96 Legacy: Manual shifter "feel" different from other car brands?

[brycarp]

Hi all,

 

I'm helping a friend find and purchase a used AWD Legacy wagon to replace her Chevy Blazer V6 that drinks too much gas. We've already committed to buy this '96 Legacy 2.2 with a manual transmission. But since my Impreza is an auto, this is my first experience with a manual trans in a Subaru. The feel of the shifter is noticeably different from what I've felt in manual trans "Brand H" and "Brand T" cars I've owned, in that on those cars, once you've shifted into a gear, the shift lever feels like it's restrained from sideways movement by being in that gear position. Another way to say it is that the shift knob pretty much always stays in the "H pattern".

 

I'm a little concerned about the way the shifter on this Legacy feels, but maybe it's just "a Subaru thing." I took the car out for a significant drive and had no problem actually shifting into all of the 5 forward and 1 reverse gears multiple times, but once in gear, the shift lever felt like it remained very free to move sideways. Obviously, once you're in second gear, to pick an example, if you were to move the lever forward it would take you out of gear, so I'm not talking about that.

 

I just thought I'd ask here in case the behavior I describe is a sign of something wrong or of oncoming trouble, because the car is quite drivable the way it currently is.

 

Thanks!

Bry

[1-3-2-4]

are you saying it has too much sideways movement? If so it's the shifter bushing.. it's the part that slides on the shift rod on the transmission held in with a roll pin (tight area) when they get worn you get a lot of side to side play... Sometimes (had my car for 2 years now) I still can go into the wrong gear because of how sloppy it feels.. harmful? No but I don't really want anyone else to drive the car until I replace that part.

 

btw I have a 95 Legacy Wagon

[Durania]

My 95 Outback is wore quite a bit, not as bad as the brat use to be though. If you can drive a shifter slopped Subaru, you can drive anything.

[goof_ball]

I have a 96 Outback w/ 185k and my stick has some side to side play in all gears. I'm not the original owner and have never driven a new Subaru w/ a manual transmission for comparison. I tried at a dealer in Oregon and the salesman said 'a 5 speed? nobody drives those'. My other car was a '93 Tercel w/ a 4 speed. I can't recall what that shifter did w.r.t. side to side play. I had some annoying buzz/rattles in my Soob that I traced to the bolt that connects the shift stick to the rest of the linkage under the boot in the cabin. Tightening it made the noise go away and made the shift feel more 'positive' through the travel between gears, but the side to side play while in gear wasn't affected. I've never had a problem with going into the wrong gear and no mechanic has ever said 'whoah you have to replace shifter stuff' after a test drive. I figure a 14 year old car has some worn out stuff. Hope this helps. Maybe you can wear a top hat and fake mustache and go to a local dealer and check out a new manual transmission car to see what it is like. Dancing banana.

Edited December 29, 2010 by goof_ball

[xman]

It's probably totally fine. You've probably never shifted a car with an actual rod and bushing linkage. Brand "H" and brand "T" all have cable shifters which provide virtually no direct feedback and disconnect the driver from the vehicle to a high degree. What you will feel with the Subaru is positive engagement of the drive dogs everytime you shift, so that you know it is in gear. You also get more side to side play, as you experienced because the physical linkages need that play to pivot and slide. The feel can be tightened up with stiffer bushings, as noted, but it sounds like a completely normal situation for that vintage Subaru.

[1-3-2-4]

My 95 Outback is wore quite a bit, not as bad as the brat use to be though. If you can drive a shifter slopped Subaru, you can drive anything.

 

haha last time I drove a manual was back in 1996.. when i got my current subaru I had to like drive it around the block with the shifter and all haha now I really don't put much thought into it.. However when aiming for 5th gear I can hear the shift linkage make contact with another gear when I move the shifter over to push into 5th.

 

Something to do over the summer.

[Fairtax4me]

Normal side to side movement of the shifter when in gear should be less than an inch.

The bushings on the linkage wear out and fall apart when they get old. So instead of the normal 1/2" to 1" of movement, you get up to about 3"- 4" of movement. (that's no exaggeration either, mine had a full 3" of side to side movement before I replaced the linkage bushings. I actually measured it for kicks. ) Makes it a real pita to find gears sometimes.

Search for shifter linkage bushings, or something like that, and you should be able to dig up a few threads about it here. There were a couple with pics somewhere.

[Olnick]

Yeah, it's undoubtedly worn out bushings in the shifter linkage. Can be a real PITA job but definitely worth the effort.

 

Try a search for "shifter bushings"--lotsa' posts over the years.

 

Good luck.

[Rooster2]

Yea, that is the first thing I thought about was worn shifter bushings. Like others have responded, it is not a big thing, and it is not expensive to have the bushings replaced. Prolly something you will want to consider.

[Goobysoobs]

It's not an age thing either it's from people always resting their hands on the shifter and the weight just ends up wearing it down, on my EA82 before I sold it was not sloppy at all. and it was an '88. however my '90 is somewhat sloppy so it's not necessarily an age thing just an abuse thing. So yeah I'd look it up on how to replace those I know ShawnW has done them before so you might ask him as well.

[Twitch de la Brat]

Not to kick a dead horse here, but in my experiences, nothing shifts quite like a

Subaru.

The linkage system is a lot like a RWD transmission.

 

And if you want play in a shifter, try driving a well worn 4 speed

My BRAT had 5-6 inches of play in gear.

Getting reverse required grabbing the passenger's knee.

 

 

Twitch

[987687]

With good bushings it should shift really nice. I have good bushings in my 96 legacy and the shifter barely moves at all when in gear.

My GL however... moves the same in any gear as it does in neutral, not just side to side, it will move quite a bit forward and back too and still be in gear