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i have a 1988 f150 4x4 with a 302 and a 5 speed tranny and the shifter is loose like you all know how the shifter on a stick transmission is supposed to move straight left to right when its in nuetral well when mines in nuetral it goes in sort of a j pattern towards 1rst gear but its hard to get in 1rst gear ive talked to alot of people and they all said that body style ford had problems with thier shifter pins breaking aloot. but i pulled the shifter boot up out of the way and when i was looking at the shift ball and there was some sort of ring that went around the shifter that looked like it was broke too. so i guess my question is what could cause the play in the shifter.
i have a 1988 f150 4x4 with a 302 and a 5 speed tranny and the shifter is loose like you all know how the shifter on a stick transmission is supposed to move straight left to right when its in nuetral well when mines in nuetral it goes in sort of a j pattern towards 1rst gear but its hard to get in 1rst gear ive talked to alot of people and they all said that body style ford had problems with thier shifter pins breaking aloot. but i pulled the shifter boot up out of the way and when i was looking at the shift ball and there was some sort of ring that went around the shifter that looked like it was broke too.
so i guess my question is what could cause the play in the shifter.
Wear.
Your truck is 20 years old...how many times has the shift lever been moved.. ..20,000 times?
You have (I assume) the TK (Mazda) 5 Speed.
The shift lever is in two pieces. The lower shift lever, ball and socket and bearing/washers are worn.
Alright, here is my fix. I took off the boot, and unscrewed the top flange. Then removed the cover underneath, and the spring. At this point you can see the pin. Mine was broken, causing the swivel. You can also (carefully) pull the whole shifter out now. On the 88 model (and maybe the 89?), that pin only seats halfway through the shifter (thus the common breakage). I removed the broken part that was left, careful to not let it drop into the transmission case. Then, cut a new roll pin to size with a grinder and put it back together. Thats that.
mine was the broken pin as well but after i replaced the pins it started grinding when shifting from first to second. so i drove it till it till my neighbor blew the engine last fall and junked it and bought a 92 f 150