1st day of driving and my husband yanked the OEM shift **** off. Anyone else had this happen? When I drive, there is no problem...I guess I'm a little gentler. But then my cousin drove it and the same thing happened happened to him. What is it with these guys?

Anyway, should I be worried and take it into the dealer or ???

 

Funny that you mention this. When I test drove a MC before I bought my Clubman, I had the same thing happen on the brand-new test car. The **** came off in my hand. MINI might want to check in with the "screw-upper" guy at the factory.

 

definitely go back to dealership... dangerous tooo

 

Ask for the carbon fiber one as a replacement. More secure.

 

Or go with www.whalenshiftmachine.com

 

Or try and SHIFT instead of jerking backwards LOL. I'll admit it happened to me when I tried way to hard, to shift way to fast. That's the only reason it will pop off. Just take's a little time to get used to it.

 

So is the thing just friction fit, rather than either threaded or held on by some sort of clip?

 

Yes to take it off you just pull up hard. I had to use a good amount of force when I changer mine out more than I would ever do when driving.

 

Is it just the **** that comes off?

I'd swear mine felt like the **** and shaft pulled up when it broke loose twice driving home tonight. A little disconcerting initially, but funny as hell when I started reading other threads about others trying to remove their shiftknobs . Greg

 

Say what? To remove the ****, you just pull up??? It isn't screwed in or secured somehow??

I've been hearing so much about these Whalen *****...how are these installed...what tools are needed?

 

See this link for a fair view of removing the boot and ****:
http://coopermods.com/archives/3
The only problem I had was that the "ring" at the base of the shifter boot didn't want to budge with only manual effort, so I used two very small flat-blade screwdrivers to ease it out of its base (one at about the 7 o'clock position, one at 5 o'clock). Once you have the ring partially released, the rest is simple. The stock **** is held in place by tension, gripping the small flared part below the top end of the shifter rod. The slot in the top of the rod is for keeping the **** aligned and secure in the horizontal plane.

Both boot ring and shifter being held in place by tension, your MINI's may be easier to release; hence the "omigod, I broke my shifter" phenomenon.

The JCW **** is pictured here, but check out Whalen Shift Machine's link on the Vendor Listing page. Doug has a gallery of designs, and does custom work all the time. My Whalen shifter has been a wonderful addition. I kept the OEM boot, but you can also add leather from various sources if you want. Once you've taken the boot off, it's simple to do again later if you need. Just be sure to re-install with the ring in the same orientation.

Check out this discussion for more perspectives:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=105704
Of the installation links included, I found the one I listed above to be the most helpful for me.

 

Funny thing about this: I once read a book about performance tips for Corvette drivers. The book stated that the Vette's shifter was specially shaped to use minimum effort. You shove it forward with the palm of the hand and pull back with your fingertips. I've seen others just yank the lever by holding it UNDER the shift ****. Odd.