That is a very dangerous issue. The needle could break and fly off in pieces into an eye. I believe the shank you are talking about is supposed to be completely stationery -- secured in some way to the machine's frame. This would not be a common problem, but could have been a factory defect or the result of some previous owner's mistakes. I definitely would not be using this machine until you get this fixed.
Is the local Sew and Vac store a dealer for Pfaff? In any case, you may be able to find other dealers in the area by doing a search here:
http://webservices.us.vsmgroup.com/D...CountryCode=US . You may also be able to ship the machine to Seattle yourself (original packaging materials may be required; if you do not have them, they may be available from a Pfaff dealer for a price).
I did some extensive Google searches and cannot find anything online that would be likely to help you fix this problem yourself.
Edit: I may be misunderstanding what you mean by the shaft. I assume this is the long post that the presser foot is attached to and that moves up and down with the presser lifter. Is this the piece that you can move around 360 degrees? Or is it something else?