Shift lever seperation help

Hi all,

I have an '84 XJ stocker. I'm trying to replace the lower dust boot on the shift lever (manual trans.). This boot needs to slide to the bottom of the shifter and then be screwed to the floor. I notice on the shift lever a spot about 2/3 down the lever, where it appears to seperate into an upper half and a lower half. It's at this point where I need to slide the boot on.

My question is, how do I get the lever to seperate at the 2/3 point, so that I may slide the boot on? It looks like some type of slip joint, but seems to be stuck.

Any help or suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks, Dave

It's not a slip joint. The bottom-most shiny part is a lock nut. Hold the black part with one hand and use a metric adjustable wrench (that's a joke, BTW) to turn the lock nut enough to relieve the pressure on the knob. You'll see that it has two flats milled into it to accept a wrench. Then the black knob will unscrew.

still can't get it to come apart

Hi all,
I might not have been detailed enough in my description of what I'm trying to do, so here goes.

From the interior of the jeep, looking down at the shifter, knob on top, then shaft down to first rubber boot (snapped into console). Under the first boot there is a nodule on the shaft of the shifter, approx. 2" in diameter, then below that, a second rubber boot that screws down to the floor. Then a third rubber boot that covers the top of the shift tower on the trans itself.

It is the second rubber boot that i need to replace. It won't fit over the larger diameter section on the shifter shaft (nodule). It is this "nodule" that appears to be the point of seperation, and once seperated, the boot can then slide onto the lower section of the shifter shaft.

This "nodule" looks like it slips vertically onto (over) the lower section. Upon close inspection, I found no place to put a wrench, metric adjustable or not (lol).

Veiwing the underside of this nodule with a mirror,, the lower portion of the shaft seems to have a square head that fits into the bottom of the nodule on the upper portion.

Is this making any sense?

Thanks, Dave

Makes perfect sence to me!

To seperate the shifter you have to have a special tool. It has two handles and a u shapped sleeve. There is rubber in the round portion and metal "locks" for lack of a better term and this tool slides up into the shifter and releases the top from the bottom. I'll look in my shop and see if one of the shifters I have is seperated and try to get some pictures in the next day or too. I called my local dealer but they were clueless.

Here is the boot you are refering to:

You can work the "locks" (kinda like barbs or lock-waser-esque tabs that engage on the inside of tha larger porion) with a thin driver or shim-stock (shim stock cut to size works best for me lube it and drive it between the "locks" and the larger portion) -- of course they still ALWAYS stick in there for me -- a padded vice and a mallet seem to always be required...

That floor seal is a PITA (worthless to replace it if you're working on a T-case dropped XJ -- they'll rip in less than a year), but well worth it for he quiet and smell improvement! (not to mention the splash-back reductions)

What do you mean by.....

"shim stock?"

All I ever wanted was to be understood!

Thanks alot guys,

I had thought it would be something like that, special tools, big vise, shims, even bigger hammer. Heck this is going to be easy now, LOL... I guess I need to put the blow torch away then, eh?

BTW, the picture is spot on!

Thanks again, I'll give it a try tomorrow.

a follow-up shifter question

Hi all,
Can this be seperated while still in the vehicle? I live on a hill, with no flat area to work. Removing the shifter by lowering the trans is not possible where it's at. This XJ is new to me and needs lots of work.

Part of the problem is the need to shift the trans into 1st ot 3rd to remove the shifter, Parking brake is non-existing (broken cable is next on a very large list), so it must remain in reverse/4-L while parked on this hill (Darned San Francisco Streets).

Can I remove the shifter while in reverse? Do I need to remove the shifter to seperate the two halfs?

Thanks, Dave

The shifter removes from the top of the tranny and it isn't necessary to drop the tranny to do it. Lift up that rubber boot you want to replace and you should see a cover plate surrounding the shifter, held on with 4 bolts.

Once the shifter is out of the tranny it will look just like the one in that photo. You shouldn't need to split the shifter to replace the boot once the shifter is out of the tranny.

The shifter can be removed with out moving the tranny, but.....

There is no way to replace that lower boot without seperating the upper and lower pieces of the shifter. Once you have it out and a new one in hand you will see what I mean. Also, this is the seal for the floor opening and a safty issue if missing. Exhaust will leak into the cab through the shifter. Ask me how I know? Good luck! I'm still looking for that tool but the dealer has no record of it!

Post repair comments

Hi all,

I'd like to thank you guys for your great input on this issue. You've helped me to save a bundle by doing it myself, Thank you!

A couple of observations;
First, use penitrating fluid to loosen the shaft, WD-40 worked for me.

Second, I used a flat bladed screw driver to "un-stick" the tabs on all 4 sides of the shaft.

Third, hold the lower half tightly in a vise and tap the underside of the top half loose with a hammer. tap evenly on each side to prevent binding.

Fourth, While apart, clean and inspect all parts, especially all rubber pieces, check for severe wearing, cracks or tears and replace as needed (better now than to tear it apart again later). I found several unseen tears in the lower "dust-cover boot" that would have allowed water or dust to enter the transmission.

Thanks again for all your help on this, now I can move on to my next item. I hope that this thread will be of use to others as well.

Dave....

You know what amazes me?

I went to the dealer to price that tool this week. The service manager and I looked through several FSM's from different years and not one of them had the pracedure in them for this repair. Amazing!