Dormans sells a $27 shifter bushing kit - Did you do it?

[Garth Libre]

There are lots of youtube videos showing great manual shifter improvement for our trucks, just by replacing two plastic spacers, two press out pins and a metal washer right at the manual floor shifter pivot. If you did this, did you run into any issues and at what milage did you start to find slop in the manual shifter? Dormans 1983 to 2011 shifter repair kit sells for $27 ( Dormans kit #917-551)

 

[Shran]

Yeah it's the same kit that used to be $10

Does NOT fit '83-87 though nor does it fit some 88-92's. M5OD transmissions only. If your shifter is loose and floppy and it's hard to find various gears, you need this. Could fall apart at any mileage... I have done a lot of them.

 

[Curious Hound]

I bought the kit several years ago. Haven’t installed it yet.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I bought three kit several years ago. Haven’t installed it yet.

That honestly makes me feel better about a couple things I've bought and haven't installed yet.

 

[Garth Libre]

I have 120,000 miles. I don't feel any obvious signs of shifter slop but I'm wondering how much better it could be if I installed the kit. It looks like a half hour of work (for me it would be one hour - ha ha).

 

[Josh B]

Mine has , well, heading for 400K but never had a thought of needing anything to improve the shifting, it always does what needs done, with no gripes or squeeks

 

[gw33gp]

I replaced mine at around 125K miles with OEM parts. I had discovered the top one was cracked but still shifting fine. At around 250 K miles I had the transmission rebuilt and apparently, they only replaced the top one. Less than 10K miles later the shifting got sloppy. I found the bottom bushing missing and ground up into fine particles in the transmission.

 

[Curious Hound]

That honestly makes me feel better about a couple things I've bought and haven't installed yet.

If you're using me as the gold standard, you're in trouble.

 

[pjtoledo]

oh crap

 

[superj]

is that the trans behind the 3.0? mine is still good at 205k in the 04

 

[Jazzer]

My ‘07 M5OD rebuilt kit included the shifter bushings but the pins in the top cover were NOT press out. I had to massage the lower bushing into place after soaking it in boiling water.

-Jazzer

 

[Garth Libre]

I replaced mine at around 125K miles with OEM parts. I had discovered the top one was cracked but still shifting fine. At around 250 K miles I had the transmission rebuilt and apparently, they only replaced the top one. Less than 10K miles later the shifting got sloppy. I found the bottom bushing missing and ground up into fine particles in the transmission.

I guess it's wise for me to replace the bushings at 120,000 rather than have them ground up into a million plastic parts.

My ‘07 M5OD rebuilt kit included the shifter bushings but the pins in the top cover were NOT press out. I had to massage the lower bushing into place after soaking it in boiling water.

-Jazzer

I think you can improvise a pin press with nothing more than a C clamp and a stack of washers. You stack the washers around the pin so that one side of the pin is free to move and the other side is being pushed on by the clamp. . Then you tighten the clamp and it will push out right through the washer stack (you could use a short section of PVC pipe or even a piece of wood with a hole drilled in it)

 

[Shran]

I have always been able to get the pins out with a round punch and some light taps with a hammer. They are often pretty worn out from rubbing on the shifter stub.

 

[Jazzer]

I’m pretty inventive and tried everything that wouldn’t break the mounting ears off. Small c-clamp w/ socket receiver, etc. Maybe they were galled in there but there was no removing them.

-Jazzer

 

[Josh B]

I replaced mine at around 125K miles with OEM parts. I had discovered the top one was cracked but still shifting fine. At around 250 K miles I had the transmission rebuilt and apparently, they only replaced the top one. Less than 10K miles later the shifting got sloppy. I found the bottom bushing missing and ground up into fine particles in the transmission.

Just one of the primary reasons I prefer doing my own work as far as possible