Ford F-150, Expedition, Super Duty Loose Shift Lever Repair

How to Fix a Loose and/or Misaligned Shift Lever on Ford Vehicles

The following repairs have been confirmed for 1997 to 2003 Ford F-150/Expedition and 1999 to 2004 Ford Super Duty (F-250, F-350, F-450, F-550) Models. The shift lever mechanism is identical on additional Ford models, such as the Explorer, and may also extend into additional model years. To identify whether or not this repair will work for your Ford truck/SUV, simply look underneath the dash and verify that the shift lever mechanism matches that depicted in the figures below.

Has your gear shift lever become loose? Does the gear shift indicator point at the wrong gear? Fortunately, the repair is rather simple once the shift lever mechanism is located from beneath the dash. In extreme cases a loose shift lever may result in a no start condition because the operator is unable to place the transmission in park. In this event, you should be able to tighten the bolts by hand so that the gear shift lever can be placed in the park position.

Misaligned gear indicator — Misaligned transmission gear indicator as a result of a loose shift lever linkage.

1997-2003 Ford F-150 shift lever linkage location — Locate the shift lever linkage above the steering column and tighten the (2) bolts with a T-27 Torx driver.

2002 Ford F-150 gear indicator — Tightening the Torx screws on the shift linkage mechanism should realign the gear indicator and restore shift lever movement.