Sloppy shifter arm solved: loose bracket bolts

[lotzagoodstuff]

I had assumed that the bushings in my column were shot as my shifter was getting sloppier. I pulled it all apart and found that it was actually the two torx bolts that hold the bracket that the cable mounts on. One of the bolts was very loose, which was causing the bracket to really move around, almost impossible to get it into park or low 1 positions. Apparently its somewhat common for these bolts to loosen up, and I can't say they were super easy to get to, but upon tightening them almost all the slop went away. I put in the new bushings as I had everything pulled apart to do them. The one closest to the steering wheel was a little worn, the bottom one looked much better. I'm posing this in the IDI section but I'm guessing the bracket is the same in any of the OBS trucks with an E4OD. Now I feel bad because the position has almost no slop at all, but the shifter arm has a slight bit of wiggle left at the pin. So much better, but I'm probably going to have to shim/fix the shifter just because

No pics because it was rainy/dark when I did most of the work, but if you have a sloppy shifter, you'll figure it out as soon as you look at it.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

Did you use blue Loc Tite on the loose bolts?

 

[Jesus Freak]

I had assumed that the bushings in my column were shot as my shifter was getting sloppier. I pulled it all apart and found that it was actually the two torx bolts that hold the bracket that the cable mounts on. One of the bolts was very loose, which was causing the bracket to really move around, almost impossible to get it into park or low 1 positions. Apparently its somewhat common for these bolts to loosen up, and I can't say they were super easy to get to, but upon tightening them almost all the slop went away. I put in the new bushings as I had everything pulled apart to do them. The one closest to the steering wheel was a little worn, the bottom one looked much better. I'm posing this in the IDI section but I'm guessing the bracket is the same in any of the OBS trucks with an E4OD. Now I feel bad because the position has almost no slop at all, but the shifter arm has a slight bit of wiggle left at the pin. So much better, but I'm probably going to have to shim/fix the shifter just because

No pics because it was rainy/dark when I did most of the work, but if you have a sloppy shifter, you'll figure it out as soon as you look at it.

Those 2-3 torx bolts are notorious on the 90's trucks and vans for coming loose. Good job!

 

[charle1999]

This sounds very much like My 2001 F250 super duty. I was planning on taking a look at it this summer. I originally had planned on starting at the transmission and working my way up to the steering column, but this makes me believe that maybe I need to start on the steering column and work my way down. Is it possible to give me some quick instructions on things like where do you start and where do you find these notorious bolts? Thanks.

 

[Jesus Freak]

This sounds very much like My 2001 F250 super duty. I was planning on taking a look at it this summer. I originally had planned on starting at the transmission and working my way up to the steering column, but this makes me believe that maybe I need to start on the steering column and work my way down. Is it possible to give me some quick instructions on things like where do you start and where do you find these notorious bolts? Thanks.

At the very base of the rod that you move with the shifter lever, there's a plate that the cable attaches to. That plate has 2-3 torx bolts that wiggle loose.... they're EXTREMELY difficult to get at. The other thing thats common is, that if you pull the plastic off the steering column behind the steering wheel the plastic bushings around the shifter barrel get completely wore out.

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

So the bushings you think you are going to replace are the two where the green arrows are pointing, but the bracket on the end with the little stud on the end opposite the column shifter handle that's attached with the two torx bolts labeled with the yellow arrows are the ones that were loosened up. Now imagine this is mounted on the top of the steering column, in the truck and that bracket is down by the floor/firewall. It's tight but you can get to them on your back with your head down by where the steering shaft goes through the firewall. Lots of info on the two black plastic bushings, not so much on the bracket bolts.

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[lotzagoodstuff]

This sounds very much like My 2001 F250 super duty. I was planning on taking a look at it this summer. I originally had planned on starting at the transmission and working my way up to the steering column, but this makes me believe that maybe I need to start on the steering column and work my way down. Is it possible to give me some quick instructions on things like where do you start and where do you find these notorious bolts? Thanks.

If it was me, I'd buy the bushing kit as they do wear out, they are cheap, and it's really not that much to drop the column down (link attached), and if you get into it you will most likely want to fix the bushings while you are in there. I can't speak to the 1999-2003 Super Duty stuff, but this video does a really good job of describing the disassembly for an OBS truck. I'm betting somebody has done a similar video on the Super Duty's. You could get "lucky" and just end up just tightening two bolts, but you could also need bushings or some work up on the shifter arm itself.

Good luck

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[HammerDown]

The column shifter on my bought new 1988 F250 Lariat is sloppy... feels like one day it'll pull away from the column. Believe I read somewhere parts for it are not available.

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

Did you use blue Loc Tite on the loose bolts?

Good call. I am a big fan of thread locker, but I'm always apprehensive about using it somewhere that's hard to get to if I ever had to pull it out again. When I was loosening the torx bolts that hold the clamps for the shifter rod bushings, it was such a tight fit I was using a 1/4" wrench with a little torx driver and I was thinking how bad it would suck to remove them if they had thread locker on them.

In reality, you are right. I should have thread lockered them as they would never loosen again, and I wouldn't remove that bracket if I had to replace the shifter cable the bracket stays in place. If it loosens up again, it will get Loctited.

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

The column shifter on my bought new 1988 F250 Lariat is sloppy... feels like one day it'll pull away from the column. Believe I read somewhere parts for it are not available.

If I remember right, the bricknose trucks have the old shifter rod style actuation as opposed to the cable on the OBS trucks.

 

[Jesus Freak]

The column shifter on my bought new 1988 F250 Lariat is sloppy... feels like one day it'll pull away from the column. Believe I read somewhere parts for it are not available.

Yers is different.......

 

[IDIBRONCO]

If I remember right, the bricknose trucks have the old shifter rod style actuation as opposed to the cable on the OBS trucks.

I believe that you're right. I'm pretty sure that they only went to a shifter cable on the OBS trucks.

 

[HammerDown]

Yers is different.......

Darn... guess I'm screwed.

 

[Jesus Freak]

Darn... guess I'm screwed.

Get a B&M Star shifter......and take it to '80's coolness.....

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