Hello there, new to the board. I have looked and looked to not avail as to how to tighten up my 1998 Montero Auto transmission shifter assembly. Just picked up the rig with 130K, in pretty good shape- but the auto trans shift lever is sloppy both side to side and back and forth. The transmission itself is fine, and I am able to select all the gears just fine, lockout works ect... would just like it to feel a bit more "new" the transfer case selector is pretty sloppy as well, but again everything works. Not sure how to remove the center cosole to access the tunnel where I might need to tighten some stuff up, or if it is accessed from below. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Not sure if the GenII.5 is the same, but when I did the overhaul on my GenI, Brendan and I replaced ALL of the bushings in the linkages for the shifter. Just a suggestion.

I also have this same issue. On mine it seems to actually create an issue because it gets stuck in park occasionally. So is there a bushing kit available?

Don't know of a kit. I looked everything up on ASA, which was downloaded from www.mitsubishilinks.com

I ordered all pieces individually, but again that was on a GenI not a GenII.

Same issue here. On mine, the two plastic spacer washers on either side of the pivot rod had broken. I remember staring at it for awhile and deciding that there were too many small pieces that would have to be removed in order to replace the washers, so I decided to live with the slop.

To take the whole center console off (this is from very foggy memory) There are a couple screws inside the storage area between the front seats...I think you have to pull the cupholders out then get at them from above with a long screwdriver. I think there are also some other screws that you can access by removing the ashtray. You will probably have to move the shifter and ebrake through a few different positions as you pull out the console. Just keep taking out screws and then gently wiggling it to try to find the next screw...you'll figure it out.

He can also download the factory service manual at mitsubishilinks then reference it to get a good idea of most of the screws that need to be removed. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Welcome to the Wire!

No other help today besides pleasantries. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I fixed this on my 95 last June - there are 2 plastic bushings that the shifter pivots on, mine were mostly gone. I ordered new ones from the dealer (MB580253 - currently $7.71 each from Southwest Mitsubishi) and the replacement process took about an hour - not very difficult. It restored the shifter to like new, with no slop in it at all.

Thanks everyone, I have not torn things apart yet but the washers being worn seems like the most likely scenario. I will get things apart and see here soon. I just sat in another 1998 and same issue, sat in a 95 and it was tight. My local hardware has a massive selection of plastic and nylon washers, hoping that I can find a substitute for the oem part.

They worn parts in my shifter weren't washers, they were shouldered plastic bushings that were a very tight fit. I highly doubt that you're going to find anything at any hardware store that will work.

Here is the factory parts diagram showing the parts that were worn out on mine.



The bushings fit very tightly between the pivot bolt (24597N in the diagram) and the horizontal tube that the shifter pivots on. The sleeve in between the bushings (24061) and the shoulders on the bushings themselves prevent any lateral movement of the shifter on the shaft, finding an off the shelf part that fits in every dimension is highly unlikely.