legacycentral bbs

this part was the best 1.50 i ever spent!

in case you arent up on your part numbers this is the centering spring for the shifter.

i had the sloppiest most irritating shifter ever. 1 2 3 4 and N all felt the same. shiffting to 3rd could best have been decribed as "somewhere up there in the middle."

put this spring in this morning and all i can say is wow. 2 to 3 shift is actually fun now not a ponderous excercise.

installation is easy. you do need a needle nose pliers or something to stretch the spring a bit, it is a fairly strong spring.

if your shiffter feels a bit sloppy i strongly reccomend replacing this spring.

the only downside is that i finally adjusted my driving to a broken shifter and must now unlearn what i have learned.

Do you happen to have any instructions for replacing the centering spring? I have a 91 legacy with a very loose shifter.

Thanks ahead of time!

greg donovan wrote:this part was the best 1.50 i ever spent!

1.50? Man, you got ripped! After seeing your thread, I just picked up mine for 0.95. </sarcasm>


Thanks, I can't wait to install it this weekend.

My shifter jiggles while in gear, i mean like a sloppy 2 inches of jiggle.

Where can I pick it up? Suby stealership, autozone, parts store like federated?
How do you install it?

I think that's a problem with the bushings not the spring. There have been some threads recently about which bushings to replace.

The spring only really makes a difference when you are in neutral and it doesn't reduce slop. It just makes the shifter knob bounce back to the to the center of the neutral position instead of flopping to the left end of the neutral position.

Ok, in my case this isn't too neccessary. Then I guess it's search time for me.

rallysam wrote:The spring only really makes a difference when you are in neutral and it doesn't reduce slop. It just makes the shifter knob bounce back to the to the center of the neutral position instead of flopping to the left end of the neutral position.

incorrect. Spring places tension on the shifter at all times, thats what happens when a spring is connected to two things at once.

LMFAO!

yeah, i replaced mine about a week ago; definately a good investment. unfortunately, i paid $2.25.

as far as not reducing slop; that's incorrect. i still need to put the bushings in but that spring made a dramatic difference.

it actually clicks and goes where it's supposed to now instead of attempting a game of russian roulette with 1st.

My shifter centering spring broke recently. I went to Ace Hardware and searched through their supply of generic replacement springs from Hillman Fasteners and found that the Hillman #82 spring is nearly identical to the OEM part. It cost about $.90 including tax.

I'll do this soon, good thread

ultrasonic wrote:My shifter centering spring broke recently. I went to Ace Hardware and searched through their supply of generic replacement springs from Hillman Fasteners and found that the Hillman #82 spring is nearly identical to the OEM part. It cost about $.90 including tax.

i am going to check these out and see if i can find one that has a bit more tension in it and see what happens.

i need to check mine out because every now and then i hear the spring catching on something.

I'm gonna go pick up the Hillman spring this afternoon.

Hmm.... It seems as though no hardware stores around carry Hillman hardware.

Where exactly does this spring go?

Soul Shinobi wrote:Where exactly does this spring go?

I stole this diagram from scoobymods. It's circled.

EDIT: It connects part #16 to part #18

I was gonna re-use the stock spring, but it broke when I was putting it on. The years of use had ground down the inside of the hook ends, so the were about half as thick as the rest.

I ended up picking up a generic replacement from the hardware store, ans it works fine.

n2x4 wrote:

Soul Shinobi wrote:Where exactly does this spring go?

I stole this diagram from scoobymods. It's circled.

EDIT: It connects part #16 to part #18

THANK YOU.

However after installing it, I see that it connects to the tab on top of part #18 to a tab on part #15 or #14, not 16. Part #18 is bolted to part #16, there'd be no point putting a spring there.

How exactly do you get to this spring to replace it...


Mine fell off today when I was at an intersection so I went back tonight and it was There!! So I have the broken spring to find a copy at Ace but how do I get to the spot where it goes? Do I go underneath the car? What do I have to remove to get to it?

Thanks

If you need a new one then the old one has rusted enough to break and fall off, which I'm sure it has (It only takes a few years for it to).

You do have to gen under the car, and it's much easier if you jack up (and support on jack stands) the front of the car. It's easiest to get to if you slide under the driver's door.

I got my spring right from Subaru. It's a strong spring for its size so make sure you get a stiff one if you don't get the Subaru one.

wow i cant believe this thread is still going on!

i would have gotten a generic spring too but mine was gone. had no idea it was even gone untill i asked my mechanic to check out the crappy shifter one day during an oil change. didnt take him long to see what was wrong.

my bushings are totally gone. i need to get some new ones to put in there.

I did get mine in... It took a grand total of 3 mins lol...

Sure did help with the shifter play... My car no longer needs Viagra or Cialis!!!

smh0101 wrote:I did get mine in... It took a grand total of 3 mins lol...

Sure did help with the shifter play... My car no longer needs Viagra or Cialis!!!

pretty cool to be able to actually feel where the gears are isnt it?

greg donovan wrote: my bushings are totally gone. i need to get some new ones to put in there.

Replacing the commonly worn set of bushing made a bigger difference than the center return spring, but it's more costly at $13 per bushing (you need two so $26) and you most definitely need a lift, punch set, heating torch (a serious one), and something long and sturdy to knock the linkage off the transmission with after removing the roll pin and heating the area. Yes, that's necessary.

Will WrX ones work?