i just bought a 1983 gl wagon 4wd it has a really slppy shift lever and dont like to go in gear but once in gear the tranyy works fine the goy i bought it from thought it was the cluch but the cluch dont slipp i need help thanks

Worn out shifter bushings. take the interior boot AND the rubber boot underneith off the shifter and move the shifter around. You'll see what needs to be replaced.

try changing the fluid in the tranny that always seems to help with hard shifting as for slopy shifting welcome to subaru

as for slopy shifting welcome to subaru

Yep yep. Its something you'll learn to deal with and work around if you decide not to fix it.

 

Heh.. in meh Brat, third gear happens to be right about where my girlfriends knees are.. I wont mention where reverse is.

aside from the excessive play, the clutch cable may need tightened up a slightly to compensate for wear. if the cable is too slack the cl8tch disc will drag enough to spin the synchro and make it hard to get 1st and reverse from a stop

had the same thing happen to my 81 wagon, turned out that the shifter bushing were completly shot.

 

The base of the stick shift goes into a socket with a tiny donut looking bushing, on my 81 this bushing had completly turned to a sticky blob of plastic, also the bushing that attach the stick to the shift linkage were completly shot too.

 

Replaced 'em all and it was shifting like new!

Skip wrote a great shifter fix article. I have it in email. If you have Microsft Word to read it... I'll be happy to send it to you.

Mary

I am going to do a very thorough write-up for the USRM pretty soon on how to rip your whole shifter out and replace every last bushing. It's an absolute nightmare if your car has any age on it. I've done it twice now, on both my cars, and this was replacing bushings that were MISSING entirely.

 

When I get around to doing it, I'll try to remember to post a link to it.

yeh when replaced the "doughnut ring" in my brumby the metal shim inside the other bushing was missing as was the netral return spring from the previous owners attepmt to fix it, i got a spare and bought a new spring. I was really happy happy wif the results as up and down movemont feels nomal now but to fix all the side ways slack you need to put a cut down the linkage where the stub comes out of the tranny and put a bolt the were the pin was. there a picture on general disorders website.