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While doing some other work on my '85, I noticed the shifter boots were pretty torn up. I've replaced those parts, as well as the shifter bushings, on my Miata with relative ease. Figured while I was here, I'd fix it up. Then I tried to remove the middle boot and the bracket that holds it down. What kind of hateful sadist designed this?? For the life of me, I can't see anyway to get the bracket out of the hole that's available when you remove the interior trim and exterior boot. It looks to me like you would have to unbolt the entire dash to lift up the center section to swap the parts out. Please tell me I'm missing something! This is a common replacement item! It can't really be this difficult, can it?? Any input, advice or commiserating is appreciated! The space I'm trying to get the bracket out of
Remove the shift ****. Then take all the bolts out from around the outer edge of the metal ring. There are some under the front carpet lip also. At this point you should be able to remove the thick rubber. It might be stuck to the outer ring. Then you should be able to remove the shifter from the trans. The ring can be maneuvered to get it out. Sometimes it easier to remove it from the side by slipping it under the side if the dash.
Last edited by KansasCityREPU; 03-26-21 at 09:15 PM.
Makes sense that it would be easier if the shifter wasn't in place, and going sideways is worth a shot! It was quite a struggle just to get the ring loose. Don't know if I can get the rubber free from the floor with the ring in the way (that bad boy is really stuck!) Also not sure how you would get a new one in place though, since it's supposed to go over the shifter, right?
Was thinking about leaving the middle boot (the problematic one) in place and cutting just enough away to let me replace the lower boot. Then the upper fits/snaps over the middle (if I'm seeing this correctly). If I did that, everything would be covered and I would have 2 of 3 boots replaced, which beats 0 of 3 intact!
I'll go mess with it some more and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestions!
Also looks like you could just replace the top/ outer boot. There is a seem halfway down that the top boot kind of clicks into. Took me forever to figure out, but saved me from ripping out the entire thing.
Ok, finally got it sorted, thanks for the advice! After reading KansasCityREPU's post, I took another good look at it. The middle boot wasn't really damaged and didn't need to be changed. The lower and upper did. I got the bracket loose and finally got the middle boot pried loose (looks original - took up some of the body paint with it ). The bracket was being very uncooperative about coming out, so I squeezed the middle boot and removed it through the center of the bracket, leaving that spiteful bracket in place! That gave me access to replace the lower boot and swap out the shifter oil. When I reinstalled the middle boot, I maneuvered it back through the bracket and back into place. Everything is back where it belongs and operational again! Thanks for all ideas!
@Monkey of Death How did you get the inner boot separated from the shifter lever? The top of the rubber looks to be too small to go over the shifter ball on the bottom. Does the chrome threaded sleeve come apart from the shifter ball/shaft? I can see the sleeve has an access hole at the threaded (top) end. Wondering if it is possible to push the shift lever out of the chrome sleeve using that hole?
@Monkey of Death Disregard. Rookie mistake. I should have read more of the archived threads before I posted. The answer, it seems, is to heat and stretch the boot over the chrome sleeve.
I use a long screwdriver and slide it through the top of the boot and then start the shifter from the bottom side of the boot. The screwdriver lets me gently slide the boot down. Some WD-40 or silicon also helps. The screwdriver also helps when needing to remove a good boot.
So all mine were cracked. broken and needed replacing. Taking off the very top small one was no problem. First big issue was removing the large thick middle one that seemed completely stuck under the surrounding plate. Kept cracking and I was afraid pieces would stay stuck under the metal plate. Applied heat with a heatgun and that puppy slid right out albeit in three large pieces.
after taking out the large thick middle boot, the bracket that holds it down became loose which will make it easter to wd-40 slide the new one in.
The next mission was taking the lowest boot off the shifter. I broke off the top part with a carpenter knife and carefully slid the base off the shifter without disturbing the plastic and metal bushings below it. Then the tough part was talking the all the rubber off the base. Hit it with heat and screwdriver...wd-40 and more hest...then dish soap with. Wire sponge but finally got it completely off with a wire brush drill bit. Good luck gents!!
03-26-21, 02:16 PM
For the life of me, I can't see anyway to get the bracket out of the hole that's available when you remove the interior trim and exterior boot. It looks to me like you would have to unbolt the entire dash to lift up the center section to swap the parts out. Please tell me I'm missing something! This is a common replacement item! It can't really be this difficult, can it?? Any input, advice or commiserating is appreciated!
). The bracket was being very uncooperative about coming out, so I squeezed the middle boot and removed it through the center of the bracket, leaving that spiteful bracket in place! That gave me access to replace the lower boot and swap out the shifter oil. When I reinstalled the middle boot, I maneuvered it back through the bracket and back into place. Everything is back where it belongs and operational again! Thanks for all ideas!
