Help with auto shifter

[Adam Nathan]

My car started out life as a column shift TF 727 auto but somewhere along the way it was converted to floor shift.
The problem I'm having is selecting a gear and the trans going into that gear. From park to reverse always misses and neutral is selected, it's a real crap shoot. It sounds like a simple adjustment but I've adjusted and adjusted and adjusted some more and still can't get it right.
It's like the shifter moves quicker than what the trans selector does.
Now I've no guarantee that the correct parts have been used or that the shifter was even mounted in the right location on the tunnel as the service manual doesn't have detailed illustrations and measurements in it. Does anyone have any pics of the parts that make up the complete package from top to bottom and how they look.
Tired of beating my head against a brick wall.

 

[miller]

Floor shifters can either be cable, rod, or a combination of both, to work. But, your right, somewhere there should be some kind of adjustment.

Normally on a deal like that, there's a shifting pivot arm, where the adjusting is done.
Unhook the shifter cable/rod at the actual shifting arm at the trans. By hand, move the trans arm through all the gears. You want to get the 'hole' location measurement from Park to First, assuming a stock shift. In Park, your shifter should fall right into the arm's hole. Then, move the tran's arm to the last gear (First), and check it, should be the same deal. Of course, if the shifter rod doesn't fall right in, it needs to be adjusted.
Your basicly looking for the full range of shifting movement, both at the tran's arm, and the shifter itself.

 

[The Horvaths]

Can you get some decent pictures of what you have? It sounds like the shifter mechanism's radial path is either too big or too small. There should be a means of adjusting how far out (from center of rotation) the cable-end or coupling rod is. As stated above, the shifter travel needs to match the transmission.

 

[Moparparts]

Need to know what year you have if it a 70 most of the console linkage and even the shifter handle and mechanism are different than 69 and earlier years. You also need to have the correct lever on the trans or it will not function correctly. The linkage to floor alignment can be checked somewhat just by looking where they put the vertical torque shaft down through the floor it should be centered on the raised hump where the shaft goes down through which is stamped on all automatic floor pans 67-70 even if they where not equipped with a console from the factory. As was mentioned please post pics of what you have to see if the pieces are mis-matched because even the console shifter floor hump mount bracket itself is different for some years and models and it will not function correctly if mismatched to year or model of linkage.

 

[66Satellite47]

Like the others have said you need to move the shifter through the different gears (I check all of them) This really is a 2 person job one on the shifter one under the car feeling how the rod fits into the lever. Be sure the the rod drops into the hole in the lever fairly easily (there may be a SLIGHT tightness in a couple). I think the D 2 L are most critical to be right on. A perfect fit in Park, not as much. An outside possibility you have a mismatched lever arm & shifter combination.

 

[HawkRod]

One other thing to check:

On my 73 Road Runner with a SlapStik 727 floor shifter, the nylon bushing wore the metal rod that passes through the floor. This slop made it difficult to adjust the shifter so all gears could reliably be selected. Once I fixed that, I was able to adjust it just fine.

The nylon bushing I am taking about is in the metal "tab" that bolts into the transmission tail shaft...

Not sure if this is your problem, but something else to check.

Good Luck

 

[Adam Nathan]

I believe I now have it shifting as good as it's ever gonna be. I replaced the nylon bushes top and bottom of the shaft that passes through the tunnel and the radial shift was out of whack so made another hole on the lower arm that the adjuster rod attaches too, closer to the shaft to shorten the throw radius and bingo. Job done. I've obviously got the wrong part somewhere but for now until I can locate the correct piece that'll do nicely.
Thanks to all who have commented on this thread I appreciate your time and knowledge.