I am in the middle of pulling the transmission to replace the clutch on my wagon. The shifter knob is stuck. I cant seem to break it free. I do not want to force it for fear of damaging shifter or the boot. I already tried WD40 but it did not help. Any suggestions? My last resort will be to cut it off while trying not to damage the threads. I have spare knobs but I sold all my spare shifters and boots. I guess I could also leave it in and let it hang....
Use a cloth / leather type of strap wrench. Works for me.
A rag around it and vice-grips?
This might sound stupid but it works on hardware: Try to TIGHTEN it a little. Sometimes that will get it to move.
The fork on the bottom should be durable enough to use some force on it. All the stock Pinto knobs I ever needed to remove were the same way and I never damaged a shifter.
Bill
Oh yea, I buddy of mine in the auto repair business said he used to drop the tranny a little to unscrew the shifter so he would not need to remove the carpet.
I never did it myself, but I can't see why you couldn't do it....
BTW: I have a boot or two around somewhere.
Bill
Thanks guys I got it off. I used a couple rags and some channel locks. I must say it was on there quite good. So far that was the hardest shifter knob that I have had to remove to date. I did not know the shifter would take that much force, thanks Bill. Anyway, I got everything out but the pilot bearing. I am going to have to figure out an easy way to remove it. The last one took me 5 hours and the engine was out. This time I do not have the luxary of the engine being out. Tomorrow I will take the flywheel in for a resurface.
Have you ever tried the "hyd. method"?
Find a metal bar that is about the same diameter as the pilot, then pack grease into it the bearing until it is about half full and then slide the bar into it and hit it with a hammer. With just the right amount of grease and pressure it will pop the bushing out.
Bill
I tried that before but it did not work well for me. However I was in a bind then as I was determined to install the motor in my crusing wagon on a Sunday evening after the hardware stores were closed. The bolt that I was using was a tad bit too small to make it work. I will measure the input shaft and head to the hardware store to see if I can find anything close this time.
I've never been able to make this work either...
Always had to use a punch and them pull it out with needle nose vise grips.
But now I have a pilot puller waiting in the tool box...:)
FrankBoss
www.PintoWorks.com
I always use a slide hammer,that works good for me
On the shifter knob i dont even take mine off. I just pull the shifter boot up around it and unscrew the shifter. On the Pilot bushing I use the plastic line up shaft that comes with the clutch kits and grease to get them out. Cut the finger ring off it and u can hit it with a hammer to drive the grease in. I did it enough on the racecar that I used an actual input shaft that I cut off for that.
I know I could have left the shifter in but I want to repaint the end black and possibly do Pintony's mod even though my lockout works perfectly on this car.
As for the bearing, the hook on my slide hammer is too big to fit thru the hole. Had I not bought a Snap-on set I would have ground it down last time I needed to pull one.... Anyway.... I stopped by Harbor Freight today on my way home and bought a blind hole bearing puller set. I didn't want to mess around with it this time. $29.99 and I was out the door. It comes with the slide hammer and about 5 different attachments for the different diameters. i will let you guys know how it works.
I have all the parts now and the flywheel was turned. Now I just need the time to put it all together again.