Technical Sideways movement of gearstick is hard.

[gotulwe]

This is a problem since I bougt car 3 months ago.
Gearstick doesn´t return to middle position, and is very stiff to move left/right. I removed battery and tray, and sprayed a lot of penetrating oil at mechanism on top of gearbox this evening.
I read somewhere that if I remove shaft from gearbox, selectors inside gearbox can jump out of position! True??
How much is safe to remove?
I will disconnect cables and pull out gearstick housing to replace all white plastic guides, already bought them.
Someone here who can bring some light on issue?
// Ulf

 

[gotulwe]

Well now, I found issue, it was that bolt/shaft for rear wire. Bolt surface had a little black corrosion, cleaned it with finest emery cloth (280) and reassembled with grease. Oh how smooth, this will transform whole experience.
Pity that I didn´t make a video before!
Decided not to change all white plastic pieces under gearstick, maybe next time?