New Shifter Knob
So I decided to do something about my annoying rattling shift knob, and I saw this on EBay for $30. Its an Eaton Fuller Roadranger 8LL Valve assy. The Part number is S-2571.
Here is This stock shifter.
And here is the stock shifter disassembled. In order to get the stock knob off I had to use my heat gun on high for a little over a minute and then pull pretty hard before if popped off.
The threaded hole in the Eaton shifter is a 1/2in 13 thread pitch. I picked up grade 5 bolt and nut from TSC; that to my surprise was the same thread pitch as the Eaton knob. The hole in the Rangers stick is just a hare over 3/8in, so the first thing I tried was to grind the shaft of the 1/2in bolt down so that it would have an interference fit in the stick. this proved to be very time consuming and I eventually gave up on that idea.
While thinking about how to attach the Eaton knob I saw a piece of 3/8in All-Thread from a previous project. I found that it fit in the stock stick very well, but I was still stuck on how I would go about attaching the Eaton knob to the All-Thread without modifying the knob too much. An idea finally popped into my head to use set screws to secure the 3/8 All-thread in the stick and the Knob. I got some 8-36 set screws from the hardware store in town. I drilled and taped two holes in the stick and two holes in the knob.
Set Screws
All-Thread in the stick.
All-Thread in the knob.
All put together. Still need to do something with the boot though.
And how it looks in the truck. I was very surprised when I drove it, at how smooth it shifted. Much better than stock.