Shift Arm To Shift Tube Mating

[FuzzyDriver]

Comet 202, Automatic transmission, column shift, 200 6-cyl

The shift tube pulled up enough to let the shift arm come out of the bottom of the shift tube. IOW, turning the shift tube no longer changes which gear the AT is in. I tried wiggling the arm around while my wife pushed on the sleeve with no effect. Is there some trick to mating the tab into the slot without having to completely remove the steering column? I'd really like to avoid pulling the steering column just to get those two back together. Thanks!

[FuzzyDriver]

Looks like the cause of my issue was not what I thought it was. And thank goodness I stumbled onto the actual cause before I pulled the steering column, so I'll describe it and hopefully I can help someone else in the future.

The REAL problem keeping me from pushing the shift tube all the way in was the stock NEUTRAL-START SWITCH / BACKUP-LIGHT SWITCH. When the shift tube came up it passed the actuator section that pushes the neutral-start and backup-light contacts when you shift into Park, Reverse, & Neutral. When I was trying to push the shift tube back down it was hitting the switch contacts from the side, preventing any further insertion. I removed the neutral-start/backup-light switch (2 x 5/16 sheetmetal screws). Once removed, I could push the shift tube farther down and, with a little wiggling, the tab on the shift tube slid into the shift arm slot allowing the shift tube to go the rest of the way down against the bottom spring.

As an aside, I had already done away with the wiring to the stock (steering column) neutral-start/backup-light by installing the transmission-mounted switch. If I had removed the stock switch, rather than abandoning it in-place, I never would have had the problem. So if you plan on swapping out the 2-speed Mer-O-Matic for a better transmission (C4, C5, AOD, whatever) I recommend using the transmission-mounted switch and toss the stock switch. c'est la vie!