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MG MGB Technical - Overdrive Gear Khob Removal

Hi ,
How do I remove the overdrive gear knob chaps? I want to replace it.
Cheers
Steve
S J Blake

Are you planning to replace it with a non-switch knob, or a new knob complete with switch. I assume you have a r/b car, in which case, probably the easiest way is too lift the gaiter and undo the three screws below and lift the collar off. the whole stick will lift after you undo the two bullet connectors from the overdrive wires.
This will make it easier to work on, and you can also replace the nylon bush below on the selector shaft.

This thread elsewhere
http://www.xpower-mg.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7104
covers some alternative knob types, but it is recommended that you use a relay from your switch to operate the o/d as the usual micro-switch are not man enough to cope with the current.
I have recently refitted mine after a rebuild, and I wire wooled the lower part of the original knob to get a clean alloy appearance. The plastic top cleaned up well using white spirits and the wife's toothbrush!

Sorry I can't help on the actual removal of the knob from the stick, perhaps others can?
Martin

Had another look at the Moss catalogue. You need to prise the top part off with a flat balde screwdriver, and down in the casing of the knob where the wires come up to the switch, I think you'll find a nut that holds the knob to the stick.
HTH
Martin

Cheers Martin...I'll have a try!
Steve
S J Blake

Steve. The "nut" associated with the Triumph gearshift knob, as used on the RB MGBs, is a circular thing with a cross slot similar to a common screw. You need a special tool that will fit over the gearshift lever and has two pins to engage the slots on the "nut". The tool is very similar to the special firing pin tool used with the Lee-Enfield rifle and the concept may have been adapted from that. It is something of a bear to remove the gearshift knobs when the OD wires are there. The special tool, needle nosed pliers and a thin screwdriver all help in removing the special "nut". Installation would be a similar form of fun (someone at Triumph had a very strange sense of humor to dream up this system). Personally, I mount a switch on the dash and use a custom knob on the gearshift lever. Les
Les Bengtson

Done this many times.
1) Screw nut below the knob (flat sided tapered thingy) down as far as it will go.
2) Prise placcy top off knob.
3) Lower ally knob shell down against previously unscrewed nut.
4) Detach wires from switch and remove placcy top / switch assembly.
5) You will now see the aforementioned ring nut with a slot in it on the threaded shaft. Because you have taken the tension off this by unscrewing nut in 1 above, this may now be easily unscrewed by "twiddling" it round with a screwdriver.
6) Remove knob shell and lower nut if required.

Reassembly is, as they say, the reverse of dismantling. A clever man will count the number of turns it takes to completely unscrew the ring nut so it can be put back in exactly the right place to make reassembly really quick 'n easy.
T J C Cuthill

This thread was discussed between 28/06/2003 and 02/07/2003

MG MGB Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.