This morning on my way to the assignment for the day as I went to shift from 2nd to 3rd the shift lever moved, but the car stayed in second gear. After attempting to drive a short distance on the freeway stuck in 2nd gear, I found a place to stop and hang the shift cable end back onto the shift tower and hold it back in place with a plastic wire tie.
I was only two minutes late for my appointment.
So I guess it's time to break down and buy a new shift cable instead of trying to find a way to make the obsolete parts work.
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.
Does anyone have the new contact info for Bill Jenkins?
I don't believe he's left it, yet.
the "bill j. moving??" thread has, IIRC, a number for him, but not an 800 number yet.
I belive its just the team ford parts counter.. you can call that and ask for Bill?
Steve at Tousley is another option, if all else fails.
Ray
For now:
702-395-5100, just ask for me.
Or email me
bjenkins@teamfordlv.com which is the quickest way right now.
Thanks!
I just got off the phone with Bill Jenkins. He says that the cable ends are still available. I should have them by the weekend. This will be a lot less money and a lot less labor than changing the entire shift cable.
DHL dropped of my order from Bill about an hour ago. That's really fast service.
Just for the record, the cable ends for the 98 MTX cable shifter is still available from Ford.
The entire cable assembly including ends is not. If the cable breaks, it has been updated with what may be the Cougar part number. So if you wear out the cable end you can still replace it by itself but if you break the cable you will need to replace the entire cable which will entail removing the consol from the inside as well as removing whatever you need to for access under the hood.
The part number for the cable end that is most prone to wear (the 1 to 2 and 3 to 4 etc gate) is F7RZ-7412-AA with a list price of $12.02 (CEG price $9.62).
The part number for the neutral gate cable is XS8Z-7412-GA with a list price of $9.65 (CEG price $7.72).
Moderator, you may want to add these part numbers to the stickies at the top of this forum to help save someone else so much grief.
Moderator, you may want to add these part numbers to the stickies at the top of this forum.
A very reasonable $5.00 was added for shipping.
Bill is truly our parts friend.
PS If the whole cable would have been needed, it would have only been about $80.00.
And the adventure continues.
The old cable end would not come off without destroying it. I sawed it apart with a cut off wheel on my Dremel type tool.
There is a black plastic part of the cable end (not part of what gets replaced) that gets distorted with age and it would not slide out of the old cable end. It would not slide into the new cable end either. I found the high spot and dressed it up with a grinding wheel on the Dremel type tool.
After that I decided not to touch the neutral gate cable end until I absolutely had to.
My first instinct was to just remove the rubber bushing from the new cable end and transfer it to the old cable end while it was still on the car. It sure would have saved a lot of time. I should have listened to myself.
FWIW I went through the same hassle of removing the old end. Oh and if you notice some grinding into certain gears don't automatically assume the worst; it is probably a mis-alignment of the end on the cable and an adjustment should remedy it.
Sorry to bring up an old post, but is the plastic bushing the same on the shift tower as on the shifter? Can someone take a pic please because my one on the shifter is gone
and I do not want to replace the whole cable just the plastic bushing would be awesome
Did you even search "cable ends?"
Hello!
I just was lookin at that, and it kinda looks like the one on the right...
It does huh? Post a pic of it.
This is the only pic I have of it.
I dont want to replace the cables though
Anyone want to do it for me
That would be cheaper than a dealer hmmm...lets wait til it cools off a little then we will talk
Heat doesn't bother me. It's only going to be in the 90's for another day or so.
Well, let me go to the junk yard on thurs and mess around with one of their cars and see what i can do...ill let you know by the end of the week
Good luck finding a manual Contour.
You kidding right? There is so many on dort highway, hell i found 3 in one old junk yard by me pre 98 though
.
You won't find one around W. MI for sure.
I had the same problem but for 10 bucks I have it working like new. Go to Lowe's buy a 5/15 rubber gromet a couple or the size that matches the rod. Slide the gromet on the shaft this will make the two peices fit snug and still alow the peice to swivel. Then take a washer same size of the shaft end with a small hole and place it on the rod end and go buy 1/4 inch C-snap ring that you see on throttle cables and then you have it like new. And on the larger rod I put a washer and a larger C-snap ring. GL
Could you take a pic of it? Kind of a pain but I'm sure it would help.
