4-speed shifter alignment

I rebuilt the 4-speed shifter in my '75 using one of the rebuild kits.  It tightened it up nicely, and fixed the problem with it catching going into 2nd gear (the reverse lockout rod was worn way down).  My question is that there does not appear to be an alignment hole to set all the pawls to neutral. My concern is that when I get the transmission back in it will be a pain working in the confined space under the car to get all the shift rods set correctly.

It shows you how in the factory service manual. Assuming your shifter is the same as in my 73, it takes a piece of flat thin stock that they'd used to align the shifters in the neutral position. Much more difficult than with the piece of drill rod on the previous versions. Especially if it's in the car because then you have to bend the piece of stock into a curve in order to get it up into the tunnel. If you don't have a FSM, I can post a picture of mine if I can find it. Or maybe a picture of the FSM page when I get home.

The factory shifter could have two different alignment "slots". Depending on which one you have, it requires a pin, or square stock "gauge". Either way, you insert the pin or gauge into the slot/hole, lining the three levers up first, then adjust the linkages to fit the levers. If you did NOT loosen, or move any of the linkage adjustments before taking the shifter off, it should be dang close to start with.

I do have a FSM -- I'll check it in the morning.

I got my shifter out with the engine and transmission in place.  Wasn't easy and I cussed....a lot.

Here's a picture of the alignment tool. The narrow part that fits in the slots is 5/8" and the mat'l thickness is 0.015".

|UPDATED|12/6/2018 1:25:07 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Thanks.  Once I knew where the slot was, I made a tool to fit.  It'll be a few weeks before I get the engine & transmission together and be ready to install everything again.

Just curious to know if the one I pictured would fit your shifter. I couldn't remember if they switched transmissions in 75 or not.

Yes, that looks correct.  I made mine straight (without the cutout), but it seems to fit fine.

I think the cut out was just to ensure that you got it inserted all the way to pick up all of the shifters. Are you planning on adjusting them before you put get back in the vehicle?