Gear lever rubber gaiter fitting tips?

[Monkeythree]

Doing some odds and sods jobs inbetween summer house guests visiting. Today i tried fitting a new rubber gaiter (the inner one) to the gear lever housing.

Is there a trick to this? I tried numerous methods but none of them worked and the gaiter sits there unfitted. Looks like it might be easier if the centre console was removed first but If it can be done without doing so, that would be preferable.

Thanks in advance.

 

[steve 944t]

I'm pretty sure I did remove the console when I did mine a while back. I vaguely remember using a couple of stubby screwdrivers as levers. Not really much help I'm afraid, but for what it's worth I did notice a big reduction in transmission noise compared with the old split gaiter so worth persevering []

 

[colin944]

I undid the all screws at the back end of the console so that I could lift the back end. then I put the gaiter round the lip of the gear stick hole at the dash end first then put the console back down and the console holds it on the end and let me use a hook to pull it over the lip at the back end and then replace the screws in the console.

 

[Monkeythree]

Thanks Colin, i'll give that a try. Failing that, might see if the kids can put their little fingers to some use!

 

[zcacogp]

It can be done with the console in place but it's much easier if you remove the console first - which is a trivial job!

The gaiters (both of them) hugely reduce the amount of in-cabin noise. Running the car without them produces some very interesting noises. (I happen to think it sounds great, with road noise, gearbox whine and some awesome injector ticking, but others may disagree!)


Oli.

 

[Monkeythree]

As you said Oli, much easier with the centre console out! Took 10 mins to remove the console and approx 10 seconds to seat the gaiter groove onto the lip of the opening. Now just need to change the colour of the centre console so the interior is not so overwhelmingly blue!

Thanks for the tips chaps.