I ordered the Kartboy rear shifter bushing and received it very quickly. As always, it was very nicely done and included some candy and a sticker. I already have an upgraded shifter bushing (front) so decided to replace the rear (didn't know there was a rear). There's a write-up on www.scoobymods.com. I have to be honest, there isn't a big difference if you already have upgraded front bushings. But there is a difference, and I'm ****. You're best off doing the rear bushing when you do the front, as you need to remove quite a few things to access the rear bushing properly. Second, you need to install the passenger-side rear bushing bolt first. Not saying you can't install the driver-side bolt first, but I couldn't make it work. Installed the passenger-side bolt first and got the driver-side bolt to thread. Kartboy is a great company. They sent me a free hat when I mentioned I'm military (a while back). Nice hat. So, bottom line is do the front and rear bushings at the same time. Oh, one other thing. This is best done on a lift. Trying to line up the bolts under the car jacked up in the driveway would be a pain IMHO.

San

 

so its worth it then... ? man i just had my front put in like last week-



aloha from the summit of *-^-Mauna Kea-^-*

 

I'm **** like you San, and as soon as I have the money I'm ordering it for both of my cars. Thanks for the great write-up.

 

cool, thanks for the tips...just recieved mine as well. just waiting for my front shifter bushings and front end links to come in so i can drop everything in at once....

-ROB

EDIT: yeah, what was up with the candy? lol ....i got some kind of super hot atomic fireball candy...which one did you get?

 

always includes some candy. Last time I got some dum dums (sp?)

San

 

Makes me wonder to order them asap...:banana:

Thanks

 

¿Que?

 

If youre ****, and you didnt feel that big of a difference from the front shifter bushings, then the purchase of the rear shifter bushings is justified only to waste money??? Seems like this is another one of those parts that you don't need because it doesnt do anything, but you buy anyway because you think it'll help. Riiight.

Thanks for the review of the product though

 

That's why I responded to Nate like I did. I thought that he had the front and rear bushings. I drove his car yesterday and it's as notchy (good) as I'd imagine the Ford GT type of shifter. Along with the short shift kit, the bushings made it feel very short and definitely in the correct position, if that makes sense.

I had a kartboy shortshifter on my WRX 5mt which I liked a lot but without bushings. I thought it felt a little sloppy. That's until I drove Nate's car. I now realize that it was very sloppy in comparison.

 

I must be the one Subaru driver in the world who got absolutely nothing from the Kartboy shifter bushings. I did an STi short shift lever way back when, and bought the front bushings a couple years ago. I don't know if the underside of the car is arranged a bit differently on the Legacy than on the Imprezas, but I didn't do the install initially because it was going to be such a PITA to get to. I finally installed the bushings about two months ago and I felt.... absolutely no difference. Nada. Zip. And it wasn't like the stock bushings I replaced were in great shape - 140k miles on 'em!

Pat Olsen
'97 Legacy 2.5GT sedan

 

Pat I have the front shifter bushing. That is what is supposed to make the biggest difference. The rear, which I plan on ordering as soon as I get some cash is supposed to get rid of the little remaining slop. San my question is did it do that. Where did it make the shifter feel better at? Pat Olsen, that amazes me that you felt no difference. It made a huge and profound difference on every car I've driven with one.

 

The sentence explains itself. Never said the front bushing didn't make much difference. The front bushing makes more of a difference than the rear IMHO. The rear bushing makes a slight difference WITH the front bushing. Without the front bushing, it would probably make more a difference. Clear now?

San

 

has the STI short shifter setup, which replaces more than the shift lever itself (I believe part of the linkage is replaced as well). I'm guessing that's why the bushing didn't make a noticeable difference. Most of us have replaced the lever itself (Kartboy, Cobb, etc) where the front bushing replacement is very noticeable. Really hard to say how much difference the rear bushing makes on a "normal" car, as I have the Cobb short shifter that I've cut down to make it really short. Then I hollowed out the Momo **** to make it fit over the non-thread section. So my shifter was very "short". The rear bushing made a slight difference, a bit more "notchy". The stock bushing was very soft, the Kartboy rear bushing was almost metallic in it's firmness. I gave the fireball candy to my son, but it was too hot for him. The daughter eats fire for breakfast, should've given it to her. Meaningless father drivel.

San

 

San, I understand what you are saying, and there is still just a bit of slop in my shifter after the Kartboy short shifter and front bushing. I want to try to clean that up with the rear bushing. Like I said before thanks for the post, and it is really good to know what you think of it.

 

Actually, based on what I had read on-line and what I could see, it appeared the STi linkage and the stock linkage were identical, so I just popped the STi lever out of the assembly and popped it into my car.

Trust me, I was surprised (based on all the rave reviews I've read) that the Kartboy bushing was so not-that-great IMO. I dunno...

Pat