i do not know what years are like this, but in my 1997 neon, the kick down shaft is Siamesed inside the gear selector shaft. if your transmission starts shifting up slower than normal, or kicks down earlier, service (lubricate) this shaft. if it is ignored, like i did, becuase i did not know what was going on, eventually it will seize solid. the end result for me was it broke the gear selector cable, and allowed the transmission to go into reverse at 50 mph! it survived, amazingly, but not all of them will i am sure. they put the battery right over the shafts, so you can not even see them. and they stick almost straight up. so junk accumulates.