Shifter

[90subbie]

in the last 3 or 4 weeks my shifter has slipped off the rubber piece it slids onto a couple times. easy enough to slide back on with a little push, but troublesome none the less.
I don't see any sort of set screww or anything. so how can I keep this from being an issue in the future. Don't wannt glue it in case I ever need to take things apart to repair the tranny or something, but hving it come loose going down the road n't a good thing.

After market? other tricks/tips?

[soobrdad02]

If it's just a plain metal post, I'd say tap the darn thing and run a matched thread sleeve up into the shifter handle.

[fishbone79]

Yeah, there is metal under that stupid rubber penis thing... but you'd have to get the rubber off (tried that a long while ago, annoying) and IIRC, it's not even (i.e., not conducive to being threaded). I found it much easier to swap in the relevant bit of shift linkage from a later model outback/legacy etc. with the solid shift lever (no stupid rubber penis). Takes about an hour and you don't have to mess around with that thing anymore.

[90subbie]

ok. so, havng only the one subaru myself, what years started coming with the solid shift lever.

[evolutionmovement]

Home Depot ~2" wood knob for drawer handle. ~$1. Paint, rubber coat, or stain as wanted. Drill the already pilot-holed base to a size just less than the diameter of the threads on the shift rod (don't remember the size, but it's pretty standard SAE), use a little olive oil for lube, and work it onto the threads like you would tap a hole. And it even feels better in the hand.

[fishbone79]

I think hes talking about the shift rod itself with the metal sleeve that slides over the rubber penis thing. I don't remember what years, but I got the solid one from a ~97 outback.

You probably could get yours to stick OK if you sanded the inside of the sleeve a bit, then gooped it up with some contact cement and slid it over the rubber thing while it was wet.