Auto or manual?
Or is it the 4WD selector?

 

Sorry, thought I added. It is a manual. No issues with the 4wd selector. It is right where the black visable part of the shift lever meets the lower part that is under the boot.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h218/FJ80/New Mexico 4WD/IMG_0172.jpg

 

That is a picture of the T case shifter. The manual shifter for the transmission has a little plastic cup on the end you can replace & should help, Whats your mileage? My wobbels around & i have 94K on it but shifts fine & don't worry about it. Here is a picture.

 

It's a long shifting lever on an SUV. It's going to shake. Does it feel sloppy to shift? Is it tough to find a gear sometimes? If yes, then you do have a problem, but I'm betting that it's ok.

 

Thanks for the photo adam 12_4. It shifts fine but there is definitely movement between the upper black portion and the lower stainless or steel part of the lever. There appears to be some sort of rubber bushing between the two that if not tight and allowing the two sections to be loose. It has 73k miles. When I am driving the 2 parts rattle like they are rubbing rubbing together. If I hold the shift knob up and in a straight line from the lower part the rattle stops.

 

The movement is in the area indicated by the arrow in the photo. Not sure if it can be tightened/adjusted or if it needs replacement. I am leaning towards replacement as I am not sure how the upper and lower parts of the shaft are held together. It moves about 3 inches in any direction at any time. I have tried twisting it but no dice. It returns to its normal position after I let go. But I have not cranked on it very hard either. Not sure if that will snap the rubber fitting between the 2 pieces.

 

I not sure of the normal amount of play since I have only driven mine that had 88k when I bought it. There is a post somewhere of a guy that uses a rubber epoxy from Amazon when his came apart. I'm thinking of welding but not sure it the two halves are the same metal. Clamps and/or shims are more likely.

It wasn't bad until I put a short throw from URD on there. Great modification but the play in the lever is more noticeable.

 

I had the same issue with my 6mt. I took it out the fj and removed as much of the rubber I could and welded it as best I could. It's a lot easier to find a gear now since theirs no play at all, but now the noises from the trans transfer up through the stick and you can hear the gears grinding. It's kinda annoying when cruising on the highway in 6th gear. Could just be my fj though because the previous owner definitely did a number on this trans, 3rd gear is very hard to shift quickly. I have to give it a second when going from 2nd to 3rd or it will grind. Syncros must me shot. But yeah just giving a idea of how I fixed it, might not be the best option but it did get rid of the extra play.

Sent from my SM-N915V using Tapatalk

 

When was the last time you did a fluid flush on it? I just changed mine with Red Line last Saturday and it shifts so much better but still grinds slightly when going into fourth after I've been driving it for awhile. I'll probably flush it again in about 10k miles to see if the grind gets any better.

 

Thanks everyone. I wound up cranking on it until the rubber between them broke free. I cleaned out as much as I could and added a high temp silicone in the hollow upper portion to keep the rattling down and welded them together. It's holding fine but I do hear some vibration in the hollow portion of the lever where the two pieces are rubbing inside but it is tolerable. The overall length of the entire shift lever was shortened by an inch or two as the lower is farther inside the upper portion now. Didn't mean for this to happen but that's how it came out. The looseness is gone and that was my biggest issue. Thanks again and stay muddy.

 

I just fixed mine with FJCguy's Flexane 80 Liquid fix, and I also replaced the white nylon bushing on the very tip of the ball. No more wobble and it goes into each gear very smoothly.

 

Hi all, just came here to say: thank you for this thread!!
I was puzzled with really wobbly MT shifter on my FJ, found this unexpected “joint” in the middle of the lever, took it apart, scraped the rubber off, fill “upper part” with polyurethane, centered “lower part” (using skewers, but I’m sure there is better way) so metal parts won’t touch.
Installed everything today. Very happy.

P.S. Attaching photo of the polyurethane putty. It may be overkill, and silicone chalk from hardware store may work ok, but I decided to do not cut corners.

 

I was puzzled with really wobbly MT shifter on my FJ, found this unexpected “joint” in the middle of the lever, took it apart, scraped the rubber off, fill “upper part” with polyurethane, centered “lower part” (using skewers, but I’m sure there is better way) so metal parts won’t touch.
Installed everything today. Very happy.

I'm curious if yours is the TRD quickshifter (short throw shift), or if it is the original Toyota shifter. There have been a few threads regarding this happening to the quickshifter over the years, but I always wonder if the original shifter can suffer from this too.