Repair your broken 284 shift cable bushings

[White93z34]

Tools needed:
Drill
Dremel tool
vice grips
flat and philips screwdrivers
10mm socket and necessary tools to pull your center console
5/16s(8mm) drill bit
dielectric grease

At time of writing this repair has only been done to one car so far, so far results are good but its been less then a week. And as with most write ups, this is a home made fix. I make no guarantees that these will last or not fail in any number of different ways.

Materials needed, all of this was available at my local hardware store
2x 5/8 x 3/8 x 1/4 inch nylon bushings
4 8x24mm washers.... 22mm would probably be ideal though
2 .062 E-Clips

I don't know how many people this applies to but the rubber bushings inside our shift cables are at newest 17 years old, and as such heat and the elements have gotten to them by this point and on the off chance your shifter does no got flaccid and you cannot get into any gear you are left with disgusting amounts of vertical shifter play. I have heard of using aftermarket Dodge Neon shifter bushings, but I haven't seen it in action yet. I set about to make my own solution to this issue.

http://digitaloutsider.org/chris/284bushings/01.JPG
Presto, one trip the the hardware store later and we have everything needed to get this fixed. Shown is enough to fix both ends of a broken shift cable

http://digitaloutsider.org/chris/284bushings/02.JPG
Showing a shift cable, minus the bushing that is a problem.

http://digitaloutsider.org/chris/284bushings/03.JPG
closer picture of the materials to do the job

http://digitaloutsider.org/chris/284bushings/04.JPG
put your nylon spacer in the vice grips, don't crank them down too tight or else you can break them or oval your holes. you may have to make several passes through it to get it to fit the shift arm properly so it is neither too tight or too loose.

http://digitaloutsider.org/chris/284bushings/05.JPG
The washers I used... the only ones I could get in 8mm were a touch too big to clear the outer edge of the shift cable so I modified them with a Dremel too to have a flat edge to fit around the shift cable. Just clamped both together with vice grips and filed down the edge, be careful they will be hot.

http://digitaloutsider.org/chris/284bushings/06.JPG
Fortunately I had a spare shift arm to test fit everything on before installing on the car. this shows how to install.
http://digitaloutsider.org/chris/284bushings/07.JPG
washer down, nylon bushing in.
http://digitaloutsider.org/chris/284bushings/08.JPG
shift cable on, second washer on, and e-clip holding it all together. I would highly recommend using a thin coating of dielectric grease or even hi-temp brake caliper pin grease on all the moving surfaces to reduce wear.

To install on the car:

under hood: all you need to do is remove the airbox and that should offer enough clearance to slip it in and install it.

interior: center console removal is necessary and you need to unbolt the one 10mm bolt that holds the shift cable to the shift mechanism then you will have enough space to get it all in and fastened down.

Also in case you have not figured it out already engine and shifter side bushings are exactly the same.

For those of you that don't want to buy the parts and modify them yourselves I can do that and ship them to for probably around $10 shipped. PM me if interested.

Hope this helps :burnout:

[slick]

What are the stock bushings made of?

[White93z34]

Rubber.

[slick]

I bet something made out of delrin or similar would be nice.

I'm pretty positive the Neon bushings you speak of are the Booger Bushings.

[GOT2B GM]

Nice disclaimer :lol:

[mra32]

I bet something made out of delrin or similar would be nice.

I'm pretty positive the Neon bushings you speak of are the Booger Bushings.


Eh, it would be easier to use what you can get...If they have delrin bushings at the hardware store, go for it. I dont think it would make much of a difference in this application. Nylon tends to wear well and is used in chain tensioning applications. If I was in the hardware store and had options, I would go with whatever is cheaper. Does your local hardware store just have bushings, Dinunzio?

Chris, what is the end of the shift cable with the hole made out of?

And I think you should add a step about drilling the bushing after you clamp it in the vice grips. I was like, OK, hes clamping it...and then...wait what is passing through what? Oh the drill through the bushing!

And for the people who like to spend lots of money on these cars, especially on parts you'll never see again, you should offer the option of of doing it out of aluminum or titanium. Be sure to add a premium on your price for "engineering time" :lol:

[slick]

I bet something made out of delrin or similar would be nice.

I'm pretty positive the Neon bushings you speak of are the Booger Bushings.


Eh, it would be easier to use what you can get...If they have delrin bushings at the hardware store, go for it. I dont think it would make much of a difference in this application. Nylon tends to wear well and is used in chain tensioning applications. If I was in the hardware store and had options, I would go with whatever is cheaper. Does your local hardware store just have bushings?

Chris, what is the end of the shift cable with the hole made out of?

And I think you should add a step about drilling the bushing after you clamp it in the vice grips.

And for the people who like to spend lots of money on these cars, especially on parts you'll never see again, you should offer the option of of doing it out of aluminum or titanium. Be sure to add a premium on your price for "engineering time" :lol:


Get me some chunks of aluminum or :lol: titanium, and I can machine them up at work in my spare time.

[White93z34]

the end of the shift cables is some sort of hard plastic. I was working with what I could get. I am no engineer and do not have access to tools with the ability to machine bushings out of different materials and considering that the rubber ones lasted 17 years so far I think the nylon should be good for awhile.

[mra32]

the end of the shift cables is some sort of hard plastic. I was working with what I could get. I am no engineer and do not have access to tools with the ability to machine bushings out of different materials and considering that the rubber ones lasted 17 years so far I think the nylon should be good for awhile.


I was just kidding Chris. :high5: Since its hard plastic, its good you got a bushing to fit that ID well. You probably couldn't come up with any other working solutions without spending lots more time.

[digitaloutsider]

I've put a couple hundred miles on these so far. No complaints!

[ss427]

Does the nylon allow any flexing like the OEM rubber ones?

[Andrew]

this should be a sticky.

[GOT2B GM]

No flexing is req'd. My Z34 has a custom shift cable that doesn't have any bushings at all. Works and feels great.

[ss427]

Cool, where did you get the cables? I bet that cleans up the slop a whole bunch!

[Night Fury]

Just fixed one end for under $2, and have enough extra to fix another :D

[gpchris]

Very cool. Does everybody else have the mushy feeling shifting? Will the nylon bushings fix this?? It annoys me so bad sometimes. If it cant synchronize right away it feels extremely soft and mushy when pushing into the gear.

[White93z34]

My getrag is notchy, most def not a smooth shifting gear box. but I can't say that it feels mushy. and to be honest driving my z34 that as of now still has its OEM rubber bushings in it then driving Shaun's car which I installed these ones into it does not really feel any different.

[gpchris]

Aww i was hoping it was because of the rubber flexing. Oh well im sure my 282 will shift better after the rebuild.