Landon Robinson wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:
 -=> Quoting Roy J. Tellason to Landon Robinson <=-
 RJT> You didn't use the shifter shell (the part where the shift lever
 RJT> attaches) from a junkyard,  did you?  I made that mistake once,  and
 RJT> it cracked on me again. 
 RJT> Apparently the design is flawed in terms of where it takes stresses. 
 RJT> I ended up getting a *new* one from a local Ford dealer and it didn't
 RJT> cost me all that much,  under $10 if I remember right,  and the new
 RJT> unit definitely showed some differences in design... 
 LR> No I didn't get it from a junk yard I got it from a guy who
 LR> has his own  repair shop who does only old Fords.
 LR> The one he sold me was cast about twice as thick as the one my 
 LR> truck had originally. So apparently it was one of the newer 
 LR> designs that took into consideration the stress points. 
Ok,  it sounds like you got one of the good ones,  then.
 LR> I will have to give the local Ford dealer a call and see if 
 LR> that part is still available.
I don't see why it wouldn't be,  there are an awful lot of those trucks on 
the road these days...
 LR> My recent trips down there have come out fruitless even for 
 LR> those little clips that hold the parking brake cables into the 
 LR> frame.
I lucked out and found out which dealers in my area really tend to stock a 
lot more parts than most of them,  one in particular for Ford stuff and 
another couple for other makes...
 LR> Wouldn't happen to know of any place that would mail order the 
 LR> front parking light sockets would you?  One of mine is rusted 
 LR> out and the other one is having a hard time holding onto the 
 LR> light bulb.  The local dealer no longer carries these.
Not offhand,  I don't do much mail-order for stuff like that.  Though it 
ought to be fairly easy to find a replacement socket at a well-stocked auto 
parts store,  and there is a fair degree of interchangeability there.  I had 
to replace the one socket in my Dodge Monaco,  one of the rear ones,  where 
somebody had spliced the wires and actually soldered one of them to the bulb 
in there (!).  The one I put in came out of a Ford Escort station wagon that 
was headed for the junkyard...
email: roy.j.tellason%tanstaaf@frackit.com 
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