It's a 1990 F150 manual / 4sp w/overdrive and a 5.0 engine. Something has broken where the shift lever attaches to the transmission. The lever is still firmly atteched but there is no tension on the lever as you are shifting from gear to gear and the slop is pretty bad. The pattern is still intact obviously but you sometimes have to really hunt before it slips into gear. It feels like a spring is missing but that is just to describe the slop since it doesn't have a spring in it to begin with. Seems to run fine once it is in gear but not sure if that is only temporary until something else gives way. The diagram in the shop manual is not very helpful as it does not show enough detail. If anybody has a better diagram or illustration I would be grateful.

I was able to remove the boot and inspect the assembly. I found a thin metal piece that resembled some type of retaining clip but it was bent and distorted. Once I removed the shifter itself from the tranny I saw another in the tranny and removed it. I can't find any detail that tells me what these pieces are, part #'s, or even how it should be reassembled. Sorry to dump so much info on you but am hopeful someone with an answer will take the time to respond. Very grateful for your help.

Mike

 

If it is a Mazda 5sp, which I think that it is, then I 'll try to help you figure it out.

Be advised that this all from memory, so I may not be 100% correct.


There should be two separate doughnut-shaped plastic pieces (spacers); one, maybe two spring washer; and two pivot pins that are pressed into the neck of the top plate.

One of the plastic spacers sits at the bottom of the shifter cavity. There are reliefs machined on one side of the spacers where the ball of the shift lever sits onto. So obviously the flat side of the spacer must face away from the shift lever ball. The ball portion of the lever has two grooves where it slips onto the pins. The other spacer is placed on top of the ball, and the spring washer(s) sits on the spacer. The shift cavity cover (with three screws) pushes down on the spring washer to keep everything tight.

Ford doesn't sale these parts so you would have to purchase the entire top plate. I found a company on the net that sold me a rebuild kit for the shift lever, it also came with the pivot pins. I'll try to find the site and repost.

If I'm completely incorrect with this, someone will be along to correct me.

Ed

 

Thanks Ed for giving it a shot. Much of what you describe seems to be consistent with what I am looking at. When you say it's a Mazda 5sp, I just want to make sure we are talking about an F150 and not a Ranger.

The doughnuts are what seem to be knarled and twisted. They are very thin but are made of metal and not plastic. I think they had a relief area notched into the side but since they are distorted it is hard to tell what they originally looked like. I did not find any evidence of a spring in the cavity. Seems like it needs one but I don't know how it would not be in the cavity - where can it go? I'll check to see if I can find a parts house that has the entire top plate and maybe it will have the parts I need as well as some assembly pics and instructions.

 

The F150 did come with the Mazda 5sp, but only with the 300/302 motors. You couldn't get the F150 2WD 5.8 motor with manual transmission back then.

The spring washer are large, round, wavy pieces that are made of spring steel. When I took my lever off, The plastic pieces where nowhere to be found. Apparently they disintegrated from wear. I still have the box that was sent to me laying around somewhere. Not sure if a parts house will have the parts you'll need; may need to contact a transmission rebuilder.

Just found the box, the company is Southern Gear Company. The washers are actually a set of four (at least that's how many are in the box). One of the washers has three tabs on the outside perimeter, the others are the same size but with out the tabs.

 

Here's the link to their Services page.

 

Thanks Ed. I'll be on the phone tomorrow. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

most of time the problems with the mazda trans was in the shifter seats 7228 and the wavy washers 7z120 and the leaky plugs 7A107

 

thanks for pointing out the correct nomenclature partsguyed. Hopefully the diagram will give him a better idea on how it all goes together.

19fifty4, I do believe that the at least one of the pivot pins needs to be pressed out of the way to install the shifter seats. Let me know if you will need help with that since I had to rig up something to do just that. Not sure if your pins are tightly pressed in like mine were.

Ed

 

Thanks guys. Made it to the Ford dealer today and he seemed to know what I needed before I had the shifter on the counter. Unfortunately he only had 2 of the 3 items I needed in stock. He gave me a copy of the diagram and ordered the part and hopefully I will have it tomorrow. Seems like it was a frequent problem back when there were more manual shifts on the road so he was used to seeing. Looks like reassembly might be a challenge so I'll check in when I get the parts. Thanks again.

 

I've got to fix leaking shift rail plugs soon and I ran across this video when looking for parts:


YouTube - M5OD BUSHING REPLACEMENT

For a Ranger, though, but same parts. I googled the P/N in the video and found:

M50D
Ranger M5R1 F-150 M5R2
Shifter Repair Kit

Repair your loose shifter with this replacement kit.

KIT INCLUDES:
3 M50D Screw
1 M50D Boot
1 Ford M5R Top Cover Washer
2 Shift Top Socket
2 TK/M50 Shift Top Pin
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
Your Cost $14.80



</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

http://www.allstategear.com/M50D%20Shifter%20Repair%20Kit.htm

 

Something must have changed since I did my repair. When I was looking for the parts I needed I was told that the only way to service the bottom shifter seats and wavy washers, was by replacing the the entire top plate assembly; couldn't even get the seats or washers. If you look at the diagram posted here, you will see that the parts below the pivot pins are "Only Serviced in 7222 [Top Plate] Assembly". But the top and bottom pieces are identical (I believe), so one could conceivably order two sets of the top pieces to make the repair.

The video should help with the repair. The hardest parts are the shift pins, and maybe figuring out the trick to removing the upper shift tube.

 

at first I thought the same thing, I sold a couple of the upper ones for the lower and it works just fine.

 

The video was very helpful. I picked up the parts today and I got 2 of the 7z120's, 2 of the 7228's and 1 pack of the 7e018 that looks like it has 2 shims in the package. What I did not get was any pins. Are these a "must replace" or a point of difference in the video versus the F150 shifter assembly? There must be a way all these line up in order to work properly but I'm not sure I see how.

 

From what I recall, there should be 2 wavy washers and 2 retainers.
The retainers have some tabs that clip on to the plastic bushings and hold the wavy
washers to the plastic shifter bushing. One for the top half of the bushing and one for
the bottom of the shifter bushing.

The video posted appears to be a Tbird or Cougar shifter bushing being replaced.

Here's a link on ebay showing a repair kit which includes the pivot pins.
That thick washer shown is not used on the F150.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-...item2c50846f07

Here's a link that shows a bunch of pictures of a Mazda 5 speed on a F150
being repaired. Scroll down towards the bottom to see the photos.

Pictures by thebull1970 - Photobucket

 

The link and photos are of tremendous help. I don't know that I followed that procedure exactly in removing the old one but I think I am at the same starting point for reassembly. I was careful not to drop anything into the cavity while removing but the old bushing was mostly disintergrated. Maybe the small nozzle on my shop vac will remove any loose debris. As for my kit, I got the same 3 packages from Ford and they were @ $43. I did not get a housing cover nor any pins. After seeing the pics I think I might should go back tomorrow and get both these items. I will watch the video again and review the pics several more times so I can make sure I get the reassembly done correctly. I'm still a little fuzzy on how the bushing/washer/spring combo fits together but will study the pics closer. After having obtained the parts I can't imagine trying to reassemble without the detail of the video and pics. The parts diagram while helpful to understand the big picture did not have quite enough detail for me. Again, tremendous assistance and very grateful.