Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications General Mods B&M shifter skwishy question

When I put in the b&m a year ago it was stiff as heck
It got a lot softer after a few weeks and has been this way since
It works good, but I wondered if anyone else has had the same thing happen
I tried out another guys and his was stiff like new....any help would be great

It's probably not the shifter but the spring on the linkage that has either come loose or gone soft, pop off your boot and at the top right you will see a spring...replace

if u mean the centering spring i took that off when installing the shifter
there was no way the retaining ring was going back on...so i took out the centering spring and it barely fit back into place
Where can i get this "spring" on the linkage
thanks

If you could not get it back together with the spring in there then you were hung up on the alignment ridges.

In other words - It was not fully installed!!! You've probably worn out or broken something by now (maybe why it got loose!)

The pivot/alignment dowel has 2 seperate ridges that need to fully seat. (almost like stages) You definitely did not get it fully seated if you had to remove the spring assembly.

BTW - the B&M Shifter works far better with the centering spring assembly disconnected (but left on to take up the space - otherwise you get excess play)

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I would take it apart and access the mess...

Actually i have a 2000 cougar and i looked at another guys 99 and he had a different type of shift assembly, and was way stiffer.
My shifter works fine, but i doubt i can do anything now, because i took out the center spring
I spent hours on it, and the retaining clip was not going back in with that spring in there, and lotsa people from here took out the spring, so i did the same
thanks for the help

I have a 00 SVT (same exact shifter tower)

Even the 98.5 & 99 used the exact same pivot assembly (slightly different tower top piece - That's it!)

What I said stands.

If you could not get the dowel all the way in. It was hung up on the alignment ridge. I've seen it happen before. (one took me like 15 minutes to get it aligned correctly and fully flush)

Do you know any places where i can get that spring cuz its long gone
even today when i look inside the shifter it has no room to move left or right, so maybe it still isnt seated
i need to go buy one now, and dont know where
thanks

As long as the dowel is fully seated the spring assembly "technically" isn't needed.

It will stop the little bit of sloppy side to side movement.
Any spacer would work just fine in it's place.

Your statement indicated the dowel wasn't fully seated. If that's not the case something else may be your problem...

Do you know where to get a spacer, cuz some guy has the stock centering spring he will sell me, but i have no clue how to put it back on.
My shifter shifts fine, it just has some side to side play, and I think its cuz of the metal clip on the right connected to the little white piece of plastic
the white piece of plastic is connected to the stem and ball on the shifter so when i put it in gear, it has some side to side play. THe little white ball of plastic wiggles around in that metal joint thing on the right.
Sorry so confusing, but its been skwishy ever since it was broken in, over a year ago.
It feels like stock in a way, just shorter throw.