I have a 1983 F250 4wd, 4spd with floor shifter. The truck has 90K on it and the shifter is very loose. There are no problems getting the truck into gear once you have the shifter lined up properly. What needs to be replaced or tightened up to eliminate the slop in the shifter?

Thanks for all assistance.

Warren

 

Borg Warner T18's (& T19) have a hardened pin in the LH side of the shifter tower, under the retainer cap to prevent the shifter from turning in your hand.
Over time, the pin slowly wears the slot in the shifter ball oversize - as the wear gets worse, the shifter is able to swivel slightly in your hand, making shifting vague.

The hole in the shift tower, that holds the pin, also gets slogged out allowing much more movement in the shifter.
This is the main cause of the shifter sloppiness.

If these holes are very loose I have drilled them slightly oversize, fitted an oversize pin (or two tension pins - one inside the other), & then ground the shifter slot to suit.

If the hole isn't loose, I've welded up the worn sections in the shifter ball slots with a stainless steel based rod, then carefully ground them clean, taking off the minimum possible material; any excess clearance here gets magnified in feel on the shifter.
The stainless welds work-harden, so last better without being too hard to grind easily.

Doing all this you can get a good result with a clean, positive shift again.

The NP435 transmissions are a similar design, but have two pins, so they wear less in the ball slots; but the pins tend to come loose in the aluminum shift tower.

One thing to be careful for with the B/W transmissions - it is possible to lose the pin from the shift tower down into the transmission when you pull the shifter out

 

Ken,
Thanks for the reply will take a look at what you have suggested and see if that's my problem. And thanks for the warning about the pin falling into the transmission.
Warren