

Original post starts here:

I concur, snap ring may have moved out of position. It is located under firstly the horn ring center, secondly the horn ring, thirdly under the hex nut holding the steering wheel on. Dig down through the three above items and examine the steel shaft after pushing the steering wheel as far as it can go toward the dash. You will see either a split snap ring in a grove which is a good thing, snap ring on shaft flopping around on the shaft not in the groove, or no ring at all, just the empty groove.

If the ring is missing you should be able to find a suitable replacement at a hardware store. You may be able to pinch it back into shape and slide it into the groove if it is there, but not holding in the groove.

My first car, 67' Dart, suffered from sloppy three on the tree syndrome after it had 120K or so on the clock. I never did fix it, just learned how to put the correct English on it to catch second most of the time. No one else could shift that car though, a sort of red neck theft prevention device if you will...

In those days I was a broke collage student, and that car was just about all used up, so I lived with it.

Oops! warning!, old fart flashback:

I remember at times when aggressively shifting into first the shifter would swing down to the six o'clock position supported by my knee and get hung up, and at times pounding one into second it would flip around to 12 o'clock. This would severely cut my 0 to 60 times...

Some of you young guys may have discovered that most of the earlier three speed transmissions did not have a synchro mesh first gear, and if the car is moving, pulling into first will exhibit a bit of grinding. To get around this problem all you have to do to keep from grinding while moving forward or backward while going into first is shift into second, double clutch to utilize the second gear synchro to spin up the shaft, and puller her into first. No grinding.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC