As several of you know, I just got an '82 4x4 pickup with a few problems. One of them is the notorious loose shifter.

I have done this fix on my '83, which had an unscrewable cap to get the shifter off it's base. I got parts from Marlin Crawler. I got the snap-on shifter tip, which fit and worked, and the white ball socket washer thing, which did not fit my '83 2wd, so I still have that.

Now when I go to take the shifter off, I just see the same type of flange but instead of a screw-off cap, instead there's like an oval-holed steel plug that looks like it's pressed in there.

So I'm wondering how to tell what the model of my transmission is so I know if I've got the right base shifter washer, and how to get it apart and back together. I also really want to know where a good source of all the inner rubber boots is, as both my transfer case and main shifter rubber boots are blown, and there is so much gritty mud and dirt down there that it's making me nervous.

 

Marlin has the boots

The shifter retaining collar you should be able to push down and twist it slightly to the left.


What the SST looks like in the manual


I made this out of 1" square tubing, i use channel locks on it


you will probably need to spray the shift collar with some PB blaster or something..

 

I made a tool like yours at work and pushed and twisted it off easily. Now I'm going to look for that white bushing I ordered from marlin that didn't fit my '83 2wd and see if that fits after cleaning it. My shifter looks like the one on the left in the picture of 2 shifters.

Then I'm going to order the bushing that snaps onto the end of the shift lever because it needs that too.

Thanks for the guidance and the pic of the tool, very helpful.

 

Funny thing is both shifters are out of L52's. The pic is from my build thread. The shifter on the right was missing the cap on the end. The smashed penny was the genius previous owners idea to fix it...pulled it out of an 83 on Craigslist. .

 

Ugh, smashed penny repairs kind of sicken me. Anyway; I can't find the damned bushing I bought, so I guess I'll be buying both again while I'm at it, and be making my own inner boot from bicycle inner tube as suggested on these forums, since I can't seem to find a factory replacement on marlin's website.

 

Bicycle tubes?! Slow down spunky, I don't want you to have to rebuild your tranny when you load it up with dirt... Here are the links from Marlin Crawler

Tranny shifter boot:
https://www.marlincrawler.com/transm...t-handle-boots

Transfer shifter boot:
https://www.marlincrawler.com/transf...er-case-handle

I've bought both from Marlin and that fit like a glove...errr, boot!


Also, nice tool Rob, but I have never had a problem getting the retainer clip off my tranny shifter other than it being in an awkward position with the tranny tunnel in the way. My biggest problem was the damn snap ring on the transfer shifter - even with an assortment of snap ring pliers, it was still a PITA for some reason

 

The reasons for using inner tube was because I couldn't find the correct inner boot and then I read a tip from a member here about bicycle inner tubes. He said his has worked for 2 years. It would be better than the torn boots that have been in place for who knows how long. It's got me a little concerned and makes me want to carefully clean around and remove the top flange shifter housing. Too bad I already placed my order for the other stuff. I think a bike tube would be made in a size that's nice and snug to the bottom of the shifter housing neck. I'm not going to be drowning it in mud any time soon, if ever.