Images have disappeared again, looks like image hosts must clean out their servers every 2 years. I'll try and upload them directly to the forum this time. Pics are still tiny, sorry
*EDIT 5/08/14*
Imagecrapshack decided to delete my pictures recently, I had to find a cached version of the images which were much smaller than the originals. I've re-uploaded the images I found but they are now very small, sorry!
*END EDIT*
I said I might do a picture tutorial on how to do this for those (like me) who weren't sure, so here it is!
I didn't get photos of the underside of the car, at least not yet. I didn't want to get my greasy mits all over the camera
I also didn't get pics of the first step since well...I forgot
Firstly, take all the plastic parts off (only about 5 screws) to reveal the rubber boot and 4WD selector levers (rod A and rod B in the manual). You can undo a single nut at the base of the selector lever to loosen it, and undo the large nut holding rod A and B together (this one can be really tight)
Wriggle and slide the selector off of it's bolt and set it aside.
Now undo the 5 screws holding the rubber boot and it's plate in place, and slide the boot off of rod A and the gear shifter, set aside.
Now you should be up to here, where we have pics!
To get to the bushes, you will need to undo the 12mm nut and bolt (highlighted in green below)
Remove the bolt and carefully lift the whole gear stick away to reveal the bushes and spacer where the bolt went through (highlighted in red) and a single rubber bush at the very base of the stick.
These are the old bushes and spacer, which in my case turned out to look nearly like the new ones (explained later)
Remove the old bushes and spacer, and assemble the new rubber and resin bushes like the old ones.
Slide the bushes into the hole in the gearstick, and in my case I had a metal spacer that went through the the middle of the bushes.
Remove the old single bush at the base of the gear stick, and press in the new one with the groove facing up.
Assembly is the exact reverse of disassembly, just make sure the gear stick is seated all the way down so you can get the nut and bolt back through.
That's pretty much it for the bushes.
I can't make a tutorial on how to replace the roll pin further down the shifter mechanism, since the one on my car had already been replaced with a nut and bolt. This nut and bolt had come loose slightly and that was causing all the slop in my gear stick, so the bushes weren't worn out at all
I removed, cleaned and replaced the nut and bolt from underneath the car and that was the hardest part of the whole thing. I made sure to tighten it as much as I could, which almost completely removed all the sloppyness in my gear stick...making this whole exercise almost completely pointless!
Not completely though, the but and bolt still isn't quite doing the job properly, and I know for certain it will not stay tight for very long. When that happens I will get a new bolt and LOCKING nut, and cut a horizontal slot in the tube so it will properly clamp down on the shifter rod. When that happens, I will take some pics of what's going on underneath.
Hope this helps for all those like me who want to know how to reduce the slop in their gear stick. Any tips and suggestions welcome, I'll add them in.
Cheers!
Silverbullet
