Anyone had experience changing their "lift up reverse" gear knob DIY style? :worship:

I'm trying to replace an aged, scratched, chipped, manufacuter gear knob on my Stilo and have bought a replacmeent; there is talk on here not to DIY this one as Fiat have a "special tool" for lift up reverse gear knob changes. Does this sound about right? Got the knob with std allen key and grub screws + 3 rubber spacers etc... :shrug:

Many thanks

Ad

yes, that's correct - the original knob is press-fitted on a splined rod end and can be pushed upward with a special tool - i made one from some metal pieces and a 12mm threaded rod end.

Good old ingenuity at its best the Gert..:worship:

yellowstilo said:

yes, that's correct - the original knob is press-fitted on a splined rod end and can be pushed upward with a special tool - i made one from some metal pieces and a 12mm threaded rod end.

Click to expand...

:worship: Very nice Job!

hmm, I dont have the gear to put one together myself, looks like I'm going to have to take her in to get it changed. Shame...

Nothing a rubber Mallet and a rag will fix? lol

if you don't want to reuse the old knob you could use a hacksaw to remove it, i wanted to reuse it after shortening the lift up mechanism and the shifter rod.
Keep in mind that the knob you bought as a replacement will not allow you to use the lift-up mechanism - you can leave it out but have to take care when shifting gears....

Yeah I can see how this all fits together now, thanks for the info and effort putting this thread together (I'm sure I'm not the only one who will find it interresting.

This is the gear knob replica i got off ebay and shoudl be usable as a lift shift knob. anyway that's what it says in the prod description, if that aint the case I'll be getting a refund and bad review.

Just out of interest, would you say it's easier to replace a handbreak lever?

Cheers,

Ad

unfortunately i can't open the picture you sent - all i have is a red x and no picture....
keep in mind the bigger part on top of the plastic lift up mechanism has to disappear in the bottom of the gear knob just like the original - i don't know if that would work with your replacement knob.
I never changed my handbrake lever but i think i would prefer to shorten my gear lever instead...

Cant you just twist and pull it off

volxstu said:

Cant you just twist and pull it off

Click to expand...

As it's on a splined shaft it's unlikley you'll be able to 'twist' it...

Yellow Peril said:

As it's on a splined shaft it's unlikley you'll be able to 'twist' it...

Click to expand...

I remember how easy it was with my old mk2 Punto, came off rather easily. Have to say as well it actually made the feel of changing gear a lot better when I changed from the original (and pretty awful) Punto gearknob to an alloy one. It obviously doesn't change the actual throw or anything but the tactility of it certainly improved, if you know what I mean.

The cap on the top of mine has just started to wear round the edges (pretty good for a near 7 year old Stilo), so tempted to replace it myself. Need to the gaiter around the gearstick and handbrake though as they've got small quarter inch rips in them, which is annoying my neurotic side somewhat

Yeah i bet that pulls off with no effort. I did it with my Polo and Punto and numerous other friends cars. Its just a bit of glue and plastic is weaker than man.