Automatic hard the move shifter

Dirtman · Oct 17, 2018

Ok this one has me stumped. The column shifter on my truck has gotten really hard to move lately, figured it was a bad bushing in the tube so I tore the dash apart but found no issues. I disconnected the shift cable at the transmission and the shifter and cable move free and easy. It's the shift lever on the transmission itself that is hard to move.

Any ideas what would cause this? There is no external visible reason for it to be so hard to operate so I wanted to know if anyone experienced this issue before I drop the pan to look for an internal issue.

Uncle Gump · Oct 17, 2018

My first thought would have been the cable binding up.

Any damage to the selector shaft coming out of the transmission? Got bent from a foreign object?

Dirtman · Oct 17, 2018

Uncle Gump said:
My first thought would have been the cable binding up.

Any damage to the selector shaft coming out of the transmission? Got bent from a foreign object?

Like I mentioned when not connected to the transmission shift lever the cable moves smooth and free. I cant see any signs of damage to the selector shaft, lever, or the digital range sensor. All look to be in perfect condition. This has been happening progressively for about a year, nothing happened instantaneously which is why my first thought like you was a cable binding or a bushing in the column wearing out. The truck still shifts and drives fine, all the gears line up with the indicators in the cluster etc. Just really hard to move from gear to gear. No specific point is harder than the others either.

I'm not super concerned about it yet since it's not affecting driveability. It's just annoying the hell out of me lol.

Uncle Gump · Oct 17, 2018

Spoken like a true mechanic about his own ride... it's not broke yet, when it breaks I'll fix it. LOL

Hard to imagine it's internal to the trans... being there is no symptom with the transmissions performance. I'm sure there is a seal and bushing on the selector shaft... dirty/corrosion?

You moved the selector shaft with the cable disconnected? Maybe remove the digital selector and get a feel for effort with and without it?

adsm08 · Oct 17, 2018

I have seen a few cases of the manual selector shaft seal through the case swelling and causing your exact symptoms. The fix is to drop the pan and replace the seal and bushing.

I would drop the pan and valve body and see if it is still stiff with those removed. If so, replace the seal.

Dirtman · Oct 17, 2018

Blah.... I guess ill drop the pan this weekend to test/verify if its the selector shaft seal. I can't see it being an issue with the valve body, its a brand new sonnax unit and the issue existed before and after it was replaced. Yay I get to go buy more transmission fluid!

At least I don't need a pan gasket... God bless you ford for making the most indestructible re-useable transmission pan gaskets! This will be the 7th time I've re-used this thing in 10 years and it never leaks a single drop.

Dirtman · Oct 18, 2018

Ok so an update, I dropped the pan last night and found a somewhat odd issue. On the internal gear select lever there is the spring loaded roller that acts as the detent between gears (im sure it has a proper name but damned if I know it). Well as soon as you start to unbolt that and relieve a tiny hit of pressure off it, the shifter works flawlessly. Like it's applying too much tention to the gear lever. I have no idea how a spring could get MORE tention over time or if at one point there was a shim under it? Anyway, I made a small shim from a shim stock about .025 thick and reinstalled it. Now everything is smooth as butter.

No idea what caused this or why though... or if my shim is just helping relieve an issue somewhere else like the seal is still stuck but less tention on the spring evens it out? But its fixed for now...

adsm08 · Oct 18, 2018

I don't know. Given all that I doubt the seal is at fault, since it should make the manual lever stiff with no valve body installed. Sounds to me like the issue is with the detent roller assembly.

Dirtman · Oct 18, 2018

Next time I hit the scrapyard ill grab another springy roller detent gizmo and swap them out. I have no way of telling if mine is bent too much or something without comparing it to another. Considering how many times the pan has been off and valve body being replaced its not impossible that it was tweaked at some point. Lke I said it only took a .025 shim to fix it so obviously it doesn't take much to tweak it. Still odd this was a progressive issue and not something I noticed directly after doing any service on the trans.

Uncle Gump · Oct 18, 2018

Well maybe... every time the pan and valve body came off... it got tweaked a little each time? Would explain the progressive increase in effort.

That might be just to logical though...

Dirtman · Oct 19, 2018

Uncle Gump said:
Well maybe... every time the pan and valve body came off... it got tweaked a little each time? Would explain the progressive increase in effort.

That might be just to logical though...

Thank you Mr. Spock! :icon_rofl:

You're probably right, the lil roller is tucked up pretty well out of the way of getting hit by a wrench or anything when doing a pan drop & filter change so still odd but yes, most logical answer.

I grabbed a new one from the scrap yard today, the guy didn't even know what it was so he didnt charge me wooohoo. I made sure the truck it came out of shifted smooth first! I cant see any difference whatsoever visually but I'll swap it over the weekend and see if it cures the issue with no shimming.

Uncle Gump · Oct 19, 2018

I think after the third no more then the fourth time that pan was off... I would have welded a bung and a added a damn drain plug.

I hear that there is a big transmission fluid sale going on now... you may wanna stock up for future use.

Dirtman · Oct 19, 2018

Uncle Gump said:
I think after the third no more then the fourth time that pan was off... I would have welded a bung and a added a damn drain plug.

Did that when I bought the truck... Can't for the life of me figure out how to get the damn filter out through the drain plug though.

RB7 Ranger · Oct 20, 2018

I have seen the manual valve get stuck in the valve body bore and not move, 5r55e

Craig0320 · Oct 20, 2018

Dirtman said:
Did that when I bought the truck... Can't for the life of me figure out how to get the damn filter out through the drain plug though.

Install a wax filter. Then heat the pan up with an acetylene torch and it will melt out through the drain plug. :icon_hornsup:

Automatic hard the move shifter

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