Hi fellow Mavers, Lurked here for a long time and finally getting my Maverick...back. Look forward to many happy years with the Mav and hope to attend some of the get togethers. Originally it was a column shift car and I wanted a floor shifter so my Dad installed a B&M Pro Ratchet shifter and we're having one heck of a time with it. First it's very unpredictable going into the gears. Basically we can't get the cable adjusted properly so it goes into all gears consistently. We spent all day yesterday working on this !@#$%&*+ thing. We've tried adjusting the B&M lever (on the trans shift shaft), where the cable goes through the B&M cable bracket at the modulator (two large nuts on either end of the bracket) and adjusting the small piece at the very end of the cable that freely rotates and goes through the cable eye. Also we did not cut off the stock shift arm, according to the instructions, we didn't need to as the the B&M lever seems to have plenty of room without the stock lever being in the way. Sorry for the book of information, but wanted to pass along as much as possible of what we've tried so far. First we figured out the cable was routed incorrectly, fixed that and it helped a lot. Now we can get it adjusted for P-R-N-D-2 properly or 1-2-D-N-R but not ALL gears consistently. Anyone had similar issues and can give advice? I'll be calling B&M when they open and see if they can offer advice also. I'm supposed to be leaving San Antonio tomorrow to drive the car back Ohio where I live and we need to get this sorted soon. Thanks for help anyone can provide!
First make sure that the cable does not bind , pinch or have to sharp of a radius or it may not work properly. I adjusted mine by putting the trans(from underneath)in Neutral..then the shifter in Neutral and lining up the stud so it slips in cleanly. Next I remove the stud and move the trans to 1st gear, then the shifter to first gear and test fit again...I do this a few times just to make sure I can get the trans into all the gears properly and not on the edge...works for me! Hope you get it working properly!
Ford specs call for adjusting the shift linkage in Drive. That is the middle of its stroke so you might try doing it that way. The angle of the cable in relation to the transmission lever can also affect the amount of stroke so try to have the cable at 90 degrees to the lever in Drive.
Thanks for your suggestions guys Grabber, we also thought maybe the cable was binding at the floorpan where it goes through the floor so we hacked out another 1.5" of metal so there is definitely no binding there and it's going straight into the cable bracket on the trans side. If we pull the cable loose you can physically pull it back and forth by hand, not super smooth, but not too bad. Got hold of B&M tech and they're pretty stumped as well. They now think the cable is kinked internally (though we aren't so sure) so we're on the hunt for a new cable to eliminate that. Paul, we've adjusted from 1st like the tech said and we've tried from Park, neutral and everything in between. Very frustrating to say the least. I've tried searching both here and on the internet and can't find another example of anyone having this problem.
Something was wrong with the cable or possibly the shifter. I bought a B&M Starshifter and it works perfectly. Adjusted perfect, goes into all gears just right, so I'm not sure if the other cable was stretched, kinked or what. I can test the shifter later since we know the for sure this cable/shifter works properly. Thanks for everyones help
