Canary94GT

I don't know if anyone will be able to answer this within 12 hours (when I'll head to the parts store before they close for the weekend). But any input is much appreciated!

I have a 3 spd manual transmission and a couple years back I bought a 4 spd shifter rebuild kit as recommended on the forums to fix the rattle noise. The trunnions that came with the kit were too tight to fit into my shift lever, I had to sand them down a bit to get them in and applied a good amount of white lithium grease. That fixed the noise for about a year, but unfortunately it started rattling again.

I just took apart the shifter now to see that the trunnions seized up from being too tight in the lever (obviously the 4 spd kit isn't meant for the 3spd lever...). I must not have sanded them well enough. I had to drill them out, so the trunnions are toast now.

I'm headed to the parts store tomorrow to buy a new kit. I searched google and it seems everyone at allfordmustangs.com (where most of the results were) recommended the 4 speed kit. But there wasn't really much reasoning, expertise or explanation as to why, except that they say it is just a better design.

However, I should note that (according to NPD's part info) Ford used the "3 speed kit" for 3 speeds from 65-68 and 4 speeds from 69-73 yet only used the "4 speed kit" for 4 speeds from 65-68. Wouldn't this mean the "3 speed kit" was a better design?

So should I go for the 4 spd kit and sand it down more this time or get the 3 spd kit like it's supposed to have? Will the 3 spd kit work well enough, or is it worth trying the other kit again?

3 speed kit

4 speed kit

Thank you!

Starfury

I used the 4sp kit on my 3sp a while back. I too had to grind down the tops of the trunnions to get them to fit, but they worked fine for me for years.

Canary94GT

Dang well I bought the 3 speed kit and it did not solve the problem... I still have rattling, just as badly.

Not sure what to do now.

Might just buy the trunnions for the 4 speed kit... but dang it's such a pain to do that installation again (ie removing console...)

But I notice the shifter mounting bracket that the shifter bolts to is a tad loose/wobbly. Everything else seems tight, but the mounting bracket allows the shifter to move back and forth a bit when in gear. Not sure if that would cause the problem, but the 4 speed kit I tried did fix the problem for a while.. till it got seized up in there.

2+2GT

The 4-speed kit was tighter, using steel springs instead of rubber cups.

Canary94GT

It appears that the source of the rattle may be the u-bracket that the shift lever bolts to. In first gear, the bracket is able to sway a bit like bracket itself or the pin that is through it has warn down and is not as tight.

Does anyone else (who isn't experiencing rattle) have a lever that is able to move at all when in first gear? Mine can move about 1/4 of an inch from side to side in first gear.