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shifter came off in my hand! kinda scary

7K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  03 CrazyTaxi 
#1 ·
so i was doing some spirited driving the other day, trying to make really quick shifts. then on the highway going home i shifted to 5th and it felt really sloppy. so i went back to neutral and the shifter knob and shaft just came off in my hand! it was dissconnected from the whole shifter mechanism. after shoving it downward and somehow getting it into gear i limped home. so i took my console apart to check out the problem.....

the socket that the shifter shaft is popped into was loose. it had fallen out of the sleeve that it sits in and its a miracle that it didn't fall onto the highway. what happened was that the c-clip holding the socket into it's sleeve had come loose and fallen off. so the socket came out of it's sleave and the shifter shaft came out of it's socket.

the dealership didn't have the clip in stock so i went to the hardware store and found a replacement. only problem is that they only had SAE clips. a 1 inch seemed to fit decently but i'm assuming the stock piece was a 25mm, slightly smaller than 1 inch. it's held for the last week or so. i haven't tried any super quick shifts and have been too lazy to order the stock clip. now i drive around with a couple extra clips and c-clip pliers in my glovebox.

has this happened to anyone else or is it just a random fluke? does my description even make sense. i don't know the technical terms for all these parts but tried to explain it the best i could.
 
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#2 ·
Wow thats crazy, glad nothing bad happened.

When I had my focus, the shifter bracket (dont really know what it is) is held on with 4 bolts, one in each corner. Well the back 2 were installed incorrectly and came off. Not as drastic as yours, but still made it very diffiult to change gears.
 
#4 ·
Never heard of the actuall shifter linkage coming off, but my brother has ripped his shift-knob off before during spirited driving. ROFL My Jetta's shift-knob is connected to my shift lever, but i don't think it will ever come off like that.
 
#5 ·
i do have the factory short shifter but it's been installed for 30k miles. never messed with it since i put it in.

i have the momo shift nob and it was very securely attached to the shaft, both of which were only attached to the car by the leather shifter boot.

i put on my hazard lights and started coasting onto the shoulder when suddenly i was able to shove it into 4th. so i made it to the off ramp in 4th and fought it into 2nd at the light at the top of the ramp. was able to start off in 2nd and make it all the way home. had to keep the clutch in and leave it in gear at every red light though....then do some clutch slippage to get started in 2nd.

.......now that i think about it i installed some shifter bushings about a thousand miles ago. i may have forced the c-clip out of it's groove while doing the install. i noticed that the white plastic socket had a little worn groove below the c-clip's actual groove. i'm assuming this is where the clip was sitting until it finally popped off.
 
#6 ·
I actualy just put in an order thru Subaru for a new Socket.. I have pulled out my trans so many times that I must have cracked it from too much stress.. I was at the "Flash Light Drags" hosted my Altered Gas and Almost every time I hit 3rd gear the whole assembly would come apart and I would have to pop it back into place at the finish line.. I even won all my races coasting across the 1/8 mile finish line in 3rd becuase I couldn't shift into 4th..
 
#7 ·
Funny you mention this, the same thing happen to me after I installed a SubyDude short throw shifter. Had to put it back in place, limp it to my shop, find a way to get the retaining clip back on with a hot exhaust and no lift. Glad I had an angled tip for my retaining ring pliers.
 
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