How much play/slop should I have in my stock Hurst 4-speed?

[Grec]

Hey, guys.

Wanting to find out how much play I should expect for a properly-functioning Hurst 4-speed... ?

I know the rattle is part of it, and I'm not expecting the crispness of a modern shifter, but I feel like the it has an excessive amount of play when in gear. Like, there's 2-3 inches of play when in 2nd gear, for instance.

Do the Hurst shifter units get loose over time, or is the just the way they were?

[HP_Cuda]

You should have nowhere near that much play in your shifter. Which brings me to a question, it might be your 833? as the rods are directly connected to the 4speed and cannot get out of spec that far. Your linkages would have to be exceedingly loose and wow if they still worked I'd be surprised!

Does the shifter pop out of gear at all?

Buying a rebuild kit is fairly cheap and not hard to do, I will have to do one myself shortly.

Otherwise you can buy a new Hurst shifter for a tidy sum.

[Grec]

Never had it pop out of gear, and it goes into all gears smoothly and positively.

I just got the car back from having motor built (woohoo!!!!) and tranny re-built, so possible that there was something off when they re-connected the rods. I'll have a look.

I didn't remember the shifter being that loose, but then again it'd been like 3+ years since I had driven it.

Thanks for the reply!

[HP_Cuda]

Yep check your rod connections, it really shouldn't be that far off at all.

There are points where they can flex because the clip has come off or is bent but wow that is really off.

Should be simple to spot.

B

[70chall440]

Depending on what shifter you have (ie after market competition plus which looks stock), there are stop bolts on the shifter to keep you from over engaging the gears. If these are not adjusted, you will have a lot of slop in the shifter. Also, if the shifter body isn't tight on the mounting plate, it can feel very sloppy. Lastly, if the rods originally used bushings and they are not there any longer, it will feel sloppy.

[dakota]

Just rebuilt my shifter.  See this link:

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=95985.msg1085014#msg1085014

which also has a link to a thread for another member's post on shifter rebuilding that includes a couple of really good youtube references.

I'm far from an expert on these things, but as I understand the design of the Hurst 4 speed shifter, the  "wavy" shim plate inside is supposed to keep all of the pieces compressed together, so things could get sloppy if this shim is damaged or otherwise worn out.   You might also have an issue (broken or missing) with one or both of the springs in the carrier - this is the component where the shift handle is mounted.

[Grec]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Lot's of things to check for now. :-)

[HP_Cuda]

As mentioned, the stop bolts are also probably a good one to check.

If they are all the way out or missing you will have the same type symptoms.