Hi all,

my sporty over the past few weeks has developed a sloppy gear lever. the movement is excessive and my son and I miss gears occasionally (ie change first to fourth instead of second). there is no other issues and the vehicle drives fine it is just missing the gates occasionally and I suspect that a bush has perished or worn out.

Does any one one know if the sporty has a nylon bush in the top of gearbox where the gear lever goes in that can be replaced to fix up the sloppiness like in a Toyota.

appreciate any assistance.

cheers Chris <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

It's actually a remote mount shifter (because if it was in its natural spot the stick would sit right about where the firewall meets the floor), with a similar linkage to what you see on '90s Mazda FWD transmissions. That means there are 3 different sets of bushings that could be worn out, but 2 of the 3 (the fork at the bottom of the stick, and the ball in the middle) are accessible without opening the trans.

Thanks Tommy Chu.

Is this a stearlership only option or can you go aftermarket?

Cheers, Chris

That I'm not sure of. I've never been that far into mine (I'm only 2 weeks into owning this car) but usually for stuff like that it's the stealership, junkyard or get a machine shop to make brass ones cause any bushings in there are going to be nylon.

had the same problem. the center nylon bushing(holds the ball) had fallen apart made a new one out of delrin that was about a year back and is still better than stock. don't get one from the dealer they will be sloppy new and wont last long.

Well, the gear lever is like new. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Fitted up the new bushes on the pin, their wasn't much left of the existing ones, no wonder changing gears was so bad.

Had a look at the spherical ball bush and it has signs of cracking so that could be the next project..

Whilst the a Sporty was pulled apart I fitted up my leather shifter boots as the original venal ones were looking a bit shabby and had started to tear.

looks a million bucks and that leather smell <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

gotta love the Sportage, first time I had pulled the center console apart and I was impressed to find all the noise suppressant foam underneath. The Koreans really went to town on this and it is very neat.

Will put up some photos when I down load them off the phone.

cheers, Chris <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Yeah they sure did go nuts with that foam. The quarter panels are full of the stuff too and I'd be willing to bet they found a bunch of other places to stuff it as well.
Did you end up sourcing those from the dealer or did you find someone else? I put an Eaton Fuller shift knob on mine and the extra length is really amplifying the severity of my bushing play.

Edit: since I already up'd the picture and it's hilarious I might as well post it.

Just used the factory bushes.

Finally some photos,

All the soundproofing


Where the offending bushes are situated.



Gear lever removed



Doesn't look pretty in there


All that remained



New bushes fitted



That's better


MMMM leather



All finished just like a bought one <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />



Cheers, Chris. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />