Sloppy Shifter feel

Hey all-

I just took over my brother's '99 lx sedan and the shifter just feels strange to me. It's like when I put the car in first gear, I can push the shifter over to the right towards third gear and it feels like when I have the car in neutral pushing it over to go to 5th. I drove a '93 dx 5spd until i blew the head gasket, and it felt very solid when it was in gear. Is this normal feel for the
'96-'00s, and is there anything I can do to improve the feel?

thanks

Sound a bit loose to me, maybe your brother was a bit ruff with it. Might be worth a short throw, the tend to come with the hardware that would take up a large amount of slack.

any options besides a short throw?

If that truly is the problem you could try to replace the bushings but that may run you just as much... I think the dealer would be the only place to get those kind of replacement parts. Might be worth going to a parts house just in case.:2cents:

if the prices would be similar, which would be easier? I'm fairly mechanically inclined, but I don't have the equipment to do serious work around the transmission

Should need much more than a socket set and screw drivers, if you take your time it shouldn't be anything more than a few hour, either way you do it.

Alright guys sounds good. Thanks for giving me the suggestions....not sure which I'll do yet, but its a place to start

Alright guys sounds good. Thanks for giving me the suggestions....not sure which I'll do yet, but its a place to start

Mine's sloppy too, so could you give us the lowdown what you did do and how difficult/easy it was?

Thanks.....

I've been busy working on my gf's cherokee, but when I get around to my car I'll let you know

Sounds good, would like to know.

You should look at replacing these two bushings, either with OEM parts, or a stiffer aftermarket replacement such as energy suspension. These will typically stiffen up loose and worn components, without the need of some hack short shifter.

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/1097/bushingshd8.jpg

Here is a breakdown of your linkage.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q30/kbruington/tech/shifter.gif

Wow that's an awesome diagram! The bushings is the way I've been planning on going, just a matter of getting around to it. Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend