Overdrive gear knob removal

[HQentity]

Hiya!

Bit of a beginner question here, but I'm trying to get the gearstick gaiter around the gear knob, but can't work out how to remove the (new!!) overdrive gear knob to get the gaiter past it. Any advice please?

Many thanks!

[matienzo]

Plastic top of knob simply prises off. Lift up carefully and disconnect overdrive wires.
Remove knob by undoing the lock nut on the bottom. Look carefully and you will see the flats.

[cliftyhanger]

Yes, loosen the locknut at the bottom.
Top off with a thin screwdriver or similar.
Wires off.
Then there is a funny ring nut inside that has a pair of slots. I use a screwdriver in a slot to rotate the ring, usually they move easily.

[HQentity]

Oh, I was so close! I got as far as the ring nut, but I didn’t trust myself so I stopped! thanks!

[cleverusername]

Oh, I was so close! I got as far as the ring nut, but I didn’t trust myself so I stopped! thanks!

One note of caution, the ring nut can sometimes be rusted on and a b**ger to remove. Hopefully that isn't the case in your case.

I have wondered whether there is a special tool? Rather than my method of turning it with a flat screwdriver?

I had to drill the nut off the one on my Sprint gearstick to shift it.

[Matt Cotton]

Funny, I have just come in from the garage having struggled to do exactly the same job.

The little ring nut was very tight to get off and even when it was off, the knob still required a really good pull to remove it.

[Carledo]

I use circlip pliers on the ring nut!

Steve

[Robert 352]

I think I may have covered this before and posted a photo of the tool which I made out of a piece of tube. It was a piece of conduit pipe which I salvaged out of an old house in which the old electrical wiring was run.

I filed the end of the tube to form the two little projections you can see and then slid it down over the switch connectors. I use it to both unscrew and screw up the collar.

The other thing which I do is to work the wire which exits the gearstick somewhere below the gaiter with an action a bit like milking a cow. Work the wire up so that you can disengage the connectors from the back of the switch and then when you are replacing the switch use the same action to pull the wire down the gearstick and allow the plastic top to be pulled down until it almost clips into place. By doing so you are not bunching up the wire beneath the switch itself.

This tool and a dozen or more others sit in my drawer marked “Triumphant Tools”. We need to have a triumph now and again.

Robert