General Gear Knobs

[TagSouth]

My Panda has developed an interesting feature. When I select reverse, the gear knob flies off the gear stick and lands on the floor! Looking closely, I can see a crack in the plastic where it push fits onto the splines. So there's no grip there any more. When I lift the ring to engage reverse, the spring underneath launches the gear knob into the air.

I can see lots of clone knobs on sale on eBay, all from China. Are they any good, or should I be looking elsewhere?

 

[koalar]

I’d probably just clean it up and epoxy it back

The whole lever assembly is easy enough to swap out with a second hand unit

Post 2012 levers are different

Sorry no idea about China ones

 

[DaveMcT]

We hd this problem. Unfortunately epoxy is not much help.The OEM gear knob is over moulded plastics with a void between. The middle piece splits fuse the knob to fall loose. You "can" glue it on but the plastic interior part just relaxes into the void between inner and outer and it falls off just as fast.

I glued up some plywood and turned a new gear knob on the lathe. It works great. You could fit any Fiat great knob that uses the sliding sleeve type reverse gear gate. Quite probably, they all have the same design flaw, so all will go the same way over time.

 

[varesecrazy]

I had that with the 188 punto.. Epoxy was fine

My panda was all good,

Thanks for the info about the innards of it


What is the OE part number??

Probably plenty in Eurooe..obviously not a RHD thing

 

[DaveMcT]

Punto 188 probably has a solid gear knob. Stronger and a better replacement option.

The Forum EPER has the Punto 188 gear knob but there are about five parts numbers so you'll have to do some searching.

A search to be going on with -

fiat 55347239 for sale | eBay

Find great deals on eBay for fiat 55347239. Shop with confidence.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[varesecrazy]

Punto 188 probably has a solid gear knob. Stronger and a better replacement option.

The Forum EPER has the Punto 188 gear knob but there are about five parts numbers so you'll have to do some searching.

A search to be going on with -

fiat 55347239 for sale | eBay

Find great deals on eBay for fiat 55347239. Shop with confidence.

www.ebay.co.uk

Puntos often had the Knob forced out of position so people could replace a torn Gaitor.. it never went back on well


My 2012 punto had an incorrect knob fitted.. 5 speeds indicated on a 6 speed gearbox

In marm weather it will rotate.. but 'feels' secure

My 90's Tipo and tempra had a knob and gaitor all moulded as one

 

[irc]

I was given a gaiter and gearknob set which apparently cost about £6 off eBay to fit on a cheap Panda for a family member.
Was expecting it to be badly fitting c**p.
Gaiter was real leather, with a velcro section at the top, and gear knob looked like the original except it was black instead of grey.
Fitted them and was surprised... gaiter even had plastic ring pre-fitted and installed easily. Hacksawed plastic core off gear lever and new knob went straight on. And has stayed on for 18 months or more.
Will ask if they still have details...

EDIT: 224920552910 is current item number. It has doubled in price though.

 

[koalar]

you shouldn't have any problem with the right type of resin

there's three common resins

Epoxy, Vinyester and Polyester

slow curing epoxy sticks best and the hardest

Quick drying polyester sticks worse, softer and shrinks when cures

 

[DaveMcT]

I tried epoxy and PU mastic. Both failed because the Panda gear knob has a gap (or maybe soft rubber) between the splined centre boss and outer lump. If the centre is cracked (as mine was) it will quickly loosen on the shifter stick.

 

[TagSouth]

My cheap Chinese one turned up today.

The hole for the gear stick was rather too small, so I spent some considerable time with a half-round file expanding it out. Eventually, it got to the point where I couldn't push it on any further, but couldn't pull it off again. So I whacked it with a rubber mallet and now it's on.

It feels more rubbery than the old one. There's a rubber sleeve over the plastic insert. But maybe that will reduce with age.