Gear lever knob

[drifter]

I thought I was being clever by buying a set of knobs from the UK rather than paying the pretty high price here...

So they duly arrived and I went to install the gear change knob (the black one) onto my 2a gear lever, to discover the knob has no thread inside it!

This knob is the round one when looking at it sideways, not the old flattened one.

I had another round one in the shed, still mounted on a gear lever so, with some effort, I took it off - to find that it doesn't have a thread, either. Just a corrugated shim inside that gives it some grip when installed.

My gearlever has a thread on the end of it. It appears to be a ½" UNF thread.

The older 'original' knobs are getting hard to find at any reasonable price now so, my question is, has anyone managed to fit one of these 'new' knobs onto a threaded shaft without undertaking any damaging actions?

Thanks in advance,.

[chazza]

What about coating the thread on the stick with soap; filling the hole in the knob with a fluid filler such as auto body filler and pushing it onto the stick? This will allow the knob to be unscrewed,

Cheers Charlie

[drifter]

I was thinking along those lines - but doing it with a bolt so, if I screwed it up, I didn't have a mess sitting on the end of my gearstick

[Titch101]

Can you tap a thread into the new knob and helicoil to the correct size for your lever?

[JDNSW]

The unthreaded knob is Series 3. You do occasionally see new 2a (same as Series 2 and 1) knobs for sale, but they tend to be very expensive.

Two things you can do to fit the other knob -

1. Find a piece of hose that is a tight fit into the knob and a tight fit onto the gearlever. Cut off an inch and use loktite or superglue to fix it to the knob, push onto the stick.

2. Find a nut to fit the gearlever, I think you will find this is 1/2"W, not UNF, and turn the nut down to fit the knob, using a bolt as a mandrel, and again loktite or superglue into the knob. Turn out the hole in the knob if you need a bit more space. Of course, this assumes you have access to a lathe.

John

[drifter]

Can you tap a thread into the new knob and helicoil to the correct size for your lever?

To be honest, I did look at the helicoils I have here but none were big enough.

I also looked at cutting the threaded end off the gear lever and ramming the knob on.

The unthreaded knob is Series 3. You do occasionally see new 2a (same as Series 2 and 1) knobs for sale, but they tend to be very expensive.

Two things you can do to fit the other knob -

1. Find a piece of hose that is a tight fit into the knob and a tight fit onto the gearlever. Cut off an inch and use loktite or superglue to fix it to the knob, push onto the stick.

2. Find a nut to fit the gearlever, I think you will find this is 1/2"W, not UNF, and turn the nut down to fit the knob, using a bolt as a mandrel, and again loktite or superglue into the knob. Turn out the hole in the knob if you need a bit more space. Of course, this assumes you have access to a lathe.

John

I am chasing a new knob currently but fear it will get expensive.

The hose idea is a good one - thanks.

I have a nut for the gearlever - it came with it and was used to lock the old knob in place. I had thought of turning it down and inserting it in the knob but was only going to consider that if I could find 2 or more.

I also thought of trying to find a metal sleeve and tapping a thread inside it...

Way back when I was 16 or so I decided that it was imperative to have a piston as my gear knob, as you did back then. A mate supplied one from his Honda 50 step-thru (hey, it was a long time ago and the smaller size is just what I wanted) and I sat it upside down, put some vaseline on the thread of the lever, placed it in the piston and filled the inside of the piston with dental acrylic (it was freely available, fast setting, easy to mix...).

It worked well and I guess I could do the same again. If I were to go down that path again I would make the hole in the knob an irregular shape so the insert wouldn't spin in the hole and use something like a 2-pot epoxy.

[drifter]

1. Find a piece of hose that is a tight fit into the knob and a tight fit onto the gearlever. Cut off an inch and use loktite or superglue to fix it to the knob, push onto the stick.


John

Hmmm - soft-walled hose - and it would screw onto the existing thread on the stick...

[JDNSW]

To be honest, I did look at the helicoils I have here but none were big enough.

I also looked at cutting the threaded end off the gear lever and ramming the knob on.



I am chasing a new knob currently but fear it will get expensive.

The hose idea is a good one - thanks.

I have a nut for the gearlever - it came with it and was used to lock the old knob in place. I had thought of turning it down and inserting it in the knob but was only going to consider that if I could find 2 or more.

I also thought of trying to find a metal sleeve and tapping a thread inside it...

Way back when I was 16 or so I decided that it was imperative to have a piston as my gear knob, as you did back then. A mate supplied one from his Honda 50 step-thru (hey, it was a long time ago and the smaller size is just what I wanted) and I sat it upside down, put some vaseline on the thread of the lever, placed it in the piston and filled the inside of the piston with dental acrylic (it was freely available, fast setting, easy to mix...).

It worked well and I guess I could do the same again. If I were to go down that path again I would make the hole in the knob an irregular shape so the insert wouldn't spin in the hole and use something like a 2-pot epoxy.

I'm pretty certain the thread is 1/2" W, and these nuts can probably be sourced from any hardware store and certainly from any fastener specialist. Take the nut you have to confirm the size. (We may have turned metric some time ago, but there is still an awful lot of Whitworth used.)

John

[Dinty]

G'day All, The thread for the G/stick Series 1/2/2A is 1/2"BSF cheers Dennis
ps the threads look incredibly like UNF until you try to screw them together,,.

[drifter]

Thanks Dennis

Isn't that the same as the thread on the bolts used on the bonnet mounted spare wheel assembly?