i couldnt get mine apart for the life of me. so i had to take a dremel to the shifter housing to get it through. it might sound like a big deal, but it really wasnt. anyways, yeah, i had to open the hole on the housing to the shifter base a little more so i could get it in there. it still works wonderful like a b&m should, just lots cheaper. but it sounds to me like the spring on your shifter base that controls the lateral movement might be binding up or maybe if fell off when you installed the shifter. i would double check the install, that could cause problems under rough shifts imo