who has installed a new shifter knob?

[TwoTone IDI]

i need to get a new knob on my ZF5 shifter. right now i got nothing but the splines.

what is involved? is there an insert that goes in the shifter? epoxy? any of that?

i feel like there is more than meets the eye...

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

It was a long long time ago, but as best I remember, the knob on my old T-19 was also splined on = no threads like I was expecting.

I covered the dash and windshield to protect from welder spatter and welded on an inch or so section of ?? 3/8 ?? , or was it 1/2 threaded rod; probably 1/2, since the shifter/handle I used was meant for a big truck.

The one I have --- since transplanted onto my current custom-built shifter --- used to be a common sight hanging on the racks at the big truck-stops.

It is somewhat quite involved and was meant for the old-time 13-speed shifters, before they started having that generic car-like knob that is so plastic-looking and cheapie.

I would like to find more like it for some of our other trucks; but, like all good things, alas, they are no longer.

 

[6 Nebraska IDIs]

I bought one from my Ford dealer. They have a thermoset plastic insert inside of the knob, you put the new knob in a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes then you pull it out with some tongs and shove it onto the shifter handle in the position it should be. Let it cool and it wont come off. The knobs are available, I did a posting about them a while back, someone posted the correct part number but even my ford dealer screwed it up. I was happy with the one they got so I just installed it. But its still not the correct original ZF5 OD knob. Mine says 1-2-3-4-5-R, not 1-2-3-4-OD-R.

 

[bike-maker]

I just made me a custom shift knob. The original one is just a chunk of plastic. The only separate piece is the little disc in the top that shows you the shift pattern. Just takes brute force to remove. I used a big crescent wrench and a 3lb. dead blow hammer. The part that makes it difficult on a ZF is a rubber section on the bottom of the stick - some kind of vibration dampening framus - that makes it so there is nothing solid to beat against.

 

[Mulochico]

I went to Pep Boys and bought an aftermarket one with screws to hold it to the shaft. It has been working well so far. It is also much easier to change if necessary

 

[The Warden]

I bought one from my Ford dealer. They have a thermoset plastic insert inside of the knob, you put the new knob in a pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes then you pull it out with some tongs and shove it onto the shifter handle in the position it should be. Let it cool and it wont come off. The knobs are available, I did a posting about them a while back, someone posted the correct part number but even my ford dealer screwed it up. I was happy with the one they got so I just installed it. But its still not the correct original ZF5 OD knob. Mine says 1-2-3-4-5-R, not 1-2-3-4-OD-R.

What Sean said. That's the proper way to install a factory knob...basically, the pot of boiling water's to get the knob hot enough to expand, and it should then slide onto the shifter with a little bit of pressure (a few taps with a rubber mallet did it for me). As it cools and contracts, it forms an interference fit with the splines, forcing the spline pattern onto the inside of the knob.

I've done this a total of three times now (once for my old T-19's gearshift knob, once for my transfer case shift knob, and once for the ZF after I did the swap)...and none of the knobs has ever come off or even shown the slightest hint of being loose the biggest thing is to get it aligned right the first time. Once it's on there, you can't really get it off without loosening it up enough that it won't stay on...for that reason, IMHO the factory knobs are really one-time-use...

 

[TwoTone IDI]

okay thanks all. LMC sells the knob like 6 Nebraska IDIs is talking about, i assume it is the same installation technique

not that i am against buying a "big boy" truck knob... maybe i will slide by a truck stop at lunch and see what i can find

 

[jim_22]

I have the original knob (with the OD) and recently it has become slightly loose so that it can rotate, not freely but with some resistance, but it seems it still cannot be pulled off with any reasonable force.

 

[freebird01]

if i remember right that shaft is the right size to run a 5/8-11 die down those splines...i used to have a custom made shifteron my 84 f150,,,just havent had a chance to put it on my idi yet..

 

[Chevyboy_0]

I machined a shift knob out of 6061 AL a while back, I bought a shifter from Towcat cause somewhoe my idiot brother found a way to break the old one, and i didnt have a OEM knob so i got creative but on mine I filed a flat spot down on the splines and machined two holes in the knob itself for some set screws

 

[R.w]

gorilla glue

i used gorilla glue on mine about 2 years ago and it has been fine ever since

 

[TWeatherford]

I'm wanting to machine one for myself out of aluminum. Maybe even use a CNC or somesuch to engrave the Ford emblem or a shift pattern on it. I might glue it on, but probably just drill and tap on the bottom side to use allen setscrews to hook it on. I have heard that an aluminum knob will get really hot in the sun, but the guy that says that drives a Mazda Miata and might have had the top down (plus I'm not sure you can trust a guy who drives a Miata). One other concern is the extra weight of an aluminum shift knob working over the transmission internals, but I think probably 10 minutes of rowing through the gears in traffic would put the same wear as a year of driving with a heavy shift ***.

 

[88beast]

im adding a light up skull shift knob to my 4x4 shifter so im going to epoxy it on itll be easiest

 

[bike-maker]

Here's a pic of the one's I made. Instead of having the shift pattern CNC'ed into the top, I just popped the little saucer pieces out of the stock knobs and machined a hole for em in my new one's. Machined the middle out to just the right size that I could "persuade" the whole thing into place with a dead blow hammer. The stepped speed holes in the sides were done with a Uni-bit. The Tubing on the shifter is 1.5" OD, the handle itself is 2.25". The sucker weighs about 3 pounds; it's freakin' heavy. I haven't noticed any ill affects on the shifting of the tranny. When the wife say my new baseball bat of a shifter she asked "compensating for something are we?"

 

[The Warden]

When the wife say my new baseball bat of a shifter she asked "compensating for something are we?"