Technical Turbo 350 gear selector.

Hi. Does anyone know on a turbo 350 can the gear shift selector be replaced while the transmission is still in the car? I've heard the valve body and everything has to come off to access it?
I'm concerned about all the little steel balls etc.. anyone have some thoughts on this??
Thanks

 

In the car .

 

Yup. I have done it. The valve body does not need to come off.

Let the trans drain overnight, with the pan off. It will drip for a long time. ATF doesn't taste good.

 

Before you do this, what is the transmission doing, or not doing?

 

What gimpy said.

Yes it can be done in the car.
Even if you take the valve body out to get a bit more room.... maybe. Only thing to be concerned with it the kick down cable is disconnected.

Drop the pan and let it drain as it will drip, drip, drip.

 

Copied and pasted from another forum.
"I just took my shaft out on my th350. It slides out without having to lower the transmission. First you get the pan & filter off. Then you remove 1 bolt that holds the lever that touches the rooster comb. Remove the wide clip on the selector shaft. Then remove the 11/16 nut on the selector shaft inside the transmission. The shaft should slide out with a little prying and turning"

 

Thanks for all the great replies. Had to replace the leaking shaft seal.the transmission was quite tight up against the tunnel. Had a very difficult time removing the seal. So I'm hoping I didn't Nick the shaft. That's the reason why I'm asking just in case I would have to replace it..

 

Sticking out of the side of the TH350, you will find the shaft that rotates to select gears. It has two ground flats on it, so an arm can be bolted to it, so a rod or a cable can be manipulated to select gears.

Inside, the other end of the shaft looks much the same, except it has this:

The part with the teeth is commonly referred to as a "rooster comb". It is held on with a nut, just like the arm on the outside.

Two things attach to the rooster comb. One is the rod/plunger shown above. The other one looks like an S-hook:

The third thing in play here is a spring steel arm, with a roller at the end. That roller drops into the teeth of the rooster comb, right at each shifter position (that's right, it is not in the shifter mechanism. It is in the trans!):

Please note that in the above picture, the S-hook is NOT CONNECTED, and the spring and roller are NEXT TO THE ROOSTER COMB!

These are two common issues to watch out for!

You will note that the flat, thin spring that holds the roller that rides on the rooster comb is anchored to a valve body bolt. Take care to re-torque that properly.

Needless to say, your filter needs to be off for this, and you should be replacing that, anyways.

 

Love all the great replies guys! It's nice to know they're people will help you out there. Love the hamb .

 

We already screwed this all up, so you don't have to!

 

There is a tool made for pulling the shift shaft seal with the shaft in place .Sort of like a hollow EZ out.
It should take up less room under the floor than pulling the shaft all the way out.
For next time...