Shifter won't go into 5th or reverse after regrease
 

I just installed a new longblock and did a clutch swap while I was in there. I went to install the shifter in today and I can't get it installed in a way that lets me go into 5th. It feels like I am installing without the spring, but I'm not. I can pull the shifter up to where the plate is no longer flush, which lets me go into 5th. Then when I push down to make the plate flush I can go into reverse, but not 5th. It does not spring up like it should.

Here is a picture showing the orientation of the plastic bracket. Videos online say the ball should point right when the notch is facing you.

https://preview.ibb.co/e4UEzz/IMG_20180920_184358.jpg

Picture below to show the spring installed.

https://preview.ibb.co/dfSZzz/IMG_20180920_184408.jpg

Shift points towards the driver when fully inserted.

https://preview.ibb.co/cvw56e/IMG_20180920_184519.jpg

Shifter collar was replaced with a new honda unit, as was the spring. The ball was replaced with a Renegade brass collar.

The car goes forward correctly when in 1st.

Someone help!

Did you put the shifter in backwards?

That's why I attached photos of my orientation of the collar. Everything I've seen online matches that orientation.

It's really hard to remove the collar without breaking it, so I wanted to make sure that was the issue before risking it.

To my knowledge, the shifter is not in backwards.

Thats the exact symptom of putting the shifter in backwards. Leaning the wrong way.

the metal knob by the brass collar pointing to your wrist goes in to the driver's side.

based on that orientation, the plastic collar knob appears to be facing forward (assuming that's how you put the shift-lever back in).

Not sure what's going on, but I did the exact same change just 5 days ago (plastic collar, renegade bushing cup thing, and re-grease - I kept the old spring). My shifter feels awesome now.

i doubt it happened, but did you check that you didn't drop anything in there? have you tried removing the spring, placing the lever back in and rowing through the gears?

Yea the metal knob points to the driver when installed. I do have the plastic tab facing forward when installed.

I don't see anything down there that I could have dropped. I can try it with my old spring and doing it without any spring at all.
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Did you notice anything different in the install with the Renegade bushing? At first I thought the bushing was keeping me from installing correctly.

It's leaning toward the driver, isn't that the right way?

If it is indeed backwards, anyone have tips on how to remove the collar without destroying it?

I actually fully installed it the first time, then was surprised when I started the car. I'll give your idea a try though.

I seemed to have fixed it. I had it the right way, but I had to manually actuate the spring 20-30 times before it started springing back up on it's own. Now it works as it should. Thanks everyone for the help.