81 with 5 speed. All of the sudden my shifter has gotten loose and I can turn the entire handle all the way around. Anybody know what the cause of this is and how to fix it?

 

pop the shifter out and check the condition of the shifter seat, or anything that looks wrong in there.

 

Yeah it's pretty easy to pull the shifter so take it out and see what you can see. New shifter seats and sockets are cheap, easy, and make a huge difference, if that's all the problem is.

 

Go with the Marlin Crawler HD seat. Might as well replace the socket and boot too, while you're at it.
http://www.marlincrawler.com/transmi...ver-ball-seats

 

Are you saying the KNOB is loose and you can turn it around? If it's just the knob, unscrew it and try neatly wrapping a thin strip of tape (duct or gorilla)on the threads and then screw the knob back on. If the whole shifter is turning do the repairs described above. If you search "shifter seat" there's lots of threads. I got mine from Marlin and it's really easy to fix.

 

That was going to be my question too....

I just did the seat/bushing/boot replacement on my 81 and it feels like a completely different tranny, like new. My bushing was so bad only the top part of the bushing, where it presses into the ball of the shifter remained--guess the rest of it is in my tranny!

Best "cheap" mod there is IMHO....

 

No not the knob. The entire shifter. I ordered the new seat, socket, and boot from crawler yesterday