Johnny Johnson you definitely can remove the shifter with the transmission remaining. Actually you will have to remove the shifter to drop the tranny. Here are the instructions from 1980-199 Ford Pick-Ups. Typical Haynes, kind of crummy but hope it'll help you out.
[image|1317501]
[image|1317502]
[image|1317503]
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Since yours is a 5-speed and you did not mention anything about OD, I added the manual for the Mazda S5-42 ZF Transmission [document|3874]
Johnny Johnson you definitely can remove the shifter with the transmission remaining. Actually you will have to remove the shifter to drop the tranny. Here are the instructions from 1980-199 Ford Pick-Ups. Typical Haynes, kind of crummy but hope it'll help you out.
[image|1317501]
[image|1317502]
[image|1317503]