G'day all ... Yesterday the shifter in my Challenger decided to not play nice. (70 Challenger. A727 TF with slapstick floor shift)

It won't move out of gear unless I tap it on top with a hammer. It will move freely between 1 & 2. To get it into D, N R or P I need to tap the top with a hammer and it will loosen up and move. once it is in one of those gears, it won;t come out again unless I give it a tap again. I posted a video below.

I don't believe it's a internal trans, or even a linkage/rod problem. I'm pretty sure it's the actual shifter mechanism itself. The threaded shaft that pushes down isn't engaging properly and has very little movement. That's what I tap with the hammer to free it up.

Any thoughts?

I'll be going down to have a proper look today (it was at the body shop), but even if I take it apart, I don't really know what I'm looking at.

Does anybody have an exploded view diagram of it? Kind of hard to know if something is missing if I don't know what's suppose to be there in the first place.


Thanks for your time,
Russ


Here's a link to a quick video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQDqMrUHU_4

The shifter should move freely, without depressing the button (threaded rod) from 1 (1st gear), to 2 and drive when shifted manually. You should have to depress the button to get it into neutral, reverse and park, as well as manually shifting between D to 2 or 1. That is the normal function of the "Slap Stick" shifter.
Without the "button" on top, you have to depress the threaded rod to get the shifter to move as described above. Don't bend the rod by hitting it with a hammer. You should be able to depress it by pushing down on it with the hammer handle or other object.
When you reassemble the shifter handle you will need to adjust the button so the shifter functions as described. If not threaded on properly you will either "not be able to move the shifter past the detents" or you will be able to move it past the detents without depressing the button.
Looking at your video on youtube, it looks like the rod is stuck in the shifter (maybe from someone smacking it with a hammer???). Might try a few drops of oil on the rod and working it up-down.
Reinstall the button/knob and see if it works okay...

Chuck

Thanks for the reply Chuck.

I'm not really hitting it with a hammer, only tapping it. ... and I only did it twice, after the problem started.

you are right though. From what I could figure out, the rod.shaft appears stuck. I'll try some lubricant spray and see if that frees it up, then maybe hit up the parts board and find myself a nice condition slapstick set-up to replace it with.

Cheers,
Russ

The shifter knob has a small allen head set screw, loosen it and screw the knob down a couple more turns and see if it doesnt work better.

Got it figured out. The main shaft/rod is bent at the bottom and is sliding out of place when the button is pressed. Also, the main side spring on mine is a flimsy piece of crap which means when the button is pressed and the rod goes out, there isn't enough force for it to return to place. Other than that everything else is working as it should.

Time to find a new unit as I don't think this can be replaced?










Thanks for the help Chuck. Much appreciated.