There is a bushing in the shift tower that the ball end of the shifter fits down into. A lot of times this bushing gets out of place, when the shifter is removed. The bushing gets pulled up out of the hole it fits into in the end of the shift rail and the bushing falls into the shift rail area of the transmission. If when you put the shifter into any gear, and there is excessive side to side play in the shifter (like 6" or so), then the bushing is out of place. Sometimes the bushing can be fished out with a wire with a hook bent into the end of it (the trick is figuring out where the bushing is in the shift tower area...since you really can't see down into the shift tower very good....other times you have to remove the shift tower from the tranny and disassemble it, to retrieve the bushing.