I've been working a lot on Lucille lately and I learned the hard way to be sure and check the new coupling for fit BEFORE you have the transmission re-installed and torqued down. While I had Lucilles tranny out, I removed the shift rod and installed new bushings and when I bought the bushings, I bought a new shift rod coupler. I did NOT check the coupler for fit, just ASSUMED it would. I put the tranny back in and from where I was standing, it looked like the shift lever coming out of the nose of the tranny went right in. I torqued everything down and went to install the lock bolts in the coupler and the shift lever had gone in about 1/4inch and stopped dead. After much sweating and the use of foul language, I decided the only way out was to pull the tranny back out far enough to get the coupler off and see what the problem was.
After quite a bit of filing, the new coupler finally slid onto the shift lever with ease. I could have saved myself a lot of greif had I only test fit it to begin with.
Richard came over and helped with this ordeal and I probably would still be cussing had it not been for his help. THANKS, Richard.
