shifter busing replacement

[steffan]

haven't had this truck too long ('92 pickup, 22re, 4x4) but it looked well taken care of so i figured with 170K miles the shifter was supposed to be a little sloppy but after a little research it seemed like it was just the bushings. i was skeptical because the shifter was way loose and didn't even feel like it had detents in it.
I decided to go with the Marlin Crawler replacement and difference was truly unbelievable: shifts like a brand new truck.
here's what the old ones look like: the seat didn't even exist anymore - just pieces of shrapnel. the socket was worn in half and the bottom was laying in the turret.

 

[ferg]

Yep, seen that a couple of times myself.

 

[mervo]

Timely post. I'm about to tackle this project with my 1st gen 4Runner.

Any advice?

 

[steffan]

pretty straight forward: the shifter retainer turned out with one finger which makes sense since there was no tension on the spring (no seat). getting it locked back in was another story: i like to consider myself pretty competent/ experienced but it took 2 people to get it back in - one to hold it down and one to bump it over to lock. other than that, it's about as easy as it gets

 

[jgranthevagrant]

Is there any maintenance or prevention for this? Just pull the boot off and look for disintegration?

 

[ferg]

The first thing you'll notice is sloppy shifter action. If you pull the shifter, make sure it's in neutral first, you can see if it's worn or wasted. Either condition you should replace it.

 

[steffan]

no maintenance that i can think of as long as your shift boot is intact to keep the dirt etc out of there. a little grease to keep it lubed. the big thing you'll notice is that there is a lot of play in the shifter when it is in gear, almost like it lost all the detents