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I want to emove my shift cover, do I need to remove the reverse switch or can I just undo the wires and pop the cover off?

G Guest
It's stormin Norman here in Norcal, expecting 8-10 inches of rain in the next day or 2.

I'm taking advantage of this, and have started looking into my stiff feeling shifting.

The bushing ring the shaft goes through near the header is dry, so I figure that has something to do with things.

I also want to pop the cover off my shifter housing on the gearbox. The reverse switch is there, 2 wires which I can easily unplug, but before diving in, I figured I'd ask, does the cover just pop off and on?
Do I need to unscrew the reverse switch before removing the cover, or just undo the wires and plug them back in when I'm done?

It looks pretty straightforward to me, but I figured I'd ask before diving in, and screw something up.

I want to remove the cover, and make sure the mechanism inside and shift shaft bushing are well greased up.
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panterachrispanterachrisMember
That is the last place I would go. The stiff action is normally caused by, 1.) old grease at the shifter, re-lube. 2.) check the rubber gr omit that surrounds the shift shaft as it passes through the fire wall it can with age stick to it, lube area. 3.)
re-lube or replace trunnion support.
quote:
Originally posted by mike the snake:
It's stormin Norman here in Norcal, expecting 8-10 inches of rain in the next day or 2.

I'm taking advantage of this, and have started looking into my stiff feeling shifting.

The bushing ring the shaft goes through near the header is dry, so I figure that has something to do with things.

I also want to pop the cover off my shifter housing on the gearbox. The reverse switch is there, 2 wires which I can easily unplug, but before diving in, I figured I'd ask, does the cover just pop off and on?
Do I need to unscrew the reverse switch before removing the cover, or just undo the wires and plug them back in when I'm done?

It looks pretty straightforward to me, but I figured I'd ask before diving in, and screw something up.

I want to remove the cover, and make sure the mechanism inside and shift shaft bushing are well greased up.
bosswrenchbosswrenchMember
Mike, the shift-shaft support eye originally had boots on both sides to protect what little 90-wt lube was in there. Most are rotted away so relubing periodically is helpful. When you get down there, you'll notice the shift rod gets VERY close to a channel in the left side two-part motormount. If the rubber isolator in the mount shrinks or otherwise fails, engine weight may force the upper mount part down onto the shift rod under some conditions, causing drag. The real fix is new motor mount isolators (NOT polyurethane!) but as a temporary fix, the support can be lowered a bit by adjusting its two big jam-nuts. Once you see if a readjust does anything good, you can proceed with the other checks.
MT mike the snake (Guest)
Thanks.

I was just going to post, "never mind", Im a mechanic, I need to just put my big boy pants on and dive in.


Shaft bushings looked dry-ish. I lubed the shaft that goes through the shifter housing with some thick grease, and sprayed som white lithium grease on the shaft bushing that is right next to the header.

Next I'm going to research about removing the front detent (if it's still there (haven't looked yet).

One thing I noticed was the 4 allen screws that hold the shifter gate in place were all a little loose, so I think tightening them up will improve how things feel as well.

It's supposed to rain up to 10 inches over the next couple days, so I won't be able to fire the car up and see if what I've done makes a difference.
MT mike the snake (Guest)
I noticed that the 4 screws that hold down the chrome shift gate were lightly loose.

I tightened them, but one is stripped completely and just spins and spins.

I haven't yet pulled the front shifter assembly apart, but I'm hoping i can maybe JB-Weld a nut to the underside so I can get all four screws to tighten properly.

After greasing the shaft bushing, and the rear shifter shaft bushing, the action does seem to me much smoother.

I have to wait to see how well things might be improved because we have this huge storm that's supposed to last a few days, and I'm going to wait until things are dry before driving the car (it has DOT "cheater slicks") on the rear so driving on wet roads would be VERY bad.

Once this storm has passed, next week, the car is going up on a lift for inspection, cleaning, and gearbox and engine fluid changes.
panteradougpanteradougMember
quote:
Originally posted by mike the snake:
I noticed that the 4 screws that hold down the chrome shift gate were lightly loose.

I tightened them, but one is stripped completely and just spins and spins.

I haven't yet pulled the front shifter assembly apart, but I'm hoping i can maybe JB-Weld a nut to the underside so I can get all four screws to tighten properly.

After greasing the shaft bushing, and the rear shifter shaft bushing, the action does seem to me much smoother.

I have to wait to see how well things might be improved because we have this huge storm that's supposed to last a few days, and I'm going to wait until things are dry before driving the car (it has DOT "cheater slicks") on the rear so driving on wet roads would be VERY bad.

Once this storm has passed, next week, the car is going up on a lift for inspection, cleaning, and gearbox and engine fluid changes.


Use "syntetic" grease. It won't dry out as fast.

Make sure the shifter boot in the console is intact and in there.

Replace the shift rod trunion with the billet alumumin aftermarket one that uses the graphite impregnated bushing.

Take the shift detents out of there and run on the zf's detents.

All of this will make the shifter feel lighter and more precise.

The detents in the console are to compensate for twisting in the shift shaft. They must have field tested this with Godzilla because I can't make them twist?



As far as the rain goes, what you guys get in rain, we get 5 days later in snow. 1" of rain equals 12" of snow.

I thought you were in drought? Can't you keep the water there or is that beyond California Civil Engineering capabilities?

We're going to be shoveling snow into July if this keeps up? Do they make cheater slicks with snow and ice treads on them? Mad
jtpanterajtpanteraMember
My experience extends over 30 years of Pantera ownership and I have been down this road with over a dozen cars. Use no grease on shifter shaft where it passes through the trunion bearing or on the shifter shaft where it passes through the rubber accordion boot on the firewall. Any benefit is short lived as the grease hardens before long and/or gets dirty due to the car's aero tendency to lift dirt into the engine compartment and into the wet lubricant. If you feel compelled to use a lubricant, try a dry one such as graphite powder.
jtpanterajtpanteraMember
Have no fear of removing the shifter cover. Undue the four bolts and the two backup switch wires and remove the cover. The was nevr anty 90 wt oil in there and there shouldn't be. There is a seal in place to keep oil out of there. Rather the ball and socket arrangement has grease lubricating the arrangement. This is good. While you could retap the stripped thread the next size larger, I'd probably let it be. The cover simply keeps dirt out and provides an aesthetic. No harm done or performance compromise if only three of the four bolts secure it.
MT mike the snake (Guest)
I was referring to the four allen screws that hold the chrome shift gate at the shifter, in the cabin.

I've already had the rear cover off and back on, things cleaned up, all done there.

3 or 4 of the chrome shifter gate screws tightened nicely, one just spins freely.

I figured whenever I had it apart, if there's enough room, that I'd carefully glue a nut underneath and use a longer screw so I could have all four screws tightened on the chrome shifter gate and console.



quote:
Originally posted by JTpantera:
Have no fear of removing the shifter cover. Undue the four bolts and the two backup switch wires and remove the cover. The was nevr anty 90 wt oil in there and there shouldn't be. There is a seal in place to keep oil out of there. Rather the ball and socket arrangement has grease lubricating the arrangement. This is good. While you could retap the stripped thread the next size larger, I'd probably let it be. The cover simply keeps dirt out and provides an aesthetic. No harm done or performance compromise if only three of the four bolts secure it.
MT mike the snake (Guest)
Naw, 3 out of 4 screws tightened properly is fine for me.

If I get it apart someday, I may carefully scuff the underside and JB-weld a nut so in the future, all 4 screws will be able to be tightened.


quote:
Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
If it really bothers you, drill it out and put a "nut-cert" in it.

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