Okay, so I'm going to get my new summer tires mounted on the Virgos. After waiting two hours, I notice the kid driving my car out of the shop can't get the car into reverse. I see the reverse lights flicker and go out, and he lets the clutch out and moves forward. He clearly doesn't know about the the reverse ring on the stick. His buddy pushes him outa the shop.

Now, when I get in the car, I discover the car easily goes into reverse. But wait, it goes into reverse without me pulling up the ring! I pull up the shift boot to discover that the reverse detent bar has not moved AT ALL as its still securely fastened, but the whole shift lever feels likes its moved to the right. When I go to put the car in first, reverse is in about that spot movement wise. And where 3rd and 4th should be abouts, 1st and 2nd are. WTF? And yep, the car easily goes into reverse without pulling up on the ring. The clearance between the shift lever and the bar that it usually hits against before you can get it to go into reverse is WAY MORE. I set the reverse detent clearance according to the manual. But now I've got a couple centimetres of clearance. And the whole lever feels loose, and swings sharply to the right likes its on a spring when I put it in neutral.

What the crap. Did the kid bend something? Or did something further forward in the linkage break? Anyone have ideas?

Greg

Thats why you don't let other people drive your shit.

Tell them to fix it.

- R

I don't know how it happens, but I've heard of one other bent shift lever from someone not knowing WTF they were doing. I guess it's possible...

Raise hell, but make sure you know what you want from them before you go. Free rotation, free balances, whatever.

And tell them another custom-made short throw shifter is going to cost you $125US...

Yeah, seriously....$125 dollars would be a good price!

I remember the kid also told me that he had tried to find reverse to the right and down. He could easily have hammered it that direction, which is why it now swings to the right.

I'm going to jack the car up this morning to check the linkage from below. Does where the linkage enters the tranny case pivot at all? From looking down into the tranny from the cab, the shift fork bit is still centred, but the linkage below is swung off to the left, which explains why the shifter now points to the right. Could the whole linkage have rotated all the way into the tranny?

This indeed may be the last time I let a shop worker drive my car. But I'm no good a giving hell...

Hey Greg,

Now I know why I haven't seen the Yellow Rocket Ship of Glory on my way into work recently. What tire shop did you go to?

Craig

"Yellow Rocket Ship of Glory"
I love these names!

Kal Tire. Park Place. Never had any issues with those guys until this.

Still not sure what happened really. Dale, have you had a chance to take a look at those photos of the shifter I sent?

They still won't accept any responsibility for it. They sent me all the way out to the industrial area to have their mechanic look at it. He said it looked bent, and said they'd get me a new one. Once I got back to the mall location, their other mechanic happened to be in, and he said there's no way they could have bent it. Since then, they have refused to accept any responsibility for it. I've spent numerous hours, a fair bit of gas, etc., and they won't budge. The last time I talked to the dude, he said there's nothing they could do. I said I at least wanted my money back for the tire swap, and he said "we'll see." Haven't heard back since. Sigh.

Wow. One time they cross threaded a lug nut on the rear of my dads 740. They replaced the stud and nut no questions asked.

I had them pull the shifter off my GT. But never bend anything.

Jordan

I looked at the pics Greg and it sure looks bent to me. It's been done before so it's not impossible. All I can say is the kid was certainly hammering on it to bend it period...

Thanks Dale, and Jordan for your responses.

Maybe what I'll do is put the regular shift lever back on, see if it lines up right, and then drive it back over there to them. If that doesn't convince them, I dunno what will
I know the kid who drove the car was confronted about the situation, and of course he denied it. Really, no surprise there. But the kid (and subsequently they) claimed that since he didn't get the car into reverse, there's no way he could have bent it. Sadly, it was what he did WHILE TRYING TO GET THE CAR INTO REVERSE that concerns me. They just don't see it that way. Sigh.

For those that are curious, here are some photos....

Here's the Avalanche short shift, mounted in place. Straight up.


Now here's how it is now.




Note the kink right where the flat spot for the reverse detent ends...not present in the first pic I don't think.....

they snipe your shifter or what?

ciao

Yeah, seriously. "I'll be danged if I can't get this thing in reverse....where's my snipe!"

holy crap....did he pull the knob off a couple times trying?

Man, he must have heaved on it to bend that shaft. Thanks for the shop info - I'm looking for some Falken's for the Canuck (when I get the steel wheels back from being widened) and they sell them...perhaps I'll keep looking.

Craig