I bought a used TRI-AX for my 2006 GT on ebay for a good price. Had it insytalled today, but the shifter has issues. First off, pulling on the handle reveals about 1/8 inch of up and down travel. When starting out in first gear, it sounds like something is slapping the center console...kinda like a bunch of bolts rattling around inside the glove box. It doesn't seem to do this in any other gear, including reverse when starting to move. I'm not talking about gear noise. I had another TRI-AX on a 96 Cobra, and it did not do this. Mechanically speaking, it performs as it should...shifts perfectly. The thing that really bothers me in the up and down slop in the handle. The shop heard the noise and had it back on the rack checking everything out as far as tightness goes, and they can't figure it out. The shop also says they have done one other TRI-AX on a 2005+ and did not have these issues. I talked with the seller, and they insist all parts are with the shifter and it was fine on their car. Steeda's instructions and their website aren't much help, and their offices are closed. Is there something wrong with this shifter? Is there an install problem? Is there a bushing or something I can buy to keep it from rattling? Help! Labor on this is $140 bucks a pop plus 2 hours of shop time. I'm kinda spooked about driving it this way if there is something loose or potentially damaging to my tranny. I don't wanna buy a new one of those out of pocket after only 1000 miles. Thanks in advance.

 

The up and down travel is normal and the shifter is easy to install yourself. I'm not sure what you mean about the rattling though. If you hear a loose rattle it might be the bronze bushings on the link underneath. Did they use the plastic washer? My car had that problem. The inside of the shifter is supposed to be packed with a purple grease, does your shifter have that?

I had a bear of a time installing my tri-ax as well. I came up with some tips to fix my noise issues. I haven't had any problems since though and it runs like a swiss watch now.

Check this thread out

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/index.php?ac...43&t=37041&st=0

 

Thanks for the quick reply. your posts kick hiney. I am going to attempt to fix this issue myself rather than dump a bunch more money into it. Problem 1 I see after reading your posts on this install is that the metal insert is still in my stock shifter's bushing. hopefully this fixes it, if not I gotta try to find the source of the rattling. Wish me luck. I'm on the way to the tool store to get some jack stands...

 

Oh man that's really ugly if they forgot to put that metal sleeve in. You could just undo the two screws on the side to take the arm off. Don't disassemble the rest of it if you don't have to. Since they screwed it up and didn't follow directions, you could make them do it. Although since you bought yours used, the guy you bought yours from might have left his bushing in your shifter.

Look and see if they used the plastic washer behind the nut on the shifter bushing. If it's not there you are hearing a christmas bell jingle in the car, that is the problem and you need to put the plastic washer on.

 

okay, so I had it up on the jackstands today checking everything out. Everything looked good and tight. The metal sleeve was in the bushing. The nut on the shift linkage was tight, but there is some play in the brass bushings...maybe I should add a plastic washer? The sound is not a jingle, but a loud rattle in first gear just as power is being applied from a stop. The more gas I give it while letting the clutch out, the louder it is. Feels maybe like a side to side motion somewhere? If I put the clutch in and hammer it while it's rolling, I don't get the rattle...only from a stop in first. I did back off the upper stop bolt a bit for the gap, and it losened up the 1&2 shifts. What is the purpose of the smaller nut on the shift linkage? I don't think my used part came with this nut. Would the factory one work as well, or should i try to get the plastic washer and the smaller nut? Thanks for your help.

 

If there is play in the bushings, that is where the source of your rattle is comming from. My car did what you are describing too until I put the plastic washer on. You can relax now you found the source of your problem. Read on how to fix it.

I don't know what the purpose of the smaller nut is. If you're using the nylon washer, it shouldnt matter. Try it using the one you have. Go to home depot and buy a 3/8" (I think that's what size it is, my thread might say what I used) plastic nylon washer. That's where I got mine because I gave my washer away to someone because at the time mine didn't rattle. If you're going to be disconnecting that linkage, now would be a good time to grease those bushings. When you take the nut off, take the bushings out too (remember which one goes on what side) and put axle or thick lithium grease, not the spray stuff it will dry out over time, on the linkage shaft (not on threads) and inside and outside of the bronze bushings. This grease will prevent squeaking during shifter movement, mine started to squeak over time because the lithium-grease-in-the-spray-can I used dried up.

Now tightening the nut real tight using the plastic washer is going to stop your shifter stick from being able to move. If you make it loose, the nut will loosen and fall off over time. Imagine what would happen if that linkage arm fell 4 inches below on the driveshaft yoke directly below it. Your center console would grenade. Anyway, get some threadlocker and use it on the nut, my nut got loose very quickly several times before I used threadlocker. Now put the nut on and tighten it down tight. Then get in the car and move the shifter, it should be really hard to move the stick. Loosen the nut little by little until you get to the point where you're happy with the shifter movement. You don't want the nut too tight but you want it loose enough to shift the thing. If the shifter movement is just a tiny bit too tight, don't worry it will break in over time.

When you're done, check to see if the shifter is too hard to move into 5th and reverse, if it's hard to move the shifter all the way to the right, loosen the bolt on the donut on the back end of the shifter. That will give it some lateral movement. Use threadlocker on that too.

You shouldn't have adjusted the two stop bolts on the inside of the car. Those bolts are your friend. Follow the directions and put them in the proper position.

Can you tell I've done this before?

 

Problem solved! All this time we were blaming the shifter, and it turned out to be a misaligned driveshaft bearing causing all the trouble. Yet another reason NOT to drop the driveshaft when installing this item. Thanks guys for all your help, it helped me rule out many things while troubleshooting this thing. On the upside, after 3 full days playing with this thing, I could probably install this thing perfectly in about an hour flat. lol.

 

Yeah I never dropped the driveshaft, you don't need to. I can install these real easy too, if anybody in the southern NH area needs help.