I just looked at a 2013 XLT SuperCrew 5.0 with column shifter & SelectShift option. Really awesome condition visually as well as appears to be mechanically.
When moving the transmission selector on the column it seems a bit stiff/feels a bit awkward moving between selections. Hard to describe really. My 2009 regular column flows between park - drive neutral reverse like butter. Not sure if this sounds normal or anyone else noticed an issue like this? When a selection is made it's positively in there without issue & transmission seems to work fine, just the transitions feel awkward. Owner says it's always been like that (truck has 86k mi, of which he had it for last 25k mi) Is it an extremely different pattern that my brain is making it harder than it shoud be? My buddy with me who noticed the same thing.

 

Maybe this would help.

 

You could disconnect the cable at the transmission and see if it changes the feel.
I would think it could be possible to have a bad cable or something tight in the column.

 

thanks for the recommendations. I’m hopefully picking up the truck tomorrow after I look it over one more time. As long as it’s not an internal transmission issue, I can live with doing some cable maintenance!

 

The shifter on my truck is crisp with pronounced detents for the gears and not much play. I wouldn’t really call it “smooth”, but it’s a lot different than early 2000s ford shifters.