Hi everyone,

I just finished replacing the shifter bushings and knuckle in my 98 5MT outback. Kartboy poly's made a nice difference. The rear bushing moved my shifter up about an inch, causing the boot to pull on the console and now I'm driving with that all apart until my short throw arrives.

My question is, now that all the shifter slop is taken care of, I've noticed I have spring action (back to center neutral) in the right (5-R) direction, but nothing on the left direction (1-2). It just slops around in the neutral position between 1-2 and 3-4 when its in neutral. Is this an easy fix? I've only been able to find one parts diagram showing a spring, but it was very unclear where it was. Seeing how Subaru likes to keep things in the transmission, is the spring in the shifter base plate at the body, or is it internal? I've tried looking in other forums, but with mixed results. Thanks! -P.

The only spring pulling on the Shifter that I know of is the external one.  It's a little over an 1" long and hooks to the plate that is over the large dia rubber bushing on the shift support rod.

I found an old thread about a 95 with the same issue. I'll throw a spring in there and see what happens!

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/119792-help-with-shifter-return-spring/