tbear853

Well, I took the shift ball and boots off the Hurst Billet Shifter to see why I have this annoying "shifter ball rattle noise" now.

It just started last week when I dumped the Mobil 1 Synth ATF and installed Texaco Dexron III / Mercon conventional ATF. Shifts some good deal better now for sure, best it has since we got it, better than I thought I'ld see .....
..... but now I have the well known "shifter ball rattle" noise.

I had maybe 1/64" verticle play in the shifter at the spherical ball joint and I was curious how to "get in there". The play didn't cause the noise because it has had that play since I bought the shifter new, but not this new noise.
So after looking, I decided there was no way easily to get into the spherical ball joint from top side and I had other chores to do ....
.... so I ended up packing a good layer of Valvoline Wheel Bearing Grease fortified with Moly for FoMoCo apps inside the recessed part .... I mean a good heavy slathering to provide a good reservoir ....



.... and then I slit a hole in a piece of thin plastic (The plastic is to keep grease off my boot.) and pushed it down over the the stub to cover the grease .... and snapped a couple rubber bands around underneath that black piece to hold the plastic in place ..... and then reattached the shift lever and slipped the lower boot back in place and tucked the lip in .... it'll hold the plastic in place long after that rubber band lets go.

Then as I installed the upper dress boot and went to put the ball on, I looked into it and measured to see how deep, and found there probably 1/2" of dead space above the tip of the shift lever threads and the top of the hole in the plastic.

I once had a shifter ball rattle in my '67 Chevelle which had a Hurst Competition Plus shifter and I cured it by packing some silicone sealant in the hole and threading the ball back in place and snugging against the nut. I sort of figured that there was some play between the plastic and the brass threaded insert that caused it .....
..... but it never seemed loose to begin with.

So I squirted some silicone sealant up into my current Hurst shift ball, threaded it on the stick and locked into position, and then wiped away all the excess silicone that squeezed out while I was twisting it on.

Test drove the car ..... and after a few shifts, the grease must have grabbed the ball and pulled itself into place in the spherical joint because I can't feel any verticle movement ..... and I have zero shifter ball rattle now.


I'm now thinking that the noise isn't so much because of play in the ball or noise in the transmission as maybe it's just a product of that empty space above the threaded portion acting as a sound chamber .... and the transmission just provides a source of vibration and the slack in the ball just doesn't dampen the vibes. I am also reminded of how loud a noise was caused once years ago when I was driving my '77 F150 4X4 and emptied a styrofoam cup of coffee on the way to Lowes and simply placed the empty cup upside down onto the transfer case shift lever while I was loading .... then I started home and thought something bad had happened to my truck ....... then I looked down and saw that cup .... that was loud!

tbear853

Follow up ..... I hereby pronounce it "fixed".

We drove over 200 miles, I-64 west to Lewisburg, shopping in antique shop, then north on Rt 219 to Marlinton over hills and curves and down along the Greenbriar, ate a great dinner at The Greenbriar Grill out on the deck and fed the ducks, then back east across Rt 39 all the way to Rt 11 and home ..... lots of shifting, lots of grades, coasting, power, and the first part was all rural interstate at 66-70 mph.

Never heard the first peep of shifter rattle!

tbear853

Drove the Mustang 500+ miles Wed & Thursday April 16-17th to and from Charlotte Motor Speedway (had to come home Thursday night) .... and NO shifter rattles ...
... not a peep!

Definitely "FIXED"!

John SCB

Hey tbear thanks for posting this! Your shifter installation thread was great too. Had I known of the vibration issues with this kit, I probably would not have purchased it. Of course I want the shorter throws. But I'm one for the "plug and play" version of a modification without the need to fix it right out of the box. I would definitely have a problem with possibility of a recurring rattle. Even the faintest hint of a rattle anywhere in the car drives me nuts. Right now my '05 is quiet as can be.

I'm glad you have illustrated the process so well from start to finish. Clearly, there's a lot of additional work that goes into this install to make it right. Like you, I recall the smoother shifts of the older American muscle cars (my favorite was the '68 GTO). No short shifting on those beasts, but they were smooth.

Right now I'm not sure if I want to proceed with this project

tbear853

Understand please ..... I have a habit of being unable to leave well enough alone.

You do not need to do extra work. If you like where the ball is in relation to the console lid and elbow .... (it is better than stock OEM by a mile) .... then just put a dab of silicone in the shifter ball before threading it down and locking. It'll still come off as easy as before, the silicone will just harden and fill the void that is above the stick and which amplifies any vibration noises. You can also discard the shifter stops as the trans has internal ones, or keep as you like if you really hammer on it.

My "extension" that I fabbed ..... not necessary and most wouldn't give a thought to it ..... I just like to tinker and stuff and I wanted a slightly higher ball location. Now I can shift over top of any large 7-11 Ice Coffees in a cup holder easier and the "Wife Unit" likes the location when she drives. Even with longer stick, 2-3/8" throw is not much over half what OEM was at 4".

There is also a few other Hurst sticks that others have used that accomplish the same move. What you have is a Hurst #538-7201 .... but there is the # 538-0015 which when I draw all of it to scale, puts the ball in the same position .... +/- 0.125" as I currently have mine.

There is also a # 538-8550 that looks interesting.

The # 538-7238 is straight and is 7.5" from center lower bolt to center shift ball.

Then there is # 538-7991 which is straight up near 10" from lower bolt to center shift ball but which has a bend to one side to offset shift ball 1.2" to side of center, it can be reversed to bring shift ball to left or right as desired.

For something really different, there's a couple of pistol grip shifter handles / sticks. Last two on pg 30 of Hurst's on line catalog ..... nice diagrams .... you can download free.
http://www.hurst-shifters.com/stick-...ion-id-charts/


I love the look and feel of the Hurst ..... never give a thought to anything else myself.