Quote Originally Posted by JLawton View Post
Yeah, the linkage itself is also not replaceable. You have to buy the whole cap off the top of the tranny. The good news is it fixes everything (there's plastic parts inside), the bad news is it was $160 (or so).

No cheap fixes. Sorry!!
Huh?

The shifter cables can be purchased from Rock Auto for about $80 (They're $205 at the dealer) (don't ask why I know all this so well). The connections to the shift knob, upon which the shifting linkage pivots, come with the cables ready for installation.

For the linkage on transmission, the cables snap onto these and have the fittings already installed. Inside this cap, the shift linkage has dentents and a sprung ball which engages these, holding it into position. It is doubtful that this is where the problem is as it is well lubricated and not really in the debris path. The only plastic parts (in mine, anyway) are those for the reverse lockout. (can you tell I've been inside this recently?)

You could try spraying some lubricant into the shift cables at either end to see if this smooths out the shifting. If so, replace the cables. Else, it might be the synchros, which means either rev match or double clutch.