Sm420 Shift Tower Pin Repair

I have an SM420 in my CJ6. The shift lever was really loose because the pins in the tower were almost completely worn off.

I removed the pins and tapped the holes for some new pins I made from some grade 5 bolts. I used 5/8"bolts with smooth shanks. I ground down the threads to 1/4" and then threaded them again.

The photos below are from before I finished the project, but I thought it better illustrated what I did.

The shift lever slop is completely gone. Hope someone finds this useful.

 

That is an interesting idea. I think it would translate well to the T18 and it's single pin design.
How are you going to secure them? Staking?

 

I put a hose clamp around mine after the repair.

 

Here is a good video I saw a few months ago on doing a similar repair to a T19, which would be the same for T18.


Tim

 

You might add some jamb nuts to the outside or maybe a tack weld just to secure those and take some stress off the threads, not a lot of meat there.. Otherwise it looks great!

 

That is a good fix but the issue is still the pin movement in the lid over time.

I'll be needing to replace my lid as the top section around the pin broke while attempting to rock the Jeep out of a bad situation. When I get around to this, I'm thinking of drilling through the lid and installing another pin on the other side. This would require slotting the shifter as well, but would halve the stress on the pins. Adding threads to the lid and having the pins fixed would be the final candle on the cake.

My thought would be the next size grade 8 bolt turned down to the proper diameter then threaded into the lid on either side.

 

I liked the idea of using the drill bit as a hardened pin. I would have complimented with some locktite green to secure the pin and take up any play.