Need Help With My Auto Shift Linkage

[Joe Kriston]

I should probably move this over to electrical now,but I didn't take that many parts off to change my shift collar...I marked all the wires in the connector plug so I wouldn't screw them up...So far so good....Until I connected the plug...Now the horn stays on and the turn signals don't work Any ideas?...Tom??? was good enough to send be a blow-up of the shift column parts and I just can't see where I got this screwed up so bad...

[FORDification]

Did you remove the connectors from the plug to remove/replace the turn signal switch or just unplug it at the base of the column? Sounds like a couple wires got crossed, pinched or if you replaced the switch by removing the plug connectors then a couple wires got turned around. Time to dig out the wiring schematics:

http://www.fordification.com/wiring.htm

...but yeah, you're right about this thread. If you need further help figuring this out, why don't you start another thread in the Electrical section, to make things easier to find in the future.

[Joe Kriston]

Thanks,Keith...One other question on this topic...My truck is a '72 Explorer,and the shift collar is from a '71 or '72 Ranger...My old collar had the built in fluorescent gear indicator...The Ranger one just has a slot where the indicator should be ..What's up with that??Can I get that indicator piece that fits into the slot separately?

[FORDification]

Is this the difference you're referring to?



You're looking for the plastic piece which serves as the indicator pointer...the one that slips into the slot on the shift collar (pictured on the right)?

AFAIK all the replacement collars (and they're the same from '65 up through '77) have the slot for the slide-in shift indicator. If you want one of the style pictured at the left, you'll have to get one from a different column. I've been wracking my brain right now (but it's been a LONG day) and I can't remember what the cutoff point for the two styles is, but I believe it's '65-'70 vs. '71-'77...though I could be wrong. Therefore, I don't know what to think about your '72 having the cast-in style vs. the slide-in style. It shouldn't have come that way from the factory, though I've heard of stranger things than that.

I just checked the LMC catalog and they show what appears to be replacement collars with the cast-in indicators, but AFAIK they all look like this:



I guess what I'm trying to say is...I'm not sure. I've never seen those pointers in any aftermarket catalog from the major Ford truck parts vendors. However, I'd imagine it wouldn't be too hard to find one.