67-79 Ford F-100, F-250 Pickup Truck Trans Kickdown Rod-all V-8, 2v Engines on 2040-parts.com

AN IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PURCHASERS AND/OR INSTALLERS OF KICKDOWN RODS

I have had many years of experience fabricating kickdown rods for nearly all the different Ford cars and trucks ranging from the 1963 to the 1986 model years.  All of my rods are made from STOCK  FORD templates, reproduced and have been verified by every first purchaser of a particular rod to fit the year, model, engine and transmission that it is described to fit.  No one else in the world is doing this.

This changes when a high rise manifold is installed, as it raises the carburetor up making the stock kickdown rod TOO SHORT. Another thing that will make the rod too short is when a setup has been changed over from 2 barrel carb to a 4 barrel carb. The rod must then be made longer to accommodate moving the connection point on the carb kickdown lever.   This makes it important to know if the intake manifold is a standard rise or high rise  and also whether the carb has been changed out with a 4 barrel where a 2 barrel was originally stock. These situations will require a special rod be made for the setup and making it is not a problem as long as I know what the setup is.  There is NO extra charge for making this kind of rod.

Another potential issue can come as a result of the installer not understanding exactly how the Ford designed kickdown rod works insofar as where the carburetor kickdown lever should be when at rest. The lever must sit very near to Wide Open Throttle (WOT) in order for the kickdown to function properly.  There should be a little more than .500 inch of travel left in the rearward stroke of the kickdown lever when it is connected to the kickdown rod. When full throttle is applied to pass, (into “passing gear”,  as it is sometimes called) the throttle lever or an arm on the throttle shaft (depending on the carburetor type) contacts the kickdown lever in its near full rearward position and moves it about  .500 inch to initiate the kickdown of the transmission. The kickdown rod should NOT reach to the carburetor kickdown lever if the lever is fully forward at the idle position. 

Some aftermarket carburetors will have a stop screw inserted thru the kickdown lever that locks the lever FORWARD, preventing it from going back to a near WOT location as it should.  This lock screw MUST be removed from the lever to allow total rearward movement of the lever so that the kickdown rod will reach its connection pin on the lever satisfactorily.  The kickdown rod must NEVER be attached to the throttle lever or to a carburetor that does not have the proper kickdown lever installed. The kickdown lever should be lightly spring loaded FORWARD against the up-stop on the transmission kickdown lever once it is connected to the kickdown rod.

A complete adjustment procedure is sent with every kickdown rod sold.

Kickdown Rods Galore & More LLC