I have a 1993 Dodge D250 truck, 12v Cummins, with the Getrag 360 transmission. I am in the process of replacing the pilot bushing, and probably the clutch also. I have taken off everything I can see in order to remove the shifter from the top of the transmission including the snap ring, and the two centering screws on the sides of the tower.

I cannot get the shifter to pull up out of the tower. I have tapped on the sides of the tower while pulling on the shifter and cannot get the assembly to come out. The piece around the ball looks like it has come up a little above the groove for the snap ring, after working with it for an hour, but won't budge anymore. It doesn't seem like it should be this hard to remove.

Has anyone had a similar problem removing the shifter from this transmission? If so, do you have any tips or tricks you could share?

 

I had mine out recently. I didn't have any trouble getting mine out. Once I removed the snap ring and placed the shifter in neutral it popped right out.

 

There are a couple of set screw type alignment pins on the sides. Remove those and it might help. Then press down and release the shift lever. The spring should pop it up. Might need to do it a few times.

 

Well what happened man? Did you get it out?

 

Sorry for the slow reply. I finally got the shifter out of the tower, but it wasn't easy. I could tell that it had been removed before by the way the top of the cup washer around the shifter ball looked on top. The top of the washer looked like it had been hit in different places with a punch or some other blunt obect by previous owner(s).

I kept pushing down and releasing the shifter and then tapping up on the gear shift lever itself where it bolts to the extension. I finally got the top of the cup washer near the top of the tower, then held down on the shifter while using a small screw driver first between the shifter ball and the washer to pry the washer up little by little all the way around it. The farther I moved the washer up, the larger the screwdriver I could use for leverage. After getting the cup washer almost all the way out, the spring tension on the shifter pushed it and the shift lever right out.

I think that cup washer was probably spread out at the top making it so tight from the previous owner(s) hitting on it. I am going to try and get a new washer to use when I put it all back together.