Just rebuilt toploader pops out of gear

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by steve meltzer

The day before (Thrs) I was scheduled to take the car to the guy to rebuild the shifter, I took all of the screws that retain the boot ring to the tunnel, completely out, not just loosened a few turns. And, viola (that's a joke), I drove it hard on 3 occasions without a problem. I guess the boot from Sunbeam Specialties wasn't the answer for my car. For now, the boot and trim ring are just sitting on the tunnel and it really looks just fine. On to the next problem and challenge. thanx guys. steve

Steve - here are a couple other things you can consider trying:

Before I bought my Sunbeam Tiger boot I made a vinyl boot from a pattern. I used wire from a coat hangar to form the outside circle that secures it under the trim ring. It applied 0-pressure one the shift handle. Looks were sort of up to individual opinion.





Since I installed the Sunbeam Tiger boot I haven't had any 3rd gear pop outs. However, I noticed that because the bend in my shift handle is pretty low above the top of the tunnel, the boot tended to ride up and forward quite a bit in third gear and was still obviously putting some pressure on the shifter. As a precaution, I pushed the boot down low and wrapped 6 or 7 wraps of black electrical tape around the handle right above the boot. It keeps the boot from riding up and the vinyl looks like part of the boot. Here is a picture of this.