Forge Short Shift Kit - Group Buy

[Greg Roles]

I think Blitzen was the problem just quietly Leegil...

[kaanage]

The short shifter was an absolute pain. Blitzen and myself could not remove it off the car spline. We had no leverage without removing the battery box (which we did not do). Ultimately I took it to Canberra VW Centre (CVWC) to install when they were doing the minor service and replacing the radiator. Damn radiator cores leaking by 70K km is ridiculous (my '95 Hyundai Excel went 160K km without issue). Back to the story, they had the leverage on either side of the shifter to apply force and 'wiggle' it off.

Did you try heating it like I suggested??

[Blitzen]

I think Blitzen was the problem just quietly Leegil...

Hahaha... Thanks for that vote of confidence Greg!! Seriously though, once we worked out that the bush holders weren't screw ins, it took us less than 5min to adjust to the right position... As I had never pulled the bush holder/cable end off the shifting cables, I didn't realize it was going to be a as much of a problem as it turned out to be... That, and I have passion fingers!!

[Blitzen]

Did you try heating it like I suggested??

I didn't have the equipment to be able to do that... Also, I didn't want to burn his car, or my apartment block to the ground either!!

The stock shifter would move about 1mm up on the splines, and just stop. I tried DWF, WD-40, leverage, mechanical persuasion, reasoning with it, and good old swearing at it, but it just wouldn't move any further than that 1mm up on the splines shaft, and we tried for a good 2hrs, which really pissed me off, as my short shifter took literally 20min to fit... It just pulled straight off!!

I'm glad he is happy with the result though, as I'm sure he was going to be... And I thank him for putting up with my rather colorful language too!! I'm glad I could help out, and I'm sorry that I couldn't get the short shifter fitted on the first try.

[kaanage]

A heat gun won't burn a car if aimed at a metal part and stresses the components much less than levering or even a puller.

I removed a wheel bearing from one of my GP bike's wheels without using a heat gun once - it was brutal and then I remembered the heat gun immediately afterwards when I went about inserting the replacement bearing.

I'd forgotten it again when I went to remove my stock shifter until going through my own bout of levering, pulling, WD-40, Penetrene, swearing with not a trace of movement... That's why I recommended it here as the shifter then came straight off after a couple of minutes of thorough heating.

I then dug out some anti-seize to coat the splines before installing the short-shifter rather than use the red grease supplied by Forge.

[Blitzen]

Yeah, I know what you mean about the heat gun, I just don't have one, or have access to one right now. It's on the list to tools to buy, moreso now that I don't have a tool store at work where I can just borrow tools that I don't have at home... Right now though, my money is being directed into my trip to the USA, where I can buy and bring home almost anything I want (I wish I could ring back firearms!!), at a half to two thirds to what we pay over here...

[leegil]

CVWC (Dean) said it was really easy to remove, with a cheeky smile . He was able to wiggle it from both sides as he had access and leverage. I suspected that he would have removed a lot of stuff as he had to replace the radiator. The battery box got in the way. CVWC did not use a heat gun. He said it took him around 5mins just to remove the shifter itself from the spline.

Blitzen is correct that once we worked out the shifter rod did not have 'threads', it took us hardly any time to fix up the shifting. Very easy indeed (once you know).

What was also good was somehow CVWC also fixed the left headlight beam elevation without doing anything at all (the LHS was not dropping its beam down). Now it is.

Thanks heaps to all for their advice and help.

[kaanage]

Yeah, I know what you mean about the heat gun, I just don't have one, or have access to one right now. It's on the list to tools to buy, moreso now that I don't have a tool store at work where I can just borrow tools that I don't have at home...

Yeah, sometimes I forget that not everyone has a stupidly large array of tools (in my case due to the years of motorcycle racing as well as car maintenance). People are amazed at the amount of tools I bring to a track day - of course, they all wander over when they break something or something loosens up or needs changing...

CVWC (Dean) said it was really easy to remove, with a cheeky smile . He was able to wiggle it from both sides as he had access and leverage. I suspected that he would have removed a lot of stuff as he had to replace the radiator. The battery box got in the way. CVWC did not use a heat gun. He said it took him around 5mins just to remove the shifter itself from the spline.

When I removed the battery housing, I had pretty good access/leverage to the shifter and it still wouldn't budge - it was almost like it was corroded on. Maybe Blitzen loosened yours up a bit with his aborted efforts.

One day, I'll get around to installing my 42DD bushings too (currently living in my glovebox) and will have your experience firmly in mind.

[Blitzen]

The DWF definitely helped, but even with the aid of a long drift punch or a 16in flat tip screw driver, I just couldn't get the leverage to shift it more than a millimeter. Before I sprayed some DWF in there, it was on solid. Dean at CVWC is a strong, strapping lad though, so he wouldn't have a problem getting it off though!!