MTFCA Forum

Hello everyone, I have an early (13 - 25) Ruckstell assembly. There is a lot of play in the shifting arm (part P98A), causing it to tilt/lift a little during shifting; this contributes to a lot of rattling whenever driving around down the road. I assume based on other research on the forum that the housing has worn out, allowing the tilting. My question is: is it relatively easy to remove and fix/replace the housing and potentially shift arm without removing the whole axle assembly from the car? It seems to be happy otherwise and I don't really have the time to dedicate to a full rebuild right now just to fix the annoying rattle noise. Based on the diagrams, it looks like I only have to remove the nut from the bottom of P98A and then the bolts holding P148A onto the rest of the diff housing; but I have been fooled by diagrams before. Has anyone done this before?

Hard to believe you can hear a rattling from the shift lock arm while driving. You are more likely hearing the long shift rod hitting something else.
Yes the shift lock easily removes from the axle. Removing the axle assembly NOT necessary.
Remove the 3 mounting bolts & slide out the unit. Note 1 "bolt" has a taper end that locks into the inner lock plate. Do not remove the upper (top) lock plate bolt.
The nut on the bottom of the shaft gets removed with the unit out in a vise to remove the lever from the shift collar attachment.(p122)

With the shift lock out, do you have a plan to rebuild the shifter housing?

Both the lever/arm & the housing will have wear. Usually the housing more than the arm.
The housing can be CARFULLY set up in a mill & machined for a solid brass bushing. Must be centered & straight.
The arm is available new.
I have welded up an arm & remachined oversize to compensate for slight body wear. Thats a bit of a trick.

Or purchase a new shifter housing from Chaffin's Garage if you don't have the means to properly re-bush it.

speedytinc wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 20, 2025 7:16 pm

I have welded up an arm & remachined oversize to compensate for slight body wear. Thats a bit of a trick.

I have done the same thing. It worked well enough, however, in the long run, I ended up buying a reproduction 26/27 shifter assembly from Chaffins. A far better design.

Jerry VanOoteghem wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 20, 2025 7:30 pm

speedytinc wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 20, 2025 7:16 pm

I have welded up an arm & remachined oversize to compensate for slight body wear. Thats a bit of a trick.

I have done the same thing. It worked well enough, however, in the long run, I ended up buying a reproduction 26/27 shifter assembly from Chaffins. A far better design.

The 26-7 shift lock is superior IMHO also. I have rebuilt several. I have them on ALL my T's
They dont pop into neutral if in any reasonable condition. . You cant make them go to a neutral position like the early units with a filed notch or from a wear condition. Some modify for an early shift lock for neutral start position. Thats dangerous in my book.

John,

I don’t think it’s the sole cause of the noise, there’s a lot of play in some of the shift rod yokes as well (which I’ll be chasing first). But I do think it’s contributing. Just trying to get all the information I can before I approach the whole thing. Plan to rebuild the housing is as mentioned…brass bushing if the lock housing is not too bad and a new arm. Otherwise I’ll just replace both parts. A little pricey but not too bad.

Does the 26/27 lock housing fit onto an early diff housing without modification? By “ upper (top) lock plate bolt” do you mean P164-A?

Thanks

The late shifter fits earlier rear ends also. The 2 mounting bolts & the 3rd(lock plate) bolts are longer.

164a is the upper notch plate lock bolt. Dont remove it. You could potentially lose the lock plate clocking notches if the plate were to rotate. That could, worst case, require rear end disassembly to reset the notch plate..

I rebuilt mine many years ago before I was aware of new replacement parts. The brass housing was reamed to take anew thin walled bronze bush.
To rebuild the arm I welded a piece of 3/4" [from memory] steel rod to the outside of the bend in the arm, as near as I could judge to being in line with the worn section of the shaft, and cut off all but an inch of the addition. With the thread gripped in a lathe, the end of the welded on piece was driiled for a centre. Then the worn section of the arm was welded up to rebuild it, and turned down using the lathe and the centre on the added piece.It worked out well. I even left the added piece in place, for possible later use. Would I do the same today, with the parts available new? Perhaps the bushing of the housing, but certainly not the rebuildin of the arm.

Allan from down under.