There is always the hacksaw technique. Who needs the old shift ****?
Sawing around the base of the **** should separate the **** from the nylon flange that holds it. Just make sure you only saw through plastic. When you hit steel, Stop!

 

That's going to be my method. Thanks for the tip!

 

I removed the center console this weekend. It makes it easy to remove the ****, e-brake and both boots. Very simple project.






Oh, and seriously, a hacksaw?? Wow...

 

Is it really just three screws holding the console in place?

 

Yes, 5 if you have the armrest. I have a write-up typed out that points out the steps and locations of the connections. There are two wiring harness that need to be unclipped. As soon as I process the pics, I'll post a link.

 

Better than pulling the shift lever out, and we all know how valuable those stock shift ***** are.


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Oh, and seriously, a hacksaw?? Wow...[/quote]

 

If you want instructions on removing the console, see this:

http://www.robincasady.com/ShiftKnob...otInstall.html

 

About $62.50 from Pelican Parts, with leather that is.

 

And runflat tires are worth what the dealer charges.

My point, which went over your head, is that the risk of damaging my seats, headliner, or pulling the shifter out of the linkage is not worth the value of the cheap plastic **** to ME. What it is worth to you is your business.

 

Not the entire console, but the shift boot and retaining ring. I saw on the 'official' instructions a picture of a screwdriver prying the boot ring out, and I remember that it showed the **** removed from the shaft, but I didn't see the instruction sheet long enough to read the rest of the details. I assume he pulled it off, but how hard he had to pull I don't know; he was working on it for quite some time, though.


Yeah, I pulled pretty damn hard, to no avail. I was glad when the dealer agreed to assist me.

 

I think the comment was tongue-in-cheek.

Wouldn't you risk the same damage getting the nylon flange off of the shifter, assuming it seperated from **** as suggested. I'm still not convinced of that because the two clips that hold the nylon to the **** would be above your cut line. But I admit that I could be wrong as well; I haven't needed to try it out. If it does separate, that would be the part that requires all the force to get off, as the clips that hold it to the shifter are at the top end. The two clips there are the only thing that holds the shift **** on, normally.

Good luck, whatever you choose to do!

 

FWIW i removed my auto **** today. with a little help from CR&PW&JB that is.

i put the car in D sat in the passenger seat and opened the sunroof and leaned over towards the drivers seat. i turned the ebrake off the make sure i wouldn't kill myself on the handle. then with my head almost in the drivers seat so i wouldn;t bash my teeth in i grabbed and pulled the ****. there was a decent amount of resistance so i tried pulling and pushing the ****'s button in while pulling and it came right off. took all of 2 minutes.

 

What happens to the little button you have to push to take it out of Park?

Does is stay on the shifter rod? Does it come off with the ****?

Having never done this before, that's what's confusing to me... if you just pull up, like everyone says to do with the manual shift *****, it seems that button would come with it.... but that button is obviously connected to something down below so it can do what it does.

That's where I'm confused... I'm scared if I just pull hard, I'll pull the button along with the ****, and break something.

I must be wrong if you were successful, right?

Thanks,
Goodwood (formerly Mark Loft)

 

yes, no worries when you pull it off you will realize the worry is for nothing. the button comes off with the ****. when you pull the **** out you will find that it is attached to a rod. the button controls that rod. when you have the **** in your hand out of the car you can depress the button and see the rod move. it is the rod that allows you to shift into R when the button is depressed. other than shifting into R the button has no function. of course you have to depress it to get out of park because the next position is R. after R you can freely move the stick to the other positions without the button depressed.

anyhow, yes the button does come out with the **** but, the rod holds the button in place so it can't go anywhere. refitting the **** is just as simple. you just slide it back on- the rod can only go one way in the shifter sleeve and push down until you hear it click into place. if you have the leather and chrome shift **** as i do it's a no brainer to tell which way it aligns- button toward the front of the car.

but, put the car in D to get a better angle on the shifter. if your **** has a tougher time coming off and you have it in P i think you could end up hitting the dash and possibly damaging it.

FWIW i did not replace the shifter ****. i was merely replacing the boot. i say merely . if you're replacing the boot be wary of the CHEAP plastic ring the boot hooks to. mine had deteriorated and snapped in one section and i was very careful while doing it. i could see it was already cracked when i was looking at it. i had to use some blue tack to rig it back together. hopefully i can find the ring seperately so far i can only find it with a replacement boot at a price of $71! not the biggest deal unless you're totally OCD... as i am.

also others have reported having a devil of a time getting the **** off. maybe just dumb luck for me or maybe the warmish weather here helps.

hope that helps others and to Mr. Casady in case he is exploring the possibility of a auto shifter. i would like one. and thanks to CR&PW&JB for pointing me in the right direction.

 

it all makes sense now... I didn't think about the little rod, I thought the button must be connected directly to something down in the bottom of the shifter mechanism.

I too need to work on the boot, not the ****... my boot pulled out from the plastic ring and I just need to get it back in place around the bottom.

thanks so much.

 

well, my boot was pulled off too and upon examining it, it was torn and nasty. so you may look into a replacement from redline. i got the shift and ebrake boot for $60 i believe. MUCH nicer quality than the OEM boot. still looks original- if you go with the same color but, much beefier in quality. they always have NAM discount codes in the vendor announcements.

be careful of that ring. cheap plastic.

 

This happened to me today. Real scary. Put it back in place. Seems OK. Hope I didn't damage anything. Anybody know if that is so? Now I have to figure out what to do now.

 

mine actually worked out OK... once I got the shifter **** off the rest was easy... took the silver trim ring off and the lighted gear indicator, cleaned everything, then a little Armor All on the shifter boot.... put it back in place with some super glue and all is as good as new...

just had to figure out (or be told) how to get the **** off to get me going.

 

I don't know for sure, but I suspect that the shift lever is press-fit in place. If the tolerances are a little on the loose side, perhaps the force required to remove the **** is greater than undoing the press fit.

You might try taking it to your dealer and telling them it came loose.

 

As of this morning I suspect that actually is not what happened.
On my first try to pull hard on the **** I felt a release but since the **** did not separate from the boot and did not feel like it was off the rod, I immediately concluded, especially after reading the post by MCS07MGM, that the shift rod had moved and pulled out of the linkage. I immediately panicked, without carefully thinking about what was really going on so I quickly pushed down on the **** to reseat the assembly.

Thinking about it last night and early this morning I began to wonder whether it was really possible to release the rod from the linkage, especially after ready all the posts of guys who claimed they had to pull extremely hard. I tried again and got exactly the same result, only this time I stopped to observe whether the rod was loose or the **** was. Well, I could feel that the **** was free to slide on the rod, which was a relief. Then I tried to separate the **** from the boot by prying and also by trying to remove the boot ring by pulling from various locations underneath the ring, both to no avail. So I know now that I can free the **** from the rod, but I'll be damned if I know how to get it to separate from the boot.

 

Look at the photos on my web site.
http://www.robincasady.com/ShiftKnobs/Installation.html

See the flange at the bottom of the white plastic on the shift ****? That is what is holding the boot to the ****. There is a ring in the top of the boot that the flange snaps into. If you can't pry them apart, you could try cutting the plastic with a fine saw, or something. Be careful not to cut the vinyl of the boot. If you do, you can get a replacement, or go with a leather boot from Redline.

 

I stopped off at my dealer on the way home from work yesterday to see if one of the techs could help out. As I was explaining the problem to the SA a tech walking by overheard and offered assistance. We walked out to my car and he had the bottom boot ring off in about two seconds, just by prying underneath it with his fingers. When I got home I removed the **** and attached boot from the car and turned the boot inside out and used a small screwdriver to gently pry off the black plastic ring holding the boot to the ****. That was not difficult. There seemed to be some glue in the area but it released with no problem. The rest was a piece of cake. Thanks for all your suggestions.

 

Glad you got it!

 

So the tech loosened the circular ring at the bottom of the boot with his fingers? What may I ask holds that down and how did you reattach it afterwards? I think removing that ring and turning the boot inside out is the easiest way to get the boot free of the **** (I started this thread, that was a b*tch for me). I am also thinking of a different boot for mine and I'd like to know how to remove it easily and reattach it easily, 'cause I know it's not exactly made of titanium.

 

There are plastic tabs that engage the ID of the console cutout. I tried what he did but failed. He just put his fingers underneath the ring (which means sandwiching a bit of boot material between the ring and the fingers) and pulled hard. Re-attaching is a piece of cake. I just centered it and pushed down with moderate force in a few places until it snapped into place.