My shifter is sloppy. It's the factro shifter. Car supposedly has 55K miles and feels like it since it is relatively tight overall. It goes into gear w/out problems, but sometimes I have a hard time finding 3rd (going from 2nd) and seems worse when I'm downshifting. I've driven plenty of 4 speed cars over the years and this trans is just not the way it should be. Is my linkage worn out? Are there some bushings that have gone bad? There's no grinding, clunks, thunks or funny noises...just this sloppyness.

thanks.

 

There are adjustments for the factory shifter. Each shift rod has two bolts, that straddle the bell crank. They center the rod in the neutral position. 1st and 2nd share one rod, 3rd and 4th another and then finally Reverse has it's own rod, that needs to be centered. If any of the bolts come loose, that means extra play and possible shift problems.

 

You can also rebuild it, if necessary.

 

Taking the shifter out is pretty easy from what I can remember at the moment anyways....
Remove shift know, T handle, spring.
Then pull clip retainer out of each shift rod.
Support transmission with a jack stand, then unbolt the cross member and carefully lower everything. Careful of the reverse switch...a bit fragile..and a bit expensive to replace.

Then you can rebuild the shifter at a bench instead of under the car.

Have fun.