slopppppppy shifter

[acousticrawk]

i have a Mazda M5OD-R1 in my 93 3.4 2wd ranger, and i was wondering if there is anything i can do to take the slop out of the shift. BTW, the tranny has over 200,000 miles on it and the gears are noisey! haha, just needs a fluid change i think, nothing grinds or is hard to shift at all, just whiney, anyone reccomend a good fluid for high mileage trannies like this one? and anything to help with the slop would be great!

PS: does anyoen make a short shift? or can i just hacksaw the one i have? haha. onot looking for a "short shifter", just somehting a little shorter. 6 inches less maybe.

[MAKG]

No fluid on God's green earth is going to put the steel back onto your pitted gears and/or bearings.

You can replace the bushings within the stick, but when your transmission whines, that's the early warning that you broke it by not looking at the fluid more often.

If you don't look at that whine for what it is, your next sign is going to be a disabled vehicle.

[TireIron]

Hurst is the only company that sells a short shifter and damn does it make the shifts REALLY nice and tight and clean. If you want though you can just get new shifter bushings for inside the top cover of the tranny and they can be replaced right through the top although if yours have fallen apart and into the tranny then the tranny may be starving for fluid as the pieces may be blocking the pickups for the oil pump.

[MAKG]

There is no oil pump nor oil pump pickup. There are various passages through the gears and the case. The gears pump the oil.

And the whining noise is caused by steel that isn't smooth. The damage is done.

[acousticrawk]

yeah, i assumed that the tranny will just always be noisey, i was just hoping. i just got the truck...93 ranger (CHEAP) and it runs fine and looks good, just sloppy shifter. i pulled a bunch of pieces out of the top of the shifter that i believe are the old bushing. is there anywhere i in particular i should go for that bushing? like does advanced carry it?

can i get a link to where i can pick up a hurst shifter?

thanks guys.

[fastpakr]

You can get the bushings at the dealer, they aren't very expensive. I'd definitely replace them before even considering the money for a Hurst shifter.

[TireIron]

you can get the hurst from summit and probably jegs and things like that, it is about 200 bucks. For the bushings you can go to ford and get two of part number 1L2Z*7228*AA. The upper and lower bushing are identical which is why you get two of that part number. To install the lower bushing after pulling the stub shaft out of the top of the tranny you drive out one of the pins with a hammer and punch then pull the bushing and install the new one then hammer the pin back into place and reassemble everything. Make sure you put the stub shaft back in the correct way, with the correct side facing foward.

[acousticrawk]

how do i install the upper? right now i have NO bushings. does it just sit below the pin towards the end of the stub shaft?

after i replace the bushings, can i just hack the shifter shaft down 6 inches (or less, just to somewhere a little more comfortable for me)? i mean, i can, but would anyone reccomend against it? i know some people say they just grind gears and crap when the hack them down... im a pretty cautious shifter though, never grind gears or beat my tranny, especially sense i just have the 2.3...no sense in dogging it all the time.

[TireIron]

ok, well it goes like this with the stub shaft lifted out, it goes flat washer, wavy washer, lower bushing (with the cut outs for the pins it's obvious which way the bushing sits) then the stub shaft drops in (facing the right way), then the other bushing, wavy washer, and flat washer, then the boot/top plate bolts back on.

[racsan]

ive had a hurst for about a year now, it shifts great but makes alot of noise in all forward gears but 5th, the stock setup does a good job of cancelling noise.

[racsan]

it does look cool though.http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l241/racsan_2006/fordtruck002.jpg

[madmax401]

I had a m50 4x4 trans that was doing the same thing. first it started whinning - then started to pop out of first- and then lost second.
just my 2 cents .......forget the shifter for now and get that trans looked at .