tardis454
New member
I couldn't find a place to put this so I figured I'd put it here. The mods might want to sticky this because it's a common problem.
My friend called the other day and said the shifter in his 06 Wrangler stopped going into park & low gear. It got extremely cold here for a few days and he thought something might be frozen. I knew that was not the case and suggested his Jeep was suffering from busted shifter syndrome. I told him to pop the handle off, pull the busted plastic shift engagement piece out, and jam an unsharpened pencil in the shifter tube to make the Jeep drivable for the time being. He did, and today he brought it over for me to repair it.
I've seen the chopstick repair, and I know it works, but in my opinion it's a chintzy fix.
Links to the chopstick repair if anyone is interested:
Can't shift into Park or 1st Gear - JeepForum.com
The famous chopstick shifter button repair in pictures! - Jeep Wrangler Forum
I wanted something durable so my friend wouldn't have to worry about it breaking again anytime soon. Here's how I fixed it...
I took the shifter out for inspection which is not necessary, this job can be performed with the shifter in the vehicle.
The plastic piece always breaks off after the 4th ball. Here's what the shifter looks like with the broken piece.
The dealership sells the shifter as an assembly. The shifter cannot be taken apart, you WILL break it if you try to do so..
Here's the busted piece removed from the shifter tube, I'm replacing it with, 1/4" steel brake line.
Double flare one end of the brake line so it fits over the ball end inside the shifter.
You'll need to install something for the button in the shift handle to ride on, I used a pen end cap..
Pen end cap installed, I used a cheapo pen, if you can't find a pen then just use something plastic to plug the hole..
The old shifter engagement piece measures 1/2 in Park, you'll want the piece of brake line to measure the same.
New piece installed, correct height obtained.
I put the handle back on to test engagement/disengagement, it works perfect!
Goes right into Park, no drama! YAY!!!!!!!!!!
And low gear too!!! WooHoo!!!
Be sure to run it through all of the gears and make sure they all engage and indicate properly on the shift indicator plate.
I hope this helps someone if they ever encounter this problem. :beer:
My friend called the other day and said the shifter in his 06 Wrangler stopped going into park & low gear. It got extremely cold here for a few days and he thought something might be frozen. I knew that was not the case and suggested his Jeep was suffering from busted shifter syndrome. I told him to pop the handle off, pull the busted plastic shift engagement piece out, and jam an unsharpened pencil in the shifter tube to make the Jeep drivable for the time being. He did, and today he brought it over for me to repair it.
I've seen the chopstick repair, and I know it works, but in my opinion it's a chintzy fix.
Links to the chopstick repair if anyone is interested:
Can't shift into Park or 1st Gear - JeepForum.com
The famous chopstick shifter button repair in pictures! - Jeep Wrangler Forum
I wanted something durable so my friend wouldn't have to worry about it breaking again anytime soon. Here's how I fixed it...
I took the shifter out for inspection which is not necessary, this job can be performed with the shifter in the vehicle.
The plastic piece always breaks off after the 4th ball. Here's what the shifter looks like with the broken piece.
The dealership sells the shifter as an assembly. The shifter cannot be taken apart, you WILL break it if you try to do so..
Here's the busted piece removed from the shifter tube, I'm replacing it with, 1/4" steel brake line.
Double flare one end of the brake line so it fits over the ball end inside the shifter.
You'll need to install something for the button in the shift handle to ride on, I used a pen end cap..
Pen end cap installed, I used a cheapo pen, if you can't find a pen then just use something plastic to plug the hole..
The old shifter engagement piece measures 1/2 in Park, you'll want the piece of brake line to measure the same.
New piece installed, correct height obtained.
I put the handle back on to test engagement/disengagement, it works perfect!
Goes right into Park, no drama! YAY!!!!!!!!!!
And low gear too!!! WooHoo!!!
Be sure to run it through all of the gears and make sure they all engage and indicate properly on the shift indicator plate.
I hope this helps someone if they ever encounter this problem. :beer:
