Difficulty moving the shifter....

[papasmurf]

I have a short throw shifter installed and it has been in the car for a few years...no issues...notchy but I have gotten used to it. Over the last few weeks the shifting has become more and more difficult like their is some binding or something. I have removed the boot/knob and drove it like this for a while and did not notice anything wrong with the short shifter itself. Yesterday things really started to tighten up and was I wondering whether I was going to make it home or not and had to skip 3rd gear once or twice. There seems to be some force pushing back against you when you attempt to shift. I removed the console on my lunch break and removed a some spare change that had fallen in their but nothing that was interuppting the linkage. I removed the cables and the left/right of the shifter without the cable was fine....the forward/back was not as loose. Is there something that needs lubing in the shifter itself, the cables? The car seems to shift fine, and I am pretty sure it is a linkage issue as the clutch seems okay and their is no slipping and the gears do not grind or anything when shifting.