and this is why i sold my stock shift knob for $50 lol

I have the same issue that you do. The knob is attached so tightly that the strap wrench is tearing the leather.

Depends on what day of the week that the guy who installs the shift knobs. Applies how much lock tite on the threads. He never puts the same amount on. :shakes head: Some spin off with little effort. Others will destroy the knob trying to remove it.

I wrapped duct tape around mine and used a pipe wrench to remove it. :icon14:

Mine twisted off by hand when they did my TT and motor install. Go figure.

I am not making another post on how to remove the damn shift knob when it's been glue Don by Satan. Gaf tape, electrical tape, and a pipe wrench. That's all I'll say.

It's not your transmission that you could destroy but the shift linkage itself. Check for excessive play.

Anyway, on the removal. Apply heat to shaft and bottom of knob. Also use duct tape and rags to protect shaft and old knob.

How would I check for play? I think I may have messed up my shift linkage myself. I attempted to remove my shift knob the other day by using a strap wrench on the knob itself, and a vice grip on the bottom section. In the end, I was unable to get the knob off or even twist it 5°. Subsequently, a few days later I began to hear a sort of grinding noise, which I could not figure out. I did some research and came to the conclusion that it must be the throw out bearing, but the noise didn’t completely go away when I pushed the clutch in, so I am now assuming that I messed up the shift linkage. It is a very strange noise, sometimes it gets quieter when I push the clutch in, and other times it doesn’t. The main reason that I think it is the linkage is because one time when the noise was happening, it went away when I put my hand on the shift knob. I will link below the videos of the noise that are on my YouTube channel. Noise is much more noticeable in the second video.
Video 1: https://youtu.be/XjylfhlVKdc
Video 2: https://youtu.be/sASp5IAAIYQ

I think any noise generated in driveline will be transmitted and felt in shift knob. You may not have wrecked anything, you just hearing things now that your senses are heightened.

If you take boot off, you can wobble the shaft and see if there is excessive play. If there was, you'd already see it under normal vibration.

Attachment 145772

Maybe you're right. In that diagram, would I be wiggling the top of #10? Also, are you talking about the leather boot that you see while driving, or the rubber boot seen in the diagram as #6?

Sorry about the late response, I don't know how to enable notifications for when someone responds to me.

The point of contact between #10 and #13. Not sure if you can see that from top or you have to access from under car.

If you wanted to see if it is accessible from top, you would have to remove all the boot covers. The leather and #6.

Anyway, my point is that the twisting motion required to remove the original shift knob, would be transmitted into the shaft #10. Anything attached in line to that, would be vulnerable to the force applied.

If you are feeling something, I would start there.

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I finally got it off. I wrapped it in masking tape first, and then duct tape so that it wouldn’t leave any adhesive on the knob. Then I pulled the boot up so that I could see the shift linkage underneath, and wrapped tape around it with a marking that lined up with the rubber piece (#6). This would allow me to see if the linkage was twisting or turning, since I didn’t have another hand to hold it in place. I did one extremely hard twist with the strap wrench and then I felt it begin to twist. I did a few more rotations with the strap wrench, and then removed it and attached a wrench to the knob with duct tape so that I could spin the knob with more leverage. My knob came off perfectly fine with no damage. I will be making a tutorial of this soon on my YouTube channel if anyone is confused. Link is in my bio.