Wobbly Shifter

[slc302]

Hi all!

I have a shifter/transmission question for you all. My shifter has always felt wobbly, so I started with swapping to a Bouse short shifter. Unfortunately, it didn’t help much.

Symptoms:

• Wobbly shifter - moves an inch in any direction when in gear.

• No reverse lockout - I can lift up the shifter (which makes a sound akin to an annoyed mouse), but it is not necessary to shift to reverse. I had no idea that 124s had a lockout until researching shifters.

• Shifting force required - I know it isn’t an S2000, but I feel like it takes more force than it should. I haven’t driven another 124 so I don’t have any comparison, I just think it should be easier and smoother.

It has never popped out of gear, and I’ve never heard any weird noises from the transmission. This suggests to me that I should focus on the shifter internals, at least as a first step.

So I have a host of questions:

• Do you think I’m on track, or are there another potential issues that I should consider?

• Since this is a ‘71, the shifter parts are tough to find. What is required to update to a later model shifter? Does this require a new shifter extension housing as well as the later model internals?

• Would it be better to continue with an early model shifter if I can find the parts?

Thanks!

[F16Waldo]

Perhaps this schematic will help you figure out the problem.
https://spiderroadster.com/124shift1.htm

Is the nut at the bottom of the shifter installed and tight? (items 8, 9, 10 in early model picture) I am not an expert, but had similar issue with my 83...the shifter lifted completely up and out when the nut dropped off the bottom (items 28, 29 in new model shifter)

If you have the 4 speed, look around on this page for correct schematic/list.
https://spiderroadster.com/transmission_group.htm

Good luck!

[18Fiatsandcounting]

You are right in that there was a difference between early and later model shifters, and the changeover year appears to be 1972 / 1973 as indicated by the pictures in the link that Waldo posted. Basically, early models had a hard plastic ball at the bottom of the shift lever, while later ones had a nested cup arrangement of sorts that was held with a nut and washer.

I'm going to assume that your shifter is the original, in which case it would be the "ball at the end" style. Other than the ball cracking (or breaking off completely), the early shifters usually didn't have problems with this. But things can happen.

The most common cause of chrome shifter extension wobble is bad bushings and collars in the internals (parts 3,4,5,6), which press onto the shift lever that comes out of the transmission.

By the way, to shift in to reverse, you had to pull up the shift lever on early models, while with later models you had to push down. Oftentimes the reverse lockout bolt (part #18) has been removed so you don't need to pull up or push down for reverse. And in extreme cases the lockout pin can be so worn that it's not doing anything. The lockout pin is there to prevent you from going from 5th to reverse gears while moving, which would be a bad thing...

Note that there is some wobble to the shifter even when everything is right, so if you know someone else with a good working shifter in a spider, you could have them feel the shifter and maybe it's just normal.

-Bryan

[slc302]

Thanks!

From the exploded views I’ve never been able to tell if the early shifter tower/extension housing is different from the later version (item 11 in the exploded view). Any idea if I would need to get a later shifter extension housing to update to a later model shifter, or is it just swapping the internals?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I believe the shifter extension is the same for all model years, but don't hold me to that. See part #11 in the following link which has 11 for all model years:

https://www.middlebartongarage.com/Prod ... Cont-1/238

My guess is that they are interchangeable between model years.

-Bryan