So the age old question, futz or spend the money...
I have my shift rod in and it works ok but not great and I don't want to burn up my trans for something stupid like this. I've seen guys on here that made new shift rods with rod ends which would cost about $40 in materials and I see the store bought ones for about $140.
The thing about the store bought ones is that they alter the shift lever pivot point/geometry at the transmission, anything that I make will not do that.
I like the idea of making stuff but some things are just silly to spend the time on when the solution is readily available.