Hello,

I have an aftermarket burl walnut trans shifter knob. It attaches by screwing on to the funnel shape screw unit that sits on the metal shaft. Easy enough to screw on and off. My question is, since there is a Jaguar logo inlaid on the top of the burl walnut knob, I would like the logo to be aligned with the top of the head being at the twelve o'clock position. When I screw on the walnut knob, it tightens with the top of the cat's head being at the 3 o'clock position - askew. If I unscrew the knob slightly to line up the logo, then the knob is loose.

What I would like to know is - can the knob be lined up AND tight?

There are three small round indents in the funnel shaped piece the knob screws on to - I thought these might be screws to tighten the knob in the desired position, but I don't see any screw heads in these three holes. Hard to see, but it looks like threading inside the three . Are there screws that I am missing that go in these three indents? Anyone have any luck aligning their after market wood shifter knob?

Thanks

 

There should be set screws in the three resessed areas. Should be allen or torx. Set the knob in the required position and screw the cone up to it to lock it in place. then tighten the set screws.
Mark

 

Or you can do as I did, & put a washer under it. (Metal or rubber)



& just to add, this is the shifter I had on it before.



The normal stock Bart shifter vs the new 1 which only costed me $55...

 

wow nice shifter.

Can you share where you got it?

 

Here's a link to one of them he has, but you may want to look @all his items for sale. He has done beautifully designed knobs for great prices...

http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?n...809514&alt=web

 

 

Nicse Brent!!!

 

Mark: I tried everything I have and nothing fits those recesses. When the car was at the dealer last year for a diagnostic I asked them and they had no idea what might tighten the knob. They said their factory knobs have no logo so one just screws them on until tight with no alignment of the image issue. I'd need to know exactly what size allen or torx to use as the ones I have and tried don't fit. I can't find that info online, and the local Jag dealer has no idea either.

Marque: I will see if my local hardware store has a washer to fit - thanks.

 

Even if you have some rubber, leather or plastic, u can cut up & poke a hole in the middle of it & put that over the nut. It doesn't take much...

 

I'll check mine this weekend. I did the washer thing on a past jag, but then the tightening stress is on the knob. Any twisting force will loosen the knob. The cone locks the threads. I suppose a thin rubber washer would grip better. I never liked the idea of twisting the knob on it that tight. I blew the top off a knob that way as the threads bottomed out in the knob. Nice words were not used that time.

 

Allright. I put my glasses on and things became clearer now. The XJ-40 if I remember right, had a flat spot on the locking cone. Thats a no brainer. The x350 has three recessed areas as we know. There are no set screws. It is tightened/ loosened with a "hook wrench". Its a hooked piece of metal with a pin on the end that fits in a recess. There are 2 approaches. Mfg a flat piece of metal (wrench) to fit it. Or wrap it with thick dense rubber and lossen/tighten with a round opening pliers or vice grips. The narower the better. In your case it will be easier as the knob is off. The "hook wrench" is very similar to the spanner used to tighten the lock ring when changing a beer tap, but much smaller. Dont ask, yes I had a bar with 5 taps in the house. If you make a wrench (not that hard) I would place a thin piece of rubber between the arch and the cone, so it doesnt mar the cone. If you try to tighten everything up by twisting the knob tight, it might just loosen later and make you say bad things.
Mark

 

Mark,

Thank you for identifying the type of tool used to tighten or loosen the cone nuts for the shift knobs! I think you're spot on.

Lacking the correct tool, I've just protected the nut with a piece of leather (an old belt works fine) and used Vise Grips/Mole Grips that were carefully adjusted to apply "just enough" grip.

On a related note, when I replaced the knob in our XJR with a burled wooden one, the new knob didn't come with a cone nut, and the nut for the XJR knob was too large. The photos at the link below show how I modified an X350 cone nut purchased on eBay to the correct size:

Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page


Cheers,

Don

 

Just a quick update: I had the car in at the dealer to replace a sweating oil pan gasket, and asked the head mechanic about the knob. He said they did not have the special tool to tighten the cone at the dealership, but on those rare occasions when they needed to do this on the X350 cars they wrapped the cone with a thick cloth and used vice grips to turn the cone (Mark in Maine mentioned this, only he suggested rubber for the wrap job). On my way out another mechanic I often trade Jag tales with took me aside and said in his experience ignore the head mechanic as the vice grips often strip the threads, and rather than do that he recommended going with the washer route (as Marque suggested). So I decided to try the washer route first before using the vice grips. I went to a plumbing supply store and got a bag of washer and o- rings of various sizes and tried some out. The perfect fit was with an o-ring - the logo aligned perfectly and the knob was tight. The o-ring is small and not visible with the knob screwed on. So I will try this for a while. If the knob stays tight and properly aligned, I will let it be. If it rotates, I will try Mark's vice grips idea, using rubber, and hopefully not strip the threads. Thanks to everyone who commented on my post with helpful suggestions! Much appreciated!

 

The washer could be supplemented by plumbing PTFE tape on the thread, it is similar to replacing an outdoor tap, the tap always seems to tighten when facing sideways or upwards, never downwards !!

 

I too have the same issue with the burl wood shifter.
I used lock tight on the treads without a washer. Works just fine.