Repairing the indents on the factory column shifter...

[Begle1]

I'm in the habit of manually shifting my transmission...

Today 1st gear got pretty stiff; I had to put more pressure on the stick than usual to go from 2nd to 1st or from 1st to 2nd. Concerning but driveable.

Then I went down into 1st when I parked, and when I went to go to park the shifter was stuck... I had to wiggle it for a couple seconds to free it. Like it was somehow wedged.

It worked fine after that, still a little hard though...


So how does one "rebuild" the indents on the shifter? I think mine are on their last legs... I take it that'd be the problem?

[sdstriper]

Does it shift now without that "detent feel", smooth thru the gears without the "indent" at each position (PRND2L)? If so it sure could be the spring and ball that normally ride in the "rooster comb" have popped out of place in the VB. The comb is staked or peened on the manual shaft, when it get's loose or if it does the ball can come out of place. The ball and spring should make it to the magnet in the pan, Hopefully...

[Begle1]

When I shift it, it finds the gear just fine; only the shifter is getting harder to move, and yesterday it decided to get really stuck in 1st gear somehow.

It could be the ball that's gummed up, but if that's the deal there'd be equal resistance between all the shifts.

Isn't there something in the column that the shifter rides against that might be going sloppy?

Although... It might be a more serious problem in the tranny and it really doesn't want to go into 1st...

[sdstriper]

Check the linkage under the cab, there's a couple of plastic bushings and 3 or 4 plastic grommets, hopefully it is just the gear shift control rod(s)and/or torque shaft binding up.