excessive shifter play

[jakeru]

I tore into my shift linkage "contraption" yesterday. (It was easily accessible from the rear of the car after removing a heat shield). Although I didn't find the loose-fitting ball stud that jcslocum showed in his video, I did find some "racking" play in the bellcrank pivot bushing. (You can also see this play in jcslocum's video if you look closely.)

I removed the contraption from the car and disassembled it, and found an undersized bronze bushing and/or worn components in the bellcrank pivot were causing the play. (Also, I noticed that any original grease that must have been there was long gone, and all that might have once been grease there was now dry and crumbly.)

After refurbishing the bushing and regreasing it, all of its play has been removed, and it should operate well.

[jakeru]

Another view of the "contraption" with its rubber cap removed:

[CrisZenithBlue]

Can't wait to hear how it works once reinstalled!

[losblancos]

So, bumping this because I have the same issue well documented already here. I swapped for a short shifter but it didn’t make much of any difference—it seems that most of the side to side slop in my 987 is courtesy of racking movement at the linkage pivot shaft as discussed by jakeru and watsongrg.

I tried the aluminum foil trick and it didn’t do that much for me. I think I’m going to try thicker stainless shim stock and see if that makes a difference, or pressing out the bearing.

[watsongrg]

Originally Posted by jakeru

I tore into my shift linkage "contraption" yesterday. (It was easily accessible from the rear of the car after removing a heat shield). Although I didn't find the loose-fitting ball stud that jcslocum showed in his video, I did find some "racking" play in the bellcrank pivot bushing. (You can also see this play in jcslocum's video if you look closely.)

I removed the contraption from the car and disassembled it, and found an undersized bronze bushing and/or worn components in the bellcrank pivot were causing the play. (Also, I noticed that any original grease that must have been there was long gone, and all that might have once been grease there was now dry and crumbly.)

After refurbishing the bushing and regreasing it, all of its play has been removed, and it should operate well.

*987.1 5-speed*. After alot of unhappiness with shifter play and lack of precision, I too tracked the problem down to this selector-bracket "contraption". The ball joints were fine, so i took it apart and found the inner bushing diameter allowed too much play for the pivot shaft. My solution was to lightly grease then *wrap a small piece of aluminum foil around the pivot shaft*, this eliminated all play between the shaft and bushing. Perfect! I greased everything up with marine grease and put it back together. The selector bracket now works smoothly with no end-play or loosness.
The foil was simply cut to the length of the shaft and cut to one circumference of wrap.

I also cleaned and lubed the cable ends and selector rod ends. 4 ends all together. My shifter is back to original operating crispness and precision.

Next step is to rebuild the shifter console with the Function-First Shift Right kit. At that point the whole thing will be better than new.

Anyone looking to restore precision and crispness their 986/987 shift should start with this bracket first.
Porsche sell an update bracket for over $350. I just updated mine for free.

[ike84]

Originally Posted by watsongrg

Next step is to rebuild the shifter console with the Function-First Shift Right kit. At that point the whole thing will be better than new.

Anyone looking to restore precision and crispness their 986/987 shift should start with this bracket first.
Porsche sell an update bracket for over $350. I just updated mine for free.

Before you go and spend$300 on that kit, look at the short shift kits on Amazon. They don't include the new horizontal actuator arm, but the kits are surprisingly high quality and make an unbelievable difference in shifter feel. Buy one labeled prime and just return it off your not happy with it.

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