Shifter Removal

[C2tuck]

Bought a MGW for the 03. It’s got a pro 5.0 in it that will NOT break free. I don’t know what the **** they used when they put it in, but it won’t come out. I’ve literally beat the shit out of it with a dead blow mallet and nothing…

Any ideas or tricks on getting this thing out??

 

[CobraBob]

Usually a sharp smack with a mallet will break the shifter base free from the hardened sealer. I've never heard of one that's impossible to break free. Just keep at it.

Chad, here's a suggestion to consider. Get a pry bar and pry up on the back of the shifter base and it will pop right off. A number of guys back in the day used that method and it always worked. A variation of this is to get under the car and use a regular screw driver and hammer technique. Just find a small lip on the bottom of the shifter mounting plate and a few LIGHT taps should make it come right off.

Do yourself a big favor and order a silicone shifter gasket kit from me. A by-product is no longer having to deal with hardened sealer. Removal becomes super simple.

 

[C2tuck]

Thanks Bob. May have to go from underneath.

Already have your gasket. Ordered this stuff months ago. Just finally getting time to mess around with it. Never fails that something that should be simple turns into a pain in the ass…

 

[Bullitt1448]

The things we “assume” will be easy often turn out to be the big pain in the ass. At least bigger parts of a project, you expect to have some struggles

 

[C2tuck]

I got it. I know I should expect to have issues, but easy shit should be easy…lol.

 

[CobraBob]

Thanks Bob. May have to go from underneath.

Already have your gasket. Ordered this stuff months ago. Just finally getting time to mess around with it. Never fails that something that should be simple turns into a pain in the ass…

Keep us posted. I'm expecting good news very soon.

 

[01yellercobra]

If it makes you feel any better I did what was supposed to be an easy cat back swap yesterday. Had to break out the cut off wheel for a bolt that didn't want to come off and had to disassemble the mid to get things to move and adjust how I needed to. Oh, and that required some use of a small torch.