FM-145 Shifter Sloppy

[Hitchner2009]

Hey guys, so my shifter for my Fm145 is sloppy, the shifter acts likes its in neutral even when in gear, and what I mean is I can shake it around back and forth in gear and it moves alot instead of being tight. Any idea as to what causes that? I swear I read somewhere about there being a bearing on top of the trans under the shifter, but I cant remember.

 

[adsm08]

On the end of the shifter is a teflon ball. It has broken. Replacement parts have been unavailable since sometime in the mid 90s. Sorry for your luck.

 

[Hitchner2009]

So then to the junkyard if I can find one. Can I just pull the housing off and replace it if I can find one?

 

[adsm08]

Yup, the pyramid housing and the shift lever.

 

[Hitchner2009]

Alright cool. I have a Ford Master tech in my shop that knows about it, he said hes had some luck with shimming it to take the slop out due to unavailabilty of parts. Had any luck or done anything like that??

 

[Hitchner2009]

So i pulled the shifter housing off last night and the teflon ball was intact. Moved the shift fork back and forth and there is absolutely no play like in the shifter. So i guess its not as bad as i thought, maybe thats just how it is?? No broken parts or anything. There was a plastic cup thing that was under the boot with a washer on top of it, but it was loose, that moves up and down a little if i move it, idk what the heck thats for maybe thats a problem? i couldnt pull it off because there was a nub on the shifter that stopped it from coming all the way off.

 

[Vonschlassen]

it has been a long time since this was posted but i am currently working on designing and 3d printing up a replacement pyramid housing. in my case the housing had cracked allowing the plastic piece on the shift stick to pop out of the slots on the inside of the housing. the plastic on the shift stick seems to be permanently affixed to it so as for now i will have to figure out how to work with that. if it works i will come back and update. i was very disappointed by the lack of parts to get for the fm145 so i figure ill try to fill some of that gap for people in a situation like me that cant or wont spend 300-400 on the core shifter upgrade.