Shifter not centered, causing shift problems?

[ds475]

I've noticed, while in neutral, if i pull the shifter all the way left in it's freeplay (before pushing against the springs) it is perfectly in the middle, then if i let go, it will go to the right 1"-1.5" because there is about that much freeplay.

could this be causing my transmission not to shift as smoothly?
i've read about adjusting your shift lever so it stands straight up... and lately i've tried to keep my shifter "to the left" while going from 2nd to 3rd, it seems to shift more smoothly. i kind of have a feeling this could be my problem, because i occasionaly get "grinding" or hard shifting i guess you could call it... but i've been trying to put the shifter to where i think it would be if it were centered correctly, and it seems to work better...
are my assumptions correct? is this a possibility?

was my description coherent? tell me, and i'll try to describe it better...

[interglossa]

Do a search or goto frwilk.com. There's a shifter fix that i've recently done there. It works pretty good, but i think i'm gonna get a new shift lever anyway to make it real stiff.

[..P]

BEWARE:

If you snap the shift lever over to the right to find reverse, etc., you can break the weld. I know, I did, and I had to PULL THE TRANSALXE in order to fix it. Sob!

In the end, we welded the weld that failed, but it cost me all that hassle just to get to the darn thing. I think we might have been able to do it in the car, but we would have certainly set the interior on fire, ruined the headliner, put a hole or two in the leather, etc. What a P.I.T.A.

Thinking the 944 and 928 are similar linkages, you may just need new bushings and springs.

good luck.

P