How to fix a sloppy automatic shifter

[shuttermutt]

Okay, it seems like every stinkin' one of these trucks (and numerous Chevy cars) that I've driven with a column-shift automatic has a sloppy shifter. My 68, for example, has a decent enough spring (the one you pull against to change gears), I guess, but it doesn't have a solid feel between "D" and "2", for example.

What's involved in making these shifters "tight" again? Normally, I'd probably let it go like so many of us do. Driving home tonight, however, I realized that I've picked up the habit of bumping the shifter with my hand just to make sure it's in "D" and not "2". Ugh! It shouldn't be this way!