Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

My truck is a 1968 Chevy C10 shortbed that originally came with a 396 engine, 400 turbo transmission with column shift and manual 4 wheel drum brakes.

I recently upgraded the brakes to 4 wheel disc,installed a new 9 inch power brake booster and a custom brake booster bracket that moves the booster closer to the firewall.

The problem I am having is that now my column shift lever is hitting the bottom of the power brake booster and it will not let me shift it into park anymore.

You can see in this pic that the shift lever will now only go barely past reverse and is now resting on that detent bump located on the shifter plate behind that lever that separates reverse and park position.

Is there any adjustment on the steering column that can be made that will give me a little clearance so the lever will go into park?

Re: Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

Not really. The detent button (red arrow) moves in and out of the detent blocks on the fan shaped piece (blue arrow). Both of those pieces are fixed to other pieces in the column. You might be able to go in and cut and reattach the metal arm the shift rod attaches to. The problem I see is if you move it to far it will no longer be moving up and down in relation to the shifter arm on the transmission. It would start moving sideways in relation to the shifter arm and you may not be able to get 1st gear.
If none of this makes sense try watching the linkage while someone operates the shift lever.
There are numerous threads on how columns are assembled if you do a search.

Re: Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

-
It might clear if you made this modification.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=191143

LockDoc

Re: Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

I have never experienced this problem so I don't have a tried-and-proven solution... Try loosening the column clamps under dash and at the fire wall.. Push the column forward an inch or so.. This might give you the clearance you need...

Re: Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

The fact that you have a 68 Column gives you less options. It has a solid shaft from the steering wheel all the way to the steering box. If you can find the inner shaft with an intermediate shaft you can collapse the intermediate shaft and push the column closer to the firewall.

Re: Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

How about using the original booster mount ?

Re: Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

This is a pic of my column. I went and looked at my column again and there is some sort of plastic pin in the column. You can see it in the pic. Could it be that my 1968 Chevy C10 is a late production model and is like the 69 and later C10 steering columns?

Re: Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

I never had a original booster mount. I would probably have to throw away my new booster and master cylinder because they probably will not work with a original type booster mount?

The booster is a aftermarket brand Tuff Stuff 9in booster TFF-2224NB. The master cylinder is a mid 70's Corvette 4 wheel disc type and so is the prop valve.

Re: Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

I went to check out one of the columns I have and I see what you’re talking about but I’m not sure you can do it with that style column. Maybe someone else can tell you that. If you do decide to do it that way make sure you cut off one end the amount that you shorten it so you will still have the same amount of crash area.

Re: Column shift lever hitting my brake booster...any suggestions?
 

Yeah I am not sure about it either. I think that I will need to get rid of the custom booster bracket,booster and master cylinder and start from the beginning using stock type parts.