• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

How to replace shift cable linkage

Your shifter has four gates. You could also call them four lanes or avenues. Areas that the shifter goes through. The 1-2 gate, the 3-4 gate, the 5-R gate, and the neutral gate. The neutral gate is the "lane" that the shifter travels through so that you can move to the other gates.

The bushing is rubber and it is larger than the hole it fits into making a "compression" fit. It is held in by compression. You take the rubber bushing out of the new cable end and press it back into the old cable end. It takes a lot of force to get it to compress into place. You may be able to push it back by hand, but you may need pliers or a small C clamp. Be careful that you don't tear up the bushing. Also note that there is an outer and inner side to the bushing so install it the same way you found it on the new cable end.

I did not change the bushing only and had difficulty because the cable end and the black plastic part of the cable that stays behind with the cable has distorted from heat, pressure, and age. I had to trim the black plastic with a Dremel tool to get the new cable end to slide into place. you can avoid that drama by changing the bushing only as Thinkmoto posted late in that "it finally happened" thread.

Whatever you do, I wish you well with it.
 
So I tried to get the bushing out of the new cable end, and couldn't do it, so I just replaced the whole end with relative ease. It was kinda hard removing off the end, but I just kept tugging at it, and it eventually came off. When it came time to put the new cable end on, it was getting hung up on the little lip halfway down the black thing on the cables end. I took a knife and scraped on the lip until I could put the new end on, and it went on great! My question is, with me filing down the little burr, am I going to experience any problems with that? It seems nice and tight now to shift, and there is just a little bit of play in the shifter now, in neutral, and in gear. I assume this is normal? Overall, I think it went great, and I didnt even have to take the tire off! :)

Adam
 
Yeah you are supposed to replace the whole end, not just the bushing, thats why they dont sell just the bushings. And yeah you have to put some elbow grease to get them off, but once they are off, the new ones are cake.

You didnt cut the bushing did you?
 
ryanblacksvt said:
Yeah you are supposed to replace the whole end, not just the bushing, thats why they dont sell just the bushings. And yeah you have to put some elbow grease to get them off, but once they are off, the new ones are cake.

You didnt cut the bushing did you?
Click to expand...

As Big Jim posted you can replace either the end or ONLY the bushing if you are inclined to do it that way. They don't sell just bushings because they like money. Thats probably why they don't have the part number readily available for the cable ends and just try to sell you the whole assembly.

Big Jim said:
I did not change the bushing only and had difficulty because the cable end and the black plastic part of the cable that stays behind with the cable has distorted from heat, pressure, and age. I had to trim the black plastic with a Dremel tool to get the new cable end to slide into place. you can avoid that drama by changing the bushing only as Thinkmoto posted late in that "it finally happened" thread.
Click to expand...

97vulcan said:
When it came time to put the new cable end on, it was getting hung up on the little lip halfway down the black thing on the cables end. I took a knife and scraped on the lip until I could put the new end on, and it went on great! My question is, with me filing down the little burr, am I going to experience any problems with that?
Click to expand...

If you refer to Big Jim's post this is what he described that he had to do to get the cable end on as well. You could just PM him and ask him if he ever had any side effects but I'd imagine not or he would've recommended that you avoid doing it.

Otherwise nice work! :cool: A little bit of play is normal I suppose but it all depends on what you describe as a "little"
 
Good to know Jim! I just bought the car in May with the missing bushing, and let me tell you, it feels so good to have a tight shift. It just makes everything else on the car seem nice and tight. I do have a little, and I mean little play in the shifter still. I am assuming that a little is normal?

Adam
 
Yes its normal, everycar is going to have some movement, but when the bushing is shot and you have 1-2 inches of shifter play, then thats not cool.
 
Ryan,

Thanks man! I know I cant believe I had that much play! That was unreal! Its soooooo much better now! :)
Thanks,
Adam
 
Yeah I know, mine was like that for about 2-3 years of hard shifting on the streets and the track, and I was begining to think it was normal, then I read about doing the cable ends on here and said what the hell and got them, best choice ever!
 
Maybe one of you guys could help me.

I'm dealing with this problem now and ordered both cable ends (white one --> F7RZ-7412-AA & black one --> XS8Z-7412-GA). The black one did not come with a spring loaded clip like the white one's orange spring loaded clip. (see attached low quality pics). I saw Ryanblacksvt's pic of the parts earlier in this thread but I could not tell from that pic if the black end has it or not.

Did I get an incomplete part?
 

Attachments

  • SVT shift cable ends.jpg
    SVT shift cable ends.jpg
    16.5 KB · Views: 0
  • SVT shift cable ends 2.jpg
    SVT shift cable ends 2.jpg
    20.4 KB · Views: 0
SVT_CT said:
Maybe one of you guys could help me.

I'm dealing with this problem now and ordered both cable ends (white one --> F7RZ-7412-AA & black one --> XS8Z-7412-GA). The black one did not come with a spring loaded clip like the white one's orange spring loaded clip. (see attached low quality pics). I saw Ryanblacksvt's pic of the parts earlier in this thread but I could not tell from that pic if the black end has it or not.

Did I get an incomplete part?
Click to expand...

Yes you did. The most recent batch of these were assembled incomplete. I got mine from Bill Jenkins and he verified yesterday that the batch was bad. He's sending me out one from some old stock.

Return it where you bought it or call the person who sent it to you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top