Another fix for failing shifter

[harpon]

After having some syncro problems and hard shifting with my 96 Aspire 5 speed- the whole thing culminated a few weeks ago 40 miles from home in St Auguastine just before the Hurricane- when I got off the Interstate and at the end of the ramp the tranny was very hot and shifting very hard-

something popped and my shifter dropped down an inch or so into the floor and got very sloopy-

I got the car home in 3rd and 4th gears =somehow- -

anyway while researching the problem I came upon this thread:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?26920-DIY-Fixing-your-falling-shifter

I'd hoped to ad onto it, but the old thread is long closed

Anyway- While looking into this the last couple of days with the console off but the shifter much intact- I was/am thinking about this kind of solution-

I thought it may be the "shifter support bushing' and wasted all kinds of computer time speculating what might replace it under the shifter ball since the aspire isn't listed anywhere that I could find-

Now I see that his really isn't involved in the current problem, and that it is indeed an entire plate of steel-
which ends annoyingly about a 1/4" after the shifter ball arc behind it

So this bolt through the floor solution in front of the shifter seems viable as in the old thread-
I started thinking of other possible solutions and came up with an additional solution- maybe not so permanent- but quicker to at least get the car moving in the gears

and maybe better with refinement

The simple solution- a good old radiator worm clamp- right on the top arc above the plates

If you look at his photos- this involves putting the worm clamp around the inner circle- mine of course still has the shifter there- The inner circle extends vertically out toward the camera, over the outer circle by a half inch or so. The inner circle is attached to the plate that slides downward now-(I still don't know why really) The outer circle is fixed to the top of the floorboard.

Then I'm not sure if the diameter and relationship of the outer circle are the same for both Aspire and Festiva- the Festy looks like it may be a smidgen wider

I just happened to NOT have the "right" size- which would not work without some kind of support plate beneath it. A flange with a 1 7/8" approximate hole to let the arc stick through it would work best then, supported by the larger circle of the shifter under it would support the worm clamp

but I found a much larger size, and the extra length of clamp over-age is what ends up supporting the clamp- at least until I find some suitable support plate to support it above the shifter hole- the "worm gear " extension is just not quite enough and slips down in the larger circle then- The hole diameter needs to be closed down at least to support the worm clamp I think .

Anyway thought I'd pass it along- I will probably end up doing a version of both techniques, and I found that once I pulled the shifter up- I can get most of the gears with a deliberation to keep it supported with my hands at the same time-

The worm clamp will at least help hold the shifter up to drill through the plates.

I think I may take the sheet metal screw approach and if done carefully I think I can drive four around the shifter- two very carefully into the 1/4" or so of plate BEHIND the shifter- I wasn't sure which way the pictures in the old thread were pointing at first, but apparently his carriage bolt is in FRONT of the shifter.

Also- how about a support ring of some type with several set screws around it to screw it onto the inner ring? like a light fixture hanger.... just a thought
I'm cleared to move the car around- which I couldn't and even park it in the shed if need be- before the Festy fuel pump prob is cured

I can see and confirm what I believe now the case- the tranny itself is probably no more worse the wear- tho eventually needing syncro rings or replacement, and the shifter itself is the real temporary culprit- not any internal "shift gate"

It's not a million degrees out there anymore and no hurricane to stir things up for the week so life goes on.....

I'll take a picture tomorrow- I just got the clamp screwed down on the round part with a flashlight just as it was getting dark

[shadetree]

Sounds like all the warning signs of low trans fluid .

[harpon]

That's the tranny issue- this issue involves the dropping of the shifter into the floor- for reasons still not clear- these are the fixes for that.

[harpon]

So I just went out at night and drove the Aspire a couple of miles with the half-assed worm clamp fix, and that confirms the tranny's really no worse off than it was- no hard shifting in the cool night air, but it was undoubtedly overfull when I drove to hot St. Augastine the day the shifter went through the floor.. I baster-ed some syncromesh out right then and will take out more now, but it's now too clear to read on the speedo gear/guage. The syncrs now get most of the gears almost all the time, cool at leas. This all started with a slow drip leak I didn't realize I had- over years it must have been the transaxle got down to a half quart of gear oil instead of 2.5 and the syncros sustained some level of damage still not clear.

[skeeters_keeper]

Another option to fix the falling shifter is 3M window weld. You can fill the area between the inner metal sleeve and the outer and it will "glue" everything in place quite nicely.

[harpon]

Really Skeeters- I've never used that stuff before

Have you used it for this application?

Does it really grip the inner circle that well?

Maybe JB Weld would do the same?

[skeeters_keeper]

I've done it on 4 festivas now, and charlie and others have as well. It's good because it's rubbery (JB weld wouldn't be). Makes the shifter a little more "stiff" without transmitting all of the vibrations like a completely solid mount.

A caulk-gun-sized tube of the stuff is rather expensive, ~$30, but I also used it to fill the front transmission mount and the pass side engine mount.

[harpon]

OK- probably give it a try. And some kind of bolt/ drivers as well. But the radiator hose might get you home from somewhere, that's why I put it up. Thanks.

[harpon]

Waiting for the window weld, but this morning I also took a Salsa jar lid, which fits nicely over the outer ring on my Aspire at least- don't know about festy- and I cut a hole in it to slip tightly over the inner ring. It's just close enough to the outer flange to give the radiator hose clamp good support on top of it, and hold the assembly up-

in fact a little too up- reverse is a bit hard to get- but it works well with all the other gears- I tried to drive some sheet metal screws but didn't have much luck yet- need larger screws and to get more thoroughly into the lower metal with the drill-

I'll probably try the window weld and put the salsa lid gasket/flange and worm clamp on again, and I may eventually drill the hole for the carriage bolt-

[harpon]

I put the window weld in this morning- Geez- I had to really pry hard the salsa lid from the inner ring after taking the worm clamp off- it would probably hold it all up by itself.

So I really can't see the window weld beneath it after putting it back down, but I squeezed it into the area between the circles as much as I could. I couldn't resist waiting until moring to try it out- so I took it out tonight maybe 5 or 6 miles.

I didn't press the jar lid down quite as hard- it still has a good grip- but reverse is much easier to get into now without pressing it on maximum..
The worm clamp isn't gripping as quite as wide as the clamp itself but fairly tightened down

Didn't have the slighteset shifter issue then- AND not one hard shift from the tranny either!
I'm not sure if that's the temperature alone- must be in the low 60's out there as opposed to near 90 the day it all fell through, but the Pennzoil syncro-mesh seemed to have mosty been working a minor miracle before the extrerme heat expanded the overfilled transaxle.

So anyway, the Aspire is sorta back on the road and only time will tell about the tranny I guess. The car's only got 121,000 and I've driven it since 2003 and 35,000 miles and always on top of the oil and maintenance.

I'm not sure if I'll even try to take the salsa lid back off- fearing I'll loosen it permanently but I'd love to see how the window weld looks- so if I do I'll take a snap or two to post

Seems like the repair is sufficient and probably wont try to drill the carriage bolt thing unless it needs it.

Good suggestion the window weld! Thanks.

[skeeters_keeper]

Great!

[harpon]

Gone another six miles today. Not one hard shift the whole time. Now I'm wondering I some of my syncro problems the last half of the summer were somehow related to the shifter. I didn't notice any difference, but perhaps it had already sagged a little. Anyway- as it stands I'm suddenly NOT planning a tranny swap. And that really is a relief!

[harpon]

I went the 25 miles or so out to the shore to see how the hurricane damage was coming along- I hadn't been out there although I'd watched a few youtube videos- I guess some flood damage near the beach, but the storm washed all the sand dunes from the back of the beaches into the ocean, and now they're dredging offshore to try to replace some of it. As I've personally been watching the warming situation very closely for almost a decade, I really think the problems are just getting here. We narrowly missed the Hurricane at the same time last year they said wouldn't get more than several hundred miles from us, but then reached the near side of the Bahamas and went north to flood South Carolina at the same time last year.

Anyway- NOT ONE HARD shift- the acid test- 50 miles or so- mostly interstate driving and about 80 degrees and NO TRANNY TROUBLE at all- so I have to conclude that some of my troubles last summer were shift related.

I'm hoping to get to the Festiva shifter before my tube of window weld gets hard and fill the area between the circles- an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

The salsa jar lid/ worm clamp washer/ support is holding good too.