Pinto Car Club of America

The inner rubber is still in fairly good shape on our 4 speed.  It holds the shifter up nice and firm.  The problem is that it will still fall into reverse without pushing down on the shifter.  Any ideas?  Even if the inner rubber was bad, lifting up on the shifter should prevent it from going into reverse, but not on ours.  Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Sam

Right above where the rubber sits, there should be an indentation in the shaft. a C-clip is supposed to go there which holds the rubber down, making it a "spring". Ace Hardware is where I bought replacements.

The rubber is good, the c-clip is still there.  The shifter is held up nicely.  The reverse lockout just isn't working.  There has to be something else other than just the rubber boot that prevents reverse.

Perhaps the "tab" on the shifter's base has ground down? Unlikely though. The tab on the base of the shifter is part of one of the legs that wrap around the shifting rail, it hits the body of the transmission to keep it out of reverse. When you push the shifter down, it clears the body of the transmission enough to allow shifting into reverse.