Hi all, looking for ideas...


The issue
I have a '72 442 with a factory 4-speed, with the original Hurst shifter unit. Long story short, there's a lot of play between my hand and the transmission. Forgive me if I don't know the technical name for certain parts...I'll try to describe to what I'm referring as best I can.


What I've done so far
I've removed the whole shifter from the car, opened it up (pried the housing apart to get the guts out), and gave it a proper cleaning and lube. Nothing appeared broken or missing, just dirty. Even the dust cover on the bottom was still there! It was reassembled as it came apart with no issues (i.e. I didn't mess anything up putting it back together).

I also replaced all the non-existent bushings on the shift rods with the hardened steel ones and new spring clips from 5speeds.com*. The engagement of the shift rods between the shifter and the shift shaft tabs on the transmission now move smoothly with no fore/aft play.

*If you go to the site to look at 'em, it mentions those bushings won't fit a stock shifter...which is true, the hardened ones are a larger diameter than stock. While apart, I machined the tabs on the shifter "paddles" and the shift shaft tabs from the Muncie larger to accept the larger bushings. Don't worry, my car isn't quite nice enough to worry about originality that much.

While the shift rods were removed, I checked each of the shift shafts on the transmission for play or slack when pushing the tabs fore and aft, before I felt resistance. It seemed reasonably tight, with very little, if not no, movement before I felt resistance.


What's next
After all of that, the shifting action certainly got better (going from no bushings to the steel ones with new spring clips was huge). I think the slop, at this point, is a combination of three things:

1.) The shift stalk securing into its receiver
2.) Something in the transmission is tired

...or what I suspect to be the biggest issue...

3.) There's simply wear inside the shifter itself, between the round, circular shift "bulb" and the holes in each of the shift "paddles" that the "bulb" slots into when selecting a gear.

So, I welcome any thoughts or suggestions. Are there replacement "paddles" for the inside of the shifter? Is there a better way to secure the shift stick into the shifter base (I know newer ones use a bolt/nut setup)? If I go pick up a new Hurst Super Competition 4-speed shifter, which is the one I want to get?

Thanks!

 

Hmm, my handle was a very tight fit into the receiver, do you have the correct handle?

 

If your handle inserts in to the shifter mechanism, the inserts that hold it in place may be worn and make it loose. You can purchase new ones and that will tighten it up.