Installing Gear Lever/Selecter

So last time I was at the JY I noticed the 9C1 has a longer gear level than the civilian cars. So I grabbed it thinking it would be a neat little mod. I tapped out the pin and pulled it with ease, does it go back in the same way or is there a specific procedure to doing it? I know theres a spring in there so I wanna make sure I do it right.

The FSM says to make a shim to hold the spring back when inserting the shift lever. Other than that, it goes back in the way it came out.

Well that went horribly. 9C1 shifter does not fit in the civilian steering column and I lost the spring. Ugh!

The spring is probably laying in the bottom of the steering column. You should be able to retrieve it with a telescopic magnet tool, or it will come out the bottom where the plastic wire cover is located. The 9C1 shift lever should fit. Look at the one you took out, and verify the difference. I have used a magnet tool to remove the spring, and you should be able to put it in with one. A small grabber tool might work too. I also had a spring break when I took the arm out in the local JY.

These GM columns look just like what's been in GM cars since 1969, but I think the spring setup has changed. As kids, when my buddy Laird got his 78 Impala, one of the first mods we did was swap out the cheap looking Chevy shift lever for a fully-chromed one out of a Buick. No spring issues, easy swap.

When the spring in my Roady recently broke I tried like anything to get it in there, and finally gave up and had my boddy do it for me.

I don't plan to pull a shifter on an air-bag column again. It's gotta be different internally.

I do not know anything about the older ones, but the spring has a pocket going toward the front of the car, about an inch or so below the pivot. About 1/2 of the spring goes into the pocket. It is pretty much hollow under the spring, so it would drop into the wiring channel. In the not too distant future, I will be swapping my shifter, because the rubber on the end is starting to show signs of wear.

Ok, so went at this again today. After making a run to harbor freight (love that store) I picked up a magnetic pickup tool and some small tweezers to try to pull the spring. As i'm tapping out the lever look what kindly fell out:



Didn't even get to play with my new tools!

Also, lined up the 9C1 and the stock shifter and here is the difference, the 9C1 shifter is on the bottom:


Which leads to this when the 9C1 shifter is installed:


So there is something about the 9C1 shifter that will not work in a civilian steering column.

I have the stock shifter back in minus the spring. I'm going to wait for a mod day with the NE club and replace the spring and my steering wheel to a 94 wheel.

That is really wierd. It is nice to know that there were variations, so we can be on the lookout for non standard parts.

What year is the shift lever come out of? Is it possible that the other lever was not the stock one on the 9C1?

Fred Kiehl wrote:

That is really wierd. It is nice to know that there were variations, so we can be on the lookout for non standard parts.

What year is the shift lever come out of? Is it possible that the other lever was not the stock one on the 9C1?

It was out of a '92 9C1, which is why i'm surprised there is a difference. I figured even if there were a difference between say a 92 and a 94 car that at least the TBI cars would be the same. It *looked* like the stock lever as when it was in the car it sat how the lever should, angled up, much like a civilian handle does, just longer.

Not sure how I managed it, but the stock handle is back in with the spring. I was using a shim and found that there was no way to get the shim out while the handle was in. So I tried putting the handle in without the shim and it popped right in on the first shot. Go figure. So now I have a working gear selector again.

Do you know if that car you pulled it from had a tilt column? I don't know if it was optional is 92, but the tilt column was optional in 91. This may not be a 9C1 difference, but a tilt, non tilt difference.

95BRMW wrote:

Do you know if that car you pulled it from had a tilt column? I don't know if it was optional is 92, but the tilt column was optional in 91. This may not be a 9C1 difference, but a tilt, non tilt difference.

That might be it! It was not a tilt column. Weird option to get rid of imo, had power windows and locks, and mirrors, but no tilt or cruise. I guess not that important on a 9C1...

Weird. The first tilt I ever saw was in a cruiser. It allows the officer to get out in a hurry, which is critical to his job.

Nick Danger wrote:

Weird. The first tilt I ever saw was in a cruiser. It allows the officer to get out in a hurry, which is critical to his job.

Yup, every other 9C1 ive seen had a tilt wheel. Like I said thou, this car had some weird options. I'm not 100% sure if it was actually used as a squad car. It had a vinyl front and rear bench (front is still there). Rubber floor, power everything except seats, the optional cassette stereo, but no tilt wheel and cruise control.

I never saw a non-tilt myself in these cars, just read about it in the brochure.

Yep, that's it. Tilt and non-tilt are different.

And MAN that uses a long spring!

I thought the levers were different on the brake pedal interlock cars!There seems to be a
difference between my 95 and my 91.Even thought the interlock needs to be adjusted
because you can shift from park without touching the brake pedal.Just a thought.
Jim Gordon