Average Joe Restoration

Are you tired of your automatic shifter flopping around like its about to fall out of the assembly? A loose shifter is not only annoying but it also poses a safety issue because your loose shifter can actually disengage without notice. To address the problem and get it fixed is a pretty easy repair job and only requires a handful of tools and about 30 minutes of your time.

You will need to get to the underside of the car twice; once to remove a retaining clip and once to reinstall the retaining clip, all other activities are performed in the car and at a workbench.

Watch the video and/or read the article

Tools and supplies list

• Needle Nose Pliers
• Allen Wrench
• Philips Screw Driver
• Standard Screw Driver
• 3/8 socket and driver
• 9/16 socket and driver
• Two new shifter bushings and some grease

I would also recommend purchasing an Exploded View Illustration Manual. The illustration manual gives you an in-depth view of all of the components of the mustang from screws to weather striping and serves as a great roadmap for disassembly, re-assembly and parts identification.

Removing the shift assembly

Get underneath your Mustang with the needle nose pliers and remove the retaining clip that connects the shifter to the shifter rod; you need to do this so you can remove the shifter assembly from the vehicle.

From the interior of the mustang, remove the shifter handle from the shift selector lever. Do not remove the set screw completely, you may loose it.

The next step is to remove the shifter cover using a Philips screw driver and lifting it up and off of the shifter assembly, follow the same procedure for the shift cover plate.

Finally you will unbolt the shift housing assembly from the vehicle with the 3/8 socket and driver then remove it from the vehicle and take it to a workbench to replace the worn bushings.

Replacing the shifter bushings

Now that you have the shifter housing assembly out of the car and on the workbench replacing the bushings is really easy and will only take a few minutes.

With the standard screw driver remove the shift housing plug, this will give you access to the nut that holds the shift lever and shaft together on the assembly.

Using the 9/16 socket and driver, remove the nut from the shifter shaft. You may need to give the shaft a slight tap to loosen it from the shift lever. when the lever and shaft are un-coupled you will be able to remove the shaft from the shift housing. Clean off any remains of the old shift bushings from the shaft and the housing.

Prior to installing the new shift bushings you should apply a bit of grease to the inside if the housing where the shaft goes through and also apply some grease to the inside diameter of the shift bushings.

Install the new shift bushings into the housing, reassemble the shaft and shift lever and reinstall the assembly into the Mustang.

Classic Mustang Parts Provided by AAPD.NET

You can purchase all of these related parts for rebuilding you automatic shifter from aapd.net

• Shift Bushing
• Shift Housing Seals
• Shift Selector Lever
• Shifter Assembly
• Shift Handle
• Shift Cover
• Exploded View Illustration Manual

Just need a pair of shifter bushings to do this repair? Average Joe will mail a pair to you, just click the Buy Now button and complete the checkout process with PayPal.