Originally posted by warmonger:
Jim,

I'd also look into how much internal binding the shift forks have on the shafts. You will have to pull the shift tower but that isn't hard at all and you can inspect all three.
It is almost always a sign of the metal particle deposition on the bearing material causing the binding when a cable goes out.
You should be able to shift those forks by hand with a little effort when the tower is out of the transmission. If this has happened then it will probably only get worse and you'll break another cable. Chances are you won't be able to budge the 1-2 shift fork with your fingers.

One important point to note is that you broke the up/down shift cable (forward/back movement). THis cable is the one that takes the load of actually moving the forks, the left to right moving cable only positions the actuator on the right fork and has no heavy load.



I can shift it by hand very easily from under the hood with the cables disconnected (actually with the cables connected as well). I'm sure the forks are not binding.

Also, the cable didn't break. The rubber bushing in the cable end wore out and would no longer stay attached to the trans tower lever. All I need is the rubber bushing, but it is not available by itself and the cable end is also no longer available from Ford. On top of all that, the replacement cable is not as strong as the one that is in there now.

I though of trying to find a way to make some sort of bushing (rubber, plastic, or ?) but decided that it wouldn't be worth the trouble and would be too experimental.

Everything actually works pretty well with the cable held in place with a zip tie, but that is only temperary.

Jim Johnson 98 SVT 03 Escape Limited