VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1940 MD shift shaft bushing

Hello Everyone,
Helping a long time member of the VCCA here in Ma. He thought the transmission was the problem, but
the shift measurements are off and I noticed what I believe to be the shift shaft bushing had slide out of the tube. I found that an inner lever to the shift bracket had jumped out of position. Loosened the "location" bolt on the shaft and was able to get it back into position and it shifts pretty good. I plan to go back and with the manual, start checking all the clearances starting at the steering wheel mast jacket measurement. ( the shift lever distance to steering is close to 3 inches away. )
Will that section slide off the shift shaft to replace the bushing ??
I have a 1940 shop manual for that car, but doesn't reference that particular unit.

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/parts/1929_54/244.htm

Yes. I replaced mine with the plastic one from CoT40 but later replaced it with a NOS one from E-bay.

Hello ruscar,

Thank you for the feed back. CoF's lists both. I will check ebay also.

Hello ruscar,

I checked e-bay, but nothing listed. I checked CoF's and they list a bronze bushing. Was your NOS a bronze bushing ??

Yea, I looked on ebay today and did not find one.

The original bushing is a metal tube with rubber and brass inserts. That metal tube (bushing)is press fit in the clamp. Back when I got mine I received two. Cut the worst looking one open to see what was inside.

The ones I got from CoF's was just hard plastic (that takes the place of the rubber/metal in the bushing tube) and I bought 2 and dropped both in. I suppose either plastic or metal will last quite some time.

Hello ruscar,

Could I talk to you on the phone ? If so, PM me your phone number.

Dave, enjoyed our talk. I feel you have everything under control.

Remembered this, pretty good.

Hello ruscar,

Thank you for talking with me about my plan of attack. This particular video I had found on the day that I looked at the car.

I called the owner of the car and asked his permission to order the bronze bushing and linkage bushings. The owner offered to have the car transported to my home to do the repair, but unfortunately my garage looks like a bomb went off in it due to the repairs to fenders and oil leaks that I wanted to fix. I have talked to a fellow Tuesday night coffee guy about using his garage which he agreed to. Once the parts show up, I will call the owner of the '40 Chevy about having it delivered to my friends garage.

Thanks again for talking with me.

I have used the original NOS shift control bushings and they work great. I have several NOS ones for sale at $16 each. Group 4.007 Part # 3654491. The part is about 4 inches long with a rubber insert that it lined with a vefry thin piece of brass.

Hello toolman,

I have seen pictures of these, but only the bronze bushing seemed to be available. An original would be great for this car. 01821 is my zip code, PM me amount for shipping and how you would like to receive payment.

Hello toolman,

I have been in contact with the owner of the '40 Chevy and they have agreed with having the car delivered to me for the repair work. The replacement parts have arrived but I would prefer the NOS part for this car, as it is a beauty. Please let me know about the purchase of your NOS part.

Hello Everyone,

An update on the '40 Chevy.

I went thru the whole process described in both the shop manual that I bought for this car and my Dad's Motors repair manual.

These both called for the removal of the steering wheel to check the position of the mast jacket to the steering shaft shoulder. This measurement was perfect. Next I removed the linkage from the select lever and the shift lever. Removed the bolt holding the select mechanism from the shift rod.
Removed what was left of the old bushing and installed the new one to the listed dimension.
Here is where I had a hard time. I installed the shift lever selector to the shift shaft and applied the rods to their respective levers.
The original measurement of the shift selector to the steering wheel was 2 1/2 inches, per the manuals, it should be a hair under 1 7/8 inch.
The measurement for the new bushing clamp to the shift lever device was 1 inch, per the manual, it should be 3/4 inch.
To keep this from getting to wordy, the manual dimensions were impossible to use as I could not get the shift pattern to function. I spent a couple of hours after work each night for a week trying to make it work. Out of shear frustration, I put all previous measurements back to what I first measured and it worked.

Took it for a couple of road tests and I'm happy with how it works. During the road tests the car would wander, checked the front end and both king pins need to be replaced.

Bob Graves, a member of the NNER, had a NOS kingpin kit. Check him out, he is listed in the G&D under Parts for sale.

Dave, thank you for the follow-up. Wish more people would do the same.

All is well as long as it works no matter what the books say!