Sloppy shifter... not the rebuild kit or transmission

[honhon]

Hey all... im sure they may be others out there... but i was wondering if anyone has a fix for a sloppy shifter...

i installed one of those shifter rebuild kits with the bushings but the sloppiness isnt the bushings or the transmission...

its the slop when the shifter is in neutral... it can just flop back and forth...

i was thinking about a thin wired spring inbetween the base of the shifter rod and the top of the "gold" plate that holds the bushings in place...

any ideas?

thank you.

 

[Insanejughead]

Did your shifter have the "wavy" washer still installed?

IIRC, there should be a washer like that in there. It acts like a spring and helps with sloppiness.

 

[RonD]

+1..

Yes the 2 wavy washers needs to be in and in the correct places to tighten up the shifter, and of course, the cap needs to be tightened down.

Have a look here and see if the wavy washers are in the right place:
http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/winter2007/shifterbushings.htm

If you still feel a looseness then add another flat washer to tighten it up, the bushings don't tighten things up, the compression of the bushings does, and that is done by the top cap and flat and wavy washers.

You could add a spring under the boot, if you want.

 

[adsm08]

Also, if you didn't get the nut on the pinch bolt tight enough it puts a LOT of slop in the shifter and can make it hard to get into gear.

Ask me how I know. Also, ask me how much money I wasted trying to fix stupid.

 

[honhon]

i think i actually only got 2 regular non wavy washers...

the wedge bolt is tight... i may try adding another upper and lower washer, or maybe try and find the wavy washers at ace hardware.

 

[adsm08]

Yeah, the wave-spring washers are important.

 

[Insanejughead]

Also, if you didn't get the nut on the pinch bolt tight enough it puts a LOT of slop in the shifter and can make it hard to get into gear.

Ask me how I know. Also, ask me how much money I wasted trying to fix stupid.

I must know. I must ask how you came to know about how much the pinch bolt needs to be tightened and added to the slop.

I must also know how much money you wasted. I must know how much you tried to fix stupid is as stupid does.

I MUST KNOW!



Also, back to the OP. I have an M5OD with over 300,000mi on it, and the bushings are still good. The one time I took the shifter out to check everything (and add fluid because I thought I was low), it turns out that the bushings were original and hadn't been worn down much.

I also came to find out that my shifter plugs were already of the freeze plug type. AFAIK, they were there from being stock. I highly doubt any of the previous owners of my truck knew much about mechanic stuff.

 

[honhon]

the tranny i got had the rubber plugs and i put the freeze plugs in for that that was a nice little mod...

and


ill probably hit up ace hardware monday or tuesday to see what i can find and report back.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

ill probably hit up ace hardware monday or tuesday to see what i can find and report back.

Why don't you go to the Ford dealer and get the CORRECT parts. ACE ain't gonna be the place...... You are not going to find anything close to those wave washers there.

I replaced the bushings in mine at something around 250K mi. The original bushings were GONE! Just particles of the bushing plastic remained on the shoulder where the bushings seat, and a couple of pieces of metal that somewhat resembled the washers. The shifter ball had worn a slight chamfer on the ID of the shoulder of the hole in the case.

I really suspect the OP is complaining about the strong spring that pushes the shifter to the left and out of the Rev/5th gate and the weaker spring that pushes the shifter to the right and out of the 1st/2ed gate.

Charles

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Pics continued

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Last four of the pic sequence.

 

[scotts90ranger]

He's not talking about the bushings, or the wavy washers, he's talking about it being loose side to side as in doesn't stand straight up on it's own, which is something in the top plate, when I had my tranny apart I forgot to look into that on mine as it's loose on the 1/2 side and stiff on the 5/R side so I wore out that side.

insanejughead, one of the previous owners had the tranny out at one time, probably for a clutch or something and while they were there they probably replaced the bushings, Ford never put the freeze plugs in from the factory, some shop did it.

 

[honhon]

its only sloppy when in neutral... its like the shifter is missing tension or something when in neutral... i could suspect the wavy washers and there might not be enough pressure on the pivot ball to cause the shifter to feel stiffer

but if thats the case... then i should maybe be able to pull the shifter up and down, but i cant...

im not sure though... ill have to look for the wavy washers to make sure since i know i only installed 2 regular ones with my kit.

 

[scotts90ranger]

if you can't pull it up or down, and it's just sloppy side to side in neutral I wouldn't worry about it as long as you don't rely on the spring for gear identification (I've been driving mine for 13 years, I know what gear is what...). Like I said, my 1/2 spring is shot, barely any return to center, didn't see anything really odd when I had the tranny apart, wish I would have looked for the weak spring but it doesn't really matter...

 

[honhon]

i dont think its the return spring for the gear... i think there is a gap between the end of the stub and the "craddle" for the shift gates or however you want to call them.

im not trying to nag this or seem like im not taking ideas... im just trying to cross ideas etc.