Mark,

Thanks for the insight. Since I'm going to have a hose clamp handy anyway to put around the TT afterward, maybe I'll try that. Shane's done it from underneath though, so there might be a reason why this won't work as well as the ratchet strap.

I'll be ready for anything and see what looks best.

Jyoon,
Thanks for the warning. I hope when I'm done that I can say that too, since I expect I'll have a million other jobs to do to this thing in the next year or two.

Hopefully the suggestions here will make it easier for me though.

Thanks again to all I gotta go, it's almost quitting time

 

You are so lucky cause I can assure you pulling the heads while keeping the studded block in the car is 100X worse!

 

The reason the strap works better then the hose clamp is because it is 1" wide and stays on the ball cup better. Though if you get lucky the clamp would work just fine.

 

Agree with all the above

1" Ratchet strap and make sure the handle is arranged so you can release the tension when you are done. BTDT cut the strap.

Getting the lock nut undone can be the biggest PITA of this job. The shaft once disconnected from the ball stud can be moved around some to get the angles to work with - I used small visegrips to stop the shaft turning to crack the nut on one car and had to saw through the side of the nut on another.

MOST important - on reassembly take some quality time with an assistant to check the fore and aft adjustment of the shifter with the new cup screwed into the shaft and the cup resting but not fully seated on the ball stud BEFORE you ratchet strap the cup home. Getting the new cup back off the ball to readjust will tax the limits of your toolkit, the strength of your fingers, and your entire vocabulary of adult language and then some. BTDT twice.

 

It is tight but definitely doable,

did it on my -81 with TT in the car and on my GT while renovating the TT.
(that was so much easier of course)
I think it took me 1-2 hours on the -81, biggest issue I had was that I had to cut the old locknut with my dremel since it would not budge.
(partly because it is so tight getting momentum with the tools on it)

/Peter

 

Craftsman 6 pc. Extreme Grip Ratcheting Wrench Set, Metric

Sears item #00942515000 Mfr. model #42515

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

 

I'm going in this weekend. Thanks for all the guidance, I'll post the results .

 

Make sure you don't install it to tight. It will wear out the new shifter cup if to much pressure is applied. All your trying to do is to keep it from popping off, not holding it on tight.
A loose fitted large zip tie on the threaded part of the cup around the TT seems to work best, but a hose clamp in that position will also work well.

 

Just to build on this knowledge base, and keep it in one thread...

I noted the shifter position and disassembled the shifter, allowing the ball cup and shaft to drop down and to the right of the TT. Used a torch to heat the shift tube and break the loctite (per another recent post by Firemed)

Instead of holding shift tube by the flats, or with pipewrench, use vice grips in the passenger compartment to hold the flanged end of the tube by the flange. My wife, in a rare showing of sharkwrenchwomanship, steadied the tube so I was able to apply a great deal of torque to the locknut.

So obvious that its no-doubt covered in some other ages-old thread, but it doesn't hurt to add the idea here. (as she is looking away this instant, it was actually her idea and she insisted I post it)

 

The ball cup job was actually really difficult, very little room and view of the parts. I used the new 928M metal unit, so removing to tighten a few more turns was only a hassle and not a nightmare.
Well worth doing, of course.
I would agree with JV on the large zip tie, you don't need too much to keep the old design ball cup on.

 

I just did this a few weeks ago for the 4th time in 2 years. You just need to remove the heat shield. getting that lock nut loose is a pain - I used a micro torch to heat the loctite and it came off easier. The tube actually moves to one side better than the other for access. The 5" vice grip, and the craftsman "shorty" will be your best friends for putting it back on. Make sure you "just" loosen the lock nut - then place both the old and the new on the bench and turn the lock nuts to the same place.the threads will be dirtier and you can see how deep it was. Take a bit of fingernail polish and paint the threads behind the locknut on the new cup - it stops the locknut from turning - place some teflon grease on the new cup, and you can actually pull it down real easy just pulling on the 1" strap.
I destroyed one by trying the hose clamp idea on a dry cup
Good luck - it's a 45 minute job that can take hours the first time...

 

Chris,

I'm not sure I follow completely. Are you saying you pushed the upper shift link from the inside until it fell through the hole or did you push it forward causing it to fall only slightly to the right of the TT? I assume it's the latter but wasn't certain. By doing this does it offer more room to work?

 

I moved it around different ways.

First, since most of the interior is out anyway, I pulled the console up and tried to snake the whole front rod out into the passenger compartment. Somebody here did it to weld a shifter pin not too long ago. Might have worked, but I didn't want to mess-up the foam insulation in the shifter area.

Settled with pushing rod forward and angling front end downwards. Shifter end is not far from where it attaches to the shifter, just forward and to the right and twisted a bit. Basically, the old ball cup drops down pretty far, nearly to the middle / bottom of the TT. Very easy access. Took 5 minutes to remove and replace with new cup.

17 mm open end wrench under the car. 12 inch vicegrips in the cockpit. Ok, maybe 10 inch.

 

And WYAI - The BEST think I did was replaced the REAR coupling outer plastics - side to side improvement! Ah - but one thing at a time....

 

Well, I didn't know I could buy just the plastics. That was new, reading your recent post.

Trying to decide this minute to either go replace that whole piece tonight or sleep. Have the metal piece, cone screw and new boot. Gotta work tomorrow, but am obsessed with fixing it.