06-08 Forester Shifter bushing install! Now with more stiffness!
When you sit inside a 15 year old vehicle you understand a few things won’t be quite like they were when it was fresh and new. Shifting through the gears you might think it’s just an old worn transmission and this is how it will feel… Least that is what I thought. After 227k miles in my Forester and replacing the front and rear stay bushing along with my Kartboy short shifter and 10” shifter extension I assumed it was just a worn transmission that is how it was.
Well when I was working on another vehicle at work it dawned on me… Those u-joint bushings are a well known failure point. Sure enough the next time I raised the vehicle up I noticed just how awful my shift rod u joint was. Looks like it’s time for another task and how to!
Time Frame
This is a great job to combo together with a new short shifter and other bushings, but if you are just tackling this one job look for about an hour of your life to be spent completing this project. The u joint pinch bolt will be the decider on how long it takes you.
Tools
Like many other projects you first tools to gather will be your metric sockets and ratcheting wrenches. A few properly sized punches and a hammer will help you tackle this task.
Parts
Determined by your vehicle there are plenty of options out there. The 06-08 Forester has bushings that can be replaced but other vehicles may need modification or complete replacement of the u joint to perform this repair.
Any replacement bushings will do and at the time during the pandemic these are all I could source. Torque solutions bushings
How to
It’s up to the sky for the first step, we need to get the vehicle airborne and secured on jack stands. If you are lifted like my Forster you might actually be able to do this on flat ground but the more room you have the easier it is. Next up we will locate the backside of the transmission and you can liberally spray any bolts or pins with rust penetrant. Then allow that some time to drip down so it doesn’t find it’s way to your face.
After the drips have finished dripping you can locate the 12mm nut on the side of the front shifter bushing. You can remove the nut, washer and pull the shifter arm and bushing to the side. This will gain you a bit more access to the rod above.
Shift linkage visible, you can see the
The nut and large washer are removed in this image to allow the shift linkage to removed for better access.
With the bushing off to the side you can get a slightly better angle on spring pin that holds the bushing assembly we need to remove. I find using a socket that it fits within and a wobble extension makes easy work of it. You can remove the 12mm bolt that runs vertically through the rod and bushing. Having this completed you can now take the rest of the assembly to your work area.
Sliding the shift linkage off to the side.
Easy access with the bushing moved to the side to remove the linkage roll pin.
Remove the final 12mm bolt holding the bushing in to find out what is left of your oem bushings. If it is anything like my bushings… there is barely enough left to call it a bushing.
With this bolt removed you can now remove the linkage u-joint to replace the bushing.
Once you the leftover bits of bushing removed you can install your new bushings which shouldn’t take much force. If they do you can cleanout out the housing with small round file. Place the upgraded bushing assembly back into the shifter and tighten down the bolt. You can now head back to the car with your completed pieces.
This bolt holds the bushing in, once it was removed everything just spilled out.
This is what was left of the four bushings that hold it all together. When they are in this state the shifter basically feels like it could fall out of the car at any time.
New bushings installed you can see what it should look like.
Having the assembly back under the car you can slide the vertical 12mm bolt back in place and tighten it down. Next up is the tricky part where you line up the spring pin and get it back in. If you have a small vacuum hose you can placing half of the spring pin in one end while the punch is in the other. This holds it in place so you can line it up and hammer away.
Everything goes back together in reverse.
With all the bolts back tightened down you can get in double check that all gears are operational.. and also just how much better your shifting experiences will soon be. Now you can place the car in gear and make sure both form and reverse work without issues.
Congratulations! You can now enjoy quality shifts and just enjoy your car a little more with each and every shift.