The factory shifter on my 87 Mustang GT loosened up by themselves in a couple of years. They had thread lock on them, and I'm not an aggressive shifter. I tightened them myself, and they've held for over 20 years. I get the feeling that sometimes they just don't properly tighten the fasteners in the factory.

 

My 92 F150 had this same problem. I tried looking it up in Chilton's F150 repair manual and couldn't find anything relevant under "Steering" or "Transmission." So I did a google search under "92 F150 column shifter loose" and it took me to this link.

I've been here dozens of times to get detailed information and have found this site to be "Excellent +++" So I saved myself a lot of trouble and expense by coming here.

Yeah, all I had to do was tighten the two TorX screws! Number 30 was the correct TorX. TorX 27 was a little too loose. Next TorX up from 30 was 40 and 40 was way too big. Nothing between TorX 27 and 30 either. Weird numbering system.

Thanks to all for all the great information and for this very informative website.

Regards,
Larry

 

So my bolts are tight. I triple checked. The play is not at the bracket.
When I climb under my dash I see a lot of play between the shift rod and the plastic sleeve when I move the shifter up and down (in park).. prob 1-2" of slack. So where do I check next?

I have an 02 F150 (7700 series) with a Fabtech 6" long arm kit, 5.4 v8 and 4100R trans if that helps.

Thanks!

 

I had the exact same problem on my 97 Aerostar column shifter. All of the bolts were tight, but it was still sloppy as you have described in the above.

I removed the shifter arm, which is held in place by a steel dowel bolt and a super tiny rubber bumper insert, and noticed a pile of aluminum particles that had accumulated from the the wear and tear of the shifter arm on the shifter tube connection, where the shifter arm connects to the column shift tube.

It seems to be a two-fold problem, or maybe a three-fold problem, or maybe a four-fold problem? The following is from my own experience:

1) The shifter arm was loose because the steel dowel bolt was loose, because the part of the aluminum shifter tube that held the shifter arm in place was partially shaven of its original aluminum vice dimensions.

2) The super tiny rubber insert, and I am not sure if there should be two, one above and one below the shifter arm socket, but if it is missing, the shifter arm will have a lot of play.

3) A broken shift tube arm is a high possibility of a loose shifter arm, but unlikely if you cannot see it broken looking down the shaft movements.

It is still a mystery to me why the shifter arm becomes loose (other than the non-existence loose bolts).

 

so... when I climb under the dash... and I am looking at the aluminum rod and the black sleeve (tube) and I move the shifter up and down with the slack.... the rod moves within the tube over a inch or more freely.
If everything is working properly, should the rod slide through the tube or should this be a snug, or even tight, fit?

 

The shift tube is mounted on the top side of the steering column.

To be able to view it, the steering column plastic shrouds need to be removed. Which means the ignition lock cylinder needs to be removed.

 

maybe I will just learn to live with the guess-0-matic shifter in my F150

 

go to a Pull & Pay salvage yard where there are F150. there must be some similar vehicles to yours that are already partially dismantled, that way you can see and practice before doing it in your vehicle.

 

Dorman now makes a replacement shift tube kit, their No. 905-100, and it comes with the plastic bushings. It's around $30. Fits Aerostar, trucks, vans, other Ford cars too.

 

My apologies for hurried post; I am very limited on time tonight.

The pics that follow I took back in March. I was in there to lobotomize the shifter interlock, and to make it easier to manually shift to "2" and "L". The shifter was extremely notchy and difficult to downshift, and I'm one of those people who actually use those shift positions a lot, so it was important to me to make it easier to shift. Anyway, I took pics along the way.

(click on any image for larger)

Remove the usual stuff: lower panel cover. Disconnect the PRND2L indicator string. In the pic, I unhooked it and unscrewed it from the adjuster, but that's probably not necessary if you're just replacing the shifter tube. However, that cable's 90° fitting breaks very easily, so you may want to unscrew it to avoid stressing it.




Now you can remove the four 15mm nuts and lower the column to access the top of column where the shifter tube's mounted.




Use a Torx socket to remove the screws that retain the wire harness guide. They're smaller than the tube saddle screws, but I don't recall what size.




With the wire harness shoved off to the left, you can remove the shifter gate. Torx T30.



This is the shift gate that I was in there to modify. I filed the two corners shown, and that made a world of difference in manual downshifting.



I didn't remove my shift tube, as it's not broken, but I hope these pics help if someone needs to change theirs. I've replaced a couple over the years, but no pics. If you go to the JY, you'll find many of them missing from columns. I think I'd give the Dorman replacement a try, if I had to replace mine.

 

Thanks for the info, tightened up those torx and lo and behold.... she shifts nice and tight again!!

 

Whoops, didn't catch that this was the Aerostar forum until I posted, either way it worked on my 95 Eddie Bauer f150 302, so thanks again!