domestic82

Just brought home my "new" 2000 5 Speed XJ yesterday. Shifting seems "sloppy" if that makes any sense. At risk of exposing and over indulgence in Star Wars I can adapt a K2S0 quote by saying that selecting a gear feels vague and unconvincing. I've logged about 200,000 miles driving manual transmissions (granted in a mustang and a corvette). I think a good gear selection feels like chambering a round in a well oiled bolt action but the jeep feels like I'm digging around in a bag of sand. It's totally livable and doesn't pop out of gear or anything but I'm wondering if this is normal even for an XJ in great spec. I know that in other cars, there are a series of bearings in the shifter that can be replaced in order to tighten up the shifting action. Is the XJ subject to this kind of wear and if so, what should I be looking to replace/fix first? I'm told by the previous owner that the tranny was rebuilt about 3 years ago which I expect means that it has 20 - 30k miles on it. I don't know if this particular rebuild would have addressed anything in the shifter.

For reference, we're talking about a 2000, 2-door 4x4 which I *believe* means NV3550.