Thought this might help someone, I searched on here and found one mention of it.

The shifter on the column in my '95 was really sloppy but there were nice positive clicks in the selector arm on the transmission. I had to push way up to get park and couldn't get 1st, and always had to guess if I was in D or 2, or R or N. I had someone get in the truck and move the shifter within its area of slop and did not see any movement under the truck.

On '92-'96 trucks there is a long shaft that runs down from the base of the shifter to just over the brake pedal. At the end of this there are two Torx T-30 screws that came loose and just had to be tightened. The screws hold on a small arm at the end of the shaft that connects to the shift cable. No trim panels even had to be removed, literally about a minute job. The screws had almost backed completely out.

Hopefully this is the right place to post this, I think this is '92-'96 specific.

 

Just had to do the same to my dad's '96. One was half way out the other was about 1/4 of the way out. Tightened them up, now gear selector is aligned.
Now why did they back out? I believe its because its hard to get out of Park. I disconnected cable at Trans. and everything is fine. So it has to be inside the tranny to make it so difficult to get out of Park. Any ideas?

This was an old post, but the only one I could find.

 

Yeah, it's strange, I think you and I are about the only people to comment about ever having this problem so I think it's not very common. My truck has never been hard to get out of "Park" so I really doubt that's it. If it's hard to get out of Park I wonder are you parking it on a hill most of the time? That will put pressure against the parking pawl and it will take more pressure to disengage it. Regardless I think the bolts were just not torqued quite right or were not spec'ed quite right for the application. A properly designed, constructed and assembled bolt joint should never come loose.

 

I believe it is the parking pawl. My sister has a very steep driveway, and I think when dad visits he don't always use P-brake.
As for the bolts, I did notice that there wasn't any kind of thread locker on it. It also looks as if they tighten into a soft metal so you really couldn't put too much of a torque on it. If they loosen again I believe I'll probably use some thread locker (Loctite) on them. Then again he is talking about buying a new one.

 

My 94 never had that much slop but it did go past the gears I had selected a litte bit, I tightened it up and it is as good as new. Thanks for the advice.

 

I've been searching for a problem with my shifter for a few weeks now, had more slop than a hog farm. couldn't tell if it was in park or drive half the time. followed your advice and shifts into place better than when I bought it. some other forums led me to believe that I had to replace some bushings in the column, but you guys steered me right. thanks a bunch!!!!

 

Have had the same problem for a while now. Keep meaning to do a search on it and finally did. Hopefully your solution will work for me too! I'll post back with results.

 

Mine has a modest amount of slop, so I'm glad to see this. I'll try this out, thanks!

 

Took a look tonight and the bolts were very loose. Tightened them up and it shifts like new. For reference I have a 96 F150 with the 4R70W transmission.

Thanks guys!

 

Most interesting, I'm going to check on my 94 for the same problem. It's not bad but could be better and the fix is about as easy as it gets.

Thanks for the post gatesj

 

I have a problem with this, except where those two screw go in the entire thing is loose....... do those 2 screws run through the entire assembly to hold it into place or is there other bolts that hold the assembly in place? the whole damn thing is loose and the only way I could get it home was to take a screwdriver and push in the button that allows you to shift it then put it into drive while holding the brake in. Of course this is the only place that I know of that someone would know the answer...... I found this site a while agoo and it is a must have bookmark for f150 owners. I just replaced the 4.9 300 a couple weeks ago, but I'm sure this is unrelated to the engine replacement as the only thing the transmission was involved with was a little wiggle lining the pins up with the new engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated..... I'm gonna work on it in the morning......

 

just wanted to let anyone else looking for this problem that it was the tube....... I went to the ford dealer and bought a new tube and inner rod for 35 bucks. It took about 2 hours. had to pull the entire steering column down to get the tube out and put the new one in, but it wasnt a big deal. just disconnect the steering column from the knuckle inside the firewall. of course my 92 does not have airbags so that may differ from yours.

 

Good to see a few people have benefited from this, it was about a year and a half ago that I found this problem.

The other problem I have heard of that's similar is what jaxbft was talking about, check the screws first, it's obviously less expensive.

 

WOW thanks.


I have this problem on my 93 and like you I checked the linkage on the trannie.

and salos read about some bushings that had to b replaced SO I fugured the heck with it...

THANKS again

 

My shifter was sloppy till it broke and the truck towed home. The bolts were tight so I am thinking this tube and rod and plan on checking tonight. I am not in the forum much anymore but thank goddes for it.