So the shifter tube on my 96’ F-350 broke a week or so ago. I ordered the Dorman replacement piece off amazon as I really couldn’t find any other options online besides some used OEM ones on eBay and the Dorman unit. Rock auto only carried the Dorman one as well as my local parts stores (Advance Auto Pep Boys etc.) so guess Dorman is the only aftermarket company making this part? Well I got it on the bench yesterday so I could assemble it all back together with my new Dorman part and put it back in the truck but stopped as after opening the Dorman unit from the box as it seamed super sloppy to me. The shaft has ALOT of play within the tube. The original one I was replacing with 200k miles and god knows how many shifts on it had some play in it as well but no where near as much as the Dorman unit. Was just curious if anyone else had replaced their shifter tubes with the Dorman part and had the same sloppiness issue or maybe I just got a defective product? It had a 4.5/5 Star review on amazon and most were praising the fit and fact it felt OEM but for a fraction of the price so makes me think I got a bad part but not sure. What y’all think? A video would do it more justice but can’t figure out how to post a video here so hope the picture of the two side by side shows just how much looser the inner shaft is inside the tube of the Dorman unit compared to the OEM one.

FYI the one with the black inner shaft is the OEM one and the Silver inner shaft is the Dorman unit.

 

I’ve replaced 3 of them with Dorman’s at work and that’s just how they are. We did have one come back broken but that was due to customer use (it’s a jobsite truck for an excavation company so they beat it to death) and not a result of a bad replacement. The other truck is still working fine as far as I know.

Just make sure to torque the clamp bolts to spec and line up the shaft correctly and you shouldn’t have any problems.

 

Were the shifters sloppy after putting them all back together? That’s my fear is putting it all together then having the shifter lever just flopping around all over the place.

 

Not that I can recall.

It might be a little sloppy when you first install it, but wait until you have the column reinstalled and the shifter cable properly adjusted before condemning the tube.

What does the end of shift lever look like? Does it appear to be severely worn?

 

This is what I’m working with. Don’t believe it’s “severely” worn but it’s not pristine either. Definitely has some wear on it. I’m thinking I may just hit the junk OBS behind my buddies shop and rob it for the shifter tube and lever if it’s better than mine.

 

shift tubes break. there is no reason for it, they just break. granted abuse or a frozen neutral safety switch or frozen shift cable helps them go bad, but i have had ford replacements units break within 3 years of use.

i had one break on a rarely used truck that was babied, garage kept, and in near mint condition.
shifted with one finger. next day went to move the truck and the shifter just flopped down.

 

The shifter lever doesn’t look bad (for age and mileage). Clean up the burrs with a file, clean and apply a thin film of lithium grease to it before reinstalling.