Destroying a B&M short shifter

[seth98esT]

Ive had this 'replica' B&M shifter for the better part of 3 years now. No problems whatsoever until last Friday. I was just driving down the road, go to downshift from 3rd to second, but it wouldnt go into second gear at all, didnt feel like anything was there. So I pulled over, popped the hood, checked the shifter cables, all looked good. So I thought it was a fluke. Got in my car drove away, but couldnt shift into 2nd or 4th. Reverse however looked fine.

So first though is that one of my shifter cables is binding. Swap them out for a set of new 2g cables I had laying around, same issue. So with the shifter cables not attached to the shifter, it felt like the shifter itself was binding. I took the shifter off the shifter assembly and noticed when I move it forward, the shaft tightens into the shaft. Wtf thats not supposed to happen! When I pulled the shifter back, the rod would unscrew slightly untill it hit the billet piece.

So I take off the nut on the rod that holes the shifter to the billet piece and I cant pull the rod out. Had to put the billet piece in a vice and use a hammer and screw driver to pop it out. What I find out is the bearing that the rod slides into froze onto the rod and basically fell apart within itself.

So to whomever has this style of shifter, be sure to lube that rod every year or so or else that bearing will fail over time! I just put the rod back in, and of course with all that bearing gone, it spins fine, just a bit loose.

Pics:

The billet piece(dont mind my bloody thumb haha):











The rod that slides into said billet piece:







Re-attached to the shifter:



Rre-assembled(forgot to take a picture of everything re-assembled)



Stupid car:

[kolio]

seth i'm on my second "replica" my first fell victim to that but in much less time about 7 months.

the new one is having issues too. i think i'm gonna buy a real one ( used of course )

at least you got the shaft out, mine is still fused in there( the old one is in my basment as a paper weight)

this also happend to proto

[laxinwarrior]

Same here, as soon as the bearings started going i just took it apart and gutted them all and then filled the cavity with lube and put it back together ... no problems since and it's been about 8 months so far.

[seth98esT]

Thats crazy, didnt know it was as big of an issue as this! Wonder if the B&Ms do the same thing.

[kolio]

i think i'm going to order a fidanza short shifter tomorrow night. for not much more than the ebay ones for a brand new one!

if anybody is interested pm me for the site

[bronxbombr]

i guess i was right to modify mine a lil by cutting it so it not only rides the bearings but if they were to get stuck, there would still be enough play to shift. Mine pivots about a under quarter inch before actually locking to shift.

[mko]

there is an OEM short shifter and can be found on 1G