ShIft knob won't come off.

[ninjazombiemaster]

This is gonna sound real dumb, but I'm trying to remove my shift knob to restor it, and it doesn't want to go. I've been working at it for days, I've tried rubber, leather, wrenches, it's maybe moved a quarter inch up the shaft. Anyone know a good safe-for-the-knob way to get it off? Right now it's soaking up some WD 40, and I'm all out of ideas.

[Wade Nelson]

An angry woman tried doing that to me once. Fortunately, she was unsuccessful.

Name was Lisa, Lena, Lorraine, something like that.

[ninjazombiemaster]

May not have helped get the knob off, but I got a good laugh. And sorry for these typos. Typing on an iPod... Any suggestions on getting that thing removed?

[Zed Head]

What kind of shifter? The Z's and ZX's used a different style knob. ZX's are much harder to remove than Z's.

[ninjazombiemaster]

Just a Z. I'm pretty sure it hasn't been removed in somewhere between 7 and 39 years. But I'd lake to sand and refinish it, and put on a new cap. And try out my new one in the meantime. Maybe now it's dark and a little colder, the metal wil have contracted. Hah.

[Captain Obvious]

I'm not clear what's happening... Is the knob stuck and won't turn, or is the knob turning and turning but not coming off the shaft?

Maybe now it's dark and a little colder, the metal wil have contracted. Hah.

Heh... Yeah, there's a plan!

[ninjazombiemaster]

Should've been more specific, it won't turn. It's taken me days to get it turned just a small bit. I even wrapped it in a rubber glove, which was then wrapped in leather and tried turning it with a wrench and it didnt budge.

[zKars]

Is there a hex nut at the base of the knob? There may be a locking nut on there that has to be loosened first. If not then I'm betting the knob is not stock, and since the threads where not right, someone PO glued it on... No easy way to get that off...

Worst comes to worst, remove the shifter shaft from the tranny, (remove console and rubber boots, you'll see how to get it off, its just a pin) get a new shifter and knob. Hopefully the current knob will pass through the leather boot on the console and make this easier.

Good luck!

[cbuczesk]

Maybe pull the shifter out, put it in a vice, apply heat to the shifter and try to twist the knob off?

Chuck

[EScanlon]

Years ago, I worked on a shifter knob that had an inverted Nut that tightened UP from the bottom once you had the knob aligned.

Trying to remove it by the regular method of twisting, pulling etc. didn't yield anything and we had left it alone. Then one day, working flat on our back on the floor, I looked up and essentially "upskirted" the knob and noticed what appeared to be a "screw" or rather two notches in the underside "nut" holding the knob on the shift rod.

When I commented what I found with Joe, the MWR Auto Shop monitor, he said it sounded like a "lock-nut" arrangement and that I should unscrew that "nut, and that then the rest of the knob would unscrew normally.

I used a special tool, can't remember the name, but it looked like a rounded off wrench with pins sticking out of the side of the wrench which fit into the grooves of that nut. I had started using a pair of bent nose needlenose pliers when Joe mentioned he had that tool.

I unscrewed that nut completely, and sure enough the knob simply unscrewed from the rod. That lower nut was in fact a nut that locked the knob in place.

Don't know that that is the case with yours, but it's worth a check.

FWIW

E

[ninjazombiemaster]

I could be wrong, but it doesn't seem like there's clearence for a nut. I'll get a flashlight and take a good look though. I'm pretty sure it's stock, or at least OEM. I think I may have a spare shifter somewhere, if I don't have luck finding a lockin mechanism, I'll just remove the whole thing. Thanks for the suggestions.

[72 OJ]

I glued a shift knob on my old 510, with a metal looking compound , check to see if it has been glued by PO.....:disappoin