1992 F-150 Shifter Question

[cavasinj]

All- seriously considering a 1992 F150, straight six, with a manual trans. Runs damn near perfectly, only 109,000 miles. Only thing that caught me as strange is the shifter seems to have some extra play in it. Enough that though I have driven stick since I learned to drive (10 years) I was skipping past third on my way from second, and would end up in 5th. This only happened the first few times, however, I am wondering if the teeth/fingers in the shifter assembly could have rotted away? Or is there a way to tighten up the shifter assembly? It seems unlikely to me for the fingers to have rusted away(almost no rust on the truck), but any other suggestions on what it could be? I am hoping to have the truck by this weekend, so if anyone knows of how nasty expensive fixing this could possibly be PLEASE let me know ASAP!

Thanks in advance
Joe