Trying to figure out a way to do this

[alloy]

I bought a kit for a shift rod for my automatic trans. Decent quality kit, but the rod is hard as a diamond it seems. I wanted to cut the rod to length and thread the 2nd end to go directly into the rod end but there is no way. Just too damned hard.

One one end of the rod it is threaded and goes into a rod end, the other end is smooth and you cut it to length and had this slip on adapter with a 8mm x 1.0 threaded stud on it. The adapter has two very small allen lock screws to hold the rod in.

I'm not thrilled with just the lock screws holding the rod. When down shifting the pressure is pushing the rod into the adapter, but when going into park it's trying to pull the rod out of the adapter. With the rod being hard the screws have no way to bite into the rod, and the wall thickness of the adapter is .100 so I can't put too much pressure on the screws without stripping them. I thought about maybe taking my grinder and putting a couple of divots in the rod for the screws to get a bite on but again I can't tighten the screws enough in my opinion.

I can't make anything to heavy like a larger rod as the weight of it will be pushing down on the transmission arm.

So, how to lock this into the adapter?

 

[mmcmdl]

Mill a flat on it .

 

[K30]

Or get some brass tipped set screws, that should have more bite

 

[alloy]

A flat would help but still the screws are very small, about 6/32" or so (probably metric) and even if I put a flat on the rod I don't think I can get the screws tight enough to hold it without stripping the screw holes out.. I'm not sure if they make brass tipped set screws that small. I'll have to see if I can find some.

 

[Aukai]

Once you have it set for your length tack weld it, or drill a hole in the sleeve, and rosette weld it.

 

[alloy]

I'll try and see if I can weld the rod. There is a little extra length I can try on.

This rod is so hard I tried to grip it with vise grips and they wouldn't bite. Didn't even put a scratch in it.

 

[mickri]

If you don't want it to be permanent rough up the surface of the rod, make a couple of notches for the set screws and put it together with either epoxy or 3M 5200. Then if you need to take it apart in the future heat it to around 200*. That will break the bond of the epoxy/5200 allowing you to take it apart.

 

[Asm109]

Welder.

 

[alloy]

I just did a test weld on rod and it worked. I really didn't think it would weld as hard as it is. Goes to show you how little I know about welding.

I guess 2000 deg will do the trick.

Thanks for the rosette weld idea.

 

[GT-6 Racer]

I’d consider cross drilling it 1/8” and pin it. Then you can disassemble it later if need be. A quality carbide drill should be able to drill it. If it is too hard for a carbide drill I would be very careful welding it as it may turn glass hard and be likely to fracture.