Help! Stranded

[Anbele]

Just drove 45 min from home and my stick shift is completely off, like it came undone from the tranny
Any ideas? And most importantly, any quick fix so I can drive back home? Many thanks

[Nut124]

Sorry to hear.

The stick is made of two parts; the lower part, some 5" attaches to the tranny. The upper, a sleeve with the knob, slides over and attaches to the lower part.

If you are lucky, the two parts separated and you could operate the tranny by grabbin the lower part. If the lower part is loose, then you are out of luck, no quick fix.

[tima01864]

Probably the nut at the end of the shifter came loose. Three bolts under hold a plate, May need a helper, Replace the nut with a nylon locking one

[TX82FIAT]

As mentioned above, the nut at the bottom. first and foremost, how to get home without a tow. Yes, you can undo the shift knob and pull up the wood/metal panel to gain access to your trans tunnel. You will want to remove the insulation so you can se down the the shift mechanism. The shift stick has a slot on the right side and you can depress holding down and move through the gears to get home holding it in place. You can fix without removing drive shaft. The trick is to have someone with a little muscly pushing down on the stick shift so you can put the nylon nut on the bottom of the shaft.

[Anbele]

Thank you guys!…fortunately, I’ve been around the rodeo for a couple of years to more less know the shifting position and sort of linkage mechanism…so I was able to push down the shift rod and engage gears to make it home…nonetheless—as someone put it: it was a “cheeks tighten up” moment
Anyway, I guess I have my work cut out this weekend. So this is something—putting the nut back in place—attainable from the top, bottom, or both? Any need to drop the drive shaft? Also, anyone with the “nut” dimension out there? (That way I have it in hand when it’s time to install) Thanks again!

[Anbele]

Sorry, one more thing: I’d imagine that if the nut came loose, then everything is just “floating” in between the two cups: like the bushing and spring. So everything must go back in place. Again, attainable from under the car without dropping drive shaft?

[dinghyguy]

yes you can do it without disconnecting and dropping the driveshaft. But it is a pain, if you look around you will find a number of posts cursing the process. having a second person to hold the shifter up in place is sueful, but vice grips may help you if you are alone.
The nut uses a 13mm socket and is inset in the cup so you can not use a wrench. Other than that all i can say is allow way longer than you expect and have pleanty of cool refreshment available when you get frustrated.

cheers
Dinghyguy

[TX82FIAT]

Yes, absolutely attainable. I would buy the shift lever lower socket kit and replace the assemble. I cant recall the size of the lower lock nut but its only a couple bucks. You could walk into the hardware store with the stick shift and try various lock nuts for the right size. There are three bolts on the bottom just above the drive shaft you can remove them without removing the drive shaft. You will need to assemble the bottom with the spring and cups. The hard part, I found having the assembly lined up and enough thread to get the lock nut on requires two people. The person in the car pushing down on the stick shift needs to have a little it of strength so you can build the assembly from underneath and thread the nut without everything falling back down on the ground and chasing bits. I cursed as the assembly continued to fall apart because I could not thread the nut with my daughter pushing on the stick. Switch to my son and had enough of the shaft exposed to build the assembly and thread the nut in two minutes.

[Anbele]

Alright…I’m in the fixing process now…but I came across this rod that I have no idea it’s purpose…Any clues?

https://imgur.com/a/pAME8K0

[Nut124]

That rod is the reverse stop. Keep you from engaging R unless u push the shift lever down to clear the rod.

[Anbele]

Ah! Makes sense now! Thanks a lot Nut124! Nothing to do with it, right? Just leave it as it is? It does look like it has taken a beating though…also at an angle, not straight—or better said—parallel to the shifting shaft (I know there’s a shifting shaft and a shifting lever)

[Anbele]

One more thing…there was a fair amount of gooey grease in there…like it seemed “too much” of it…is it normal? And what kind of grease should I use when I reassemble it, bearing grease perhaps? Lithium grease?

[tima01864]

I use bearing or general purpose grease as lithium tends to dry out. Many choices

[Anbele]

Happy to report that my stick shift is back in place…but what a PITA it was to do it. I’m so glad I followed all of you guys advices, otherwise I could have invested way too much time into it. Nonetheless, what—a—difference! Clearly I had a shot linkage in there cuz now it feels soooo much better when shifting. Thanks again for all of your inputs.