New TH350 shift linkage from Lokar

[Raider L]

Anyone have one of these in their truck. I'm seriously thinking of putting this on my truck. But it's kinda more designed for a car with the trans. closer together than as far apart the trans. is in my truck. Now. Lokar has two other rod lengths, 18" and 24". It's so you have more rod to bend around to get to the
transmission.

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It says on the package 21" but that's with all the hardware on, not just the rod.

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Photo above is of the bottom piece that attaches to the shift lever attachment point down there on the side of the trans.

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Rest of the hardware. Just get this part number from above, and go to Lokar it will show really good photos of it and how it goes on the transmission.

 

[Raider L]

Not new to Lokar, new to me!

 

[MikeB]

I bought one of those kits several years ago when I converted an 82 C10 to TH350 from 3-speed manual. I also used a rebuilt 82 tilt/auto trans column.

First problem: It was not a straight shot from the lever on the column to the trans shift stud, so I had to bend the Lokar rod. Next: The rod-end heim joints did not have enough deflection angle, so I bought some new rod-ends with a higher angle from Summit. However, I still couldn't make things work.

Calling Lokar for help was a joke, because all they did was tell me, "We have sold *** number of those kits over the years, and have never heard of this problem," implying that I must be doing something wrong. I suspect most of those were used in cars and few, if any, square body trucks.

Bottom line is I bought some used OE linkage on eBay and it worked perfectly. Sold the Lokar stuff at a swap meet for around 50% of what I paid for it.

I was really disappointed because I've used Lokar throttle and trans detent/TV brackets and cables for years, and really like them.

 

[Raider L]

@MikeB,

Yeah, Mike that's exactly what problems I thought I'd have. All it took was one look down there and I could tell the trans was a million miles away and the kit must be for a car. Now, I'm not naive and thought it was for a truck without it saying so. And all it said was that it was for a TH350 which tells me nothing about fit. But I do know that you had to bend the rod and it says so on the back that it may need to be bent. Also, they make a 18" rod and a 24" one to. So if you had to make two or three bends in order to make the Heims joints work you'd have to be an engineer.

We'll see. I'm like you I may buy bunch of stainless rod stock and make a duplicate of the OE linkage.

 

[ali_c20]

I wanted to buy the classic performance version for half the price but it was out of stock. The reviews say it's to short for trucks but even with an extra longer rod cheaper than the Lokar.
Summit also has one for under 60$ but the rod is to short too.
I'll buy the cpp one for ~ 39$ and make a custom rod.

 

[Raider L]

@ali_c20,

Yeah, I just pulled the receit out and I got it from Jeg's and I paid $74.95 for it. I did find a You Tube video of this guy putting one like I've got in his 50's something truck, Chevy, and he did mention the fact that it wasn't so much for a truck but for a car, but then he eyeballed it and bent the rod about 4-5" up from the kit lever on the trans, put it in a vice and bent the thing and put it on the truck and it worked good, it hooked right up. So I don't know. I did find a licensed Lokar dealer and installer here in Shreveport I didn't even know about. Hell, I'll give them a call and see how much they would charge to put the thing in my truck and skip all the aggrivation.

 

[Raider L]

@ali_c20,

I didn't know CPP had this kit. I love their suspension upgrades. I want those tubular A arms bad!! I wanted to put a tubular suspension in my truck when I rebuilt it back in '95 but they didn't exist back then except for a upper A arm but no lower. It wasn't until about ten or twelve years later when several came out with them. I may take a look at the CPP linkage kit and compare it to mine. I might get it. Yeah, I thought about making my own rod to. There are several places here in town where I can get stainless rod.