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How-To replace the gear stick gaiter on a FN2

Loxy

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Right, not my guide, but worthy of a post.

I don't know about other Type R owners out there but the gear stick gaiter in my CTR had begun to wear badly and started to look like this:
01.jpg


Which considering I have looked after the interior of my CTR was getting both annoying and embarrassing. So after a quick search on good old eBay I found a seller topgaiters (I think he has been mentioned on here before). Anyway I placed an order in the morning and within 24hrs a new gaiter arrived. Unfortunately it was the wrong one and was intended for the non Type R gear stick. So I contacted him and credit where credit is due he responded within a couple of hours and a new one was in the post to me which arrived the next day. So I went about fitting it and though I would document the process.

The whole process too me about 45 minutes to an hour to complete without rushing.

You should only need:

  • Small Flat Blade Screwdriver
  • 14mm open ended or adjustable spanner
  • fine plastic trim removal tool or something similar
  • Philips No 2 Screwdriver
  • needle nose pliers
  • new (fine) cable tie
  • Upholstery stapler or super glue
First release the plastic collar that holds the gaiter up from the gear knob
02.jpg


Push the gaiter down out of the way and with a 14mm spanner loosen the locking ring under the gear knob by turning it clockwise slightly
03.jpg


You can then unscrew both the gear knob and the locking ring completely by turning them anti-clockwise
04.jpg


Now using either your finger nails or a soft plastic tool leaver up the top of the gear stick surround
05.jpg


and remove it completely
06.jpg


you can now undo the screws at the bottom of the housing you have just removed and pull the old gaiter out, after un-clipping the plastic surround and un-hooking the internal ties that fold the gaiter up. You will then need a pair of fine nose needle pliers to straighten and remove the staples that are holding the gaiter to the support ring. Next turn the gaiter inside out as there is a plastic collar which you will need. To remove this simply push the cable tie off and slide the two parts of the collar apart. You should now have all these bits
07.jpg


and here is the old gaiter next to the new one ready for fitting
08.jpg


First refit the plastic collar that you have just removed by turning the new gaiter inside out and reversing the procedure you did earlier. I then secured the whole thing with a fine cable tie at the original would not fit due the the thickness of the leather. When you fit the collar try to get the plastic clips that you released in the first stage aligned in a section away from any seams as this will make live easier later.
09.jpg


Now re-attach the support ring by re-stapling. I used a heavy duty DIY upholstery stapler and bent the ends over with pliers afterwards. I suspect that you could use super glue for this job though. Now clip everything back into the main housing and put in the 3 screws to hold everything together
11.jpg


Now slide the whole thing over the gear stick and push the main gear stick surround back in place. Push the gaiter and the plastic collar well down and screw on the locking collar all the way down. Now screw on the gear knob until it meets the locking collar but do not tighten it. Now unscrew it slightly until it is aligned correctly, now screw the locking collar up to lock it in place and tighten with a 14mm spanner. You can now slide the plastic collar that supports the gaiter up onto cover the locking ring until it clicks in place, arrange the gaiter as you want, sit back and admire your handy work
12.jpg


The gaiter not only looks a load better than the OEM one and that with wear it will not look anywhere near as shabby, but you can pull the whole thing out to clean it properly as there are no internal ties. The quality really is excellent and you can even ask for different colour stitching. If you do order on I would recommend that you specify Type R or non Type R (TT gaiter I believe it was referred to as) to avoid any delays. However the dealer did handle the issue very professionally.

If you are interested the non Type R gaiter looks like this and I believe that several other forum members have fitted these as well.
13.jpg


By the way I have no involvement with topgaiters what so ever I was just so impressed with the quality and service that I thought I would share the experience. Hope this is of interest and/or help.
 
I have recently changed my gaiter but struggled to find something to pull the gear surround away with without marking the plastic. In the end I just cut a hole in the gaiter at the top near the type r badge and stuck my fingers in and under the surround and lifted it that way. Hope this helps
 
Thanks

I have recently changed my gaiter but struggled to find something to pull the gear surround away with without marking the plastic. In the end I just cut a hole in the gaiter at the top near the type r badge and stuck my fingers in and under the surround and lifted it that way. Hope this helps

thanks for the extra info people...all help&n info appreciated
 
Looking at this as obviously mine has been replaced previously as it's mint already but it keeps slipping back down the stick and is so annoying as looks untidy in my opinion. I took it all apart and as per guide put it all back together but no luck. The only thing that is different is that mine, no matter how hard I pull it up won't click to hold it onto the locker nut!
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
 
I had a similar issue, Is the plastic clip around the top of the gaiter (where it fixes to the lock nut) broken ?
Didn't think mine was bit on closer inspection mine was broke, a little DIY job and all is good now.
 
Saying that it looks like there should be 4 slot pieces and there is only 2 so yes looks like it's been broken previously...may I ask your DIY solution?
 
The clip is a two part clip, luckily I had both. The outer ring was broken on mine, so I found another piece of plastic. A soldering iron a few burnt fingers & lot of F'ing and blinding later it was like new. You can only by the clip from Honda with a new gaiter, my advise would be to try find one in a breakers yard or eBay if your not that handy with your hands.
 
It looks like it's the inner ring that's the issue with mine it just doesn't give to go over the lock nut and looks like 2 of the 4 prongs have snapped off...more annoying and ugly to be honest maybe it's just me but I want it sitting upto the bottom of the gear knob not down the stick...
 
Mine was the same mate drove me nuts, couldn't be bothered to wait to find one from a breakers that's why I set out to fix it.
 
So annoying and constantly holding it up trying to pull it up whilst driving and probably going to wear out the gaiter and have to get a new one haha
 
Done it!

Finally done it! Thanks for the guide. I removed the mount with a panel trim. 100% easier to do so. It's definite some well worth investing on.
 

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I replaced my worn gaitor yesterday. I've only recently bought the car, hence I was a bit anxious pulling it apart so soon. However, following this superb guide and referencing You Tube alternatives, I'm really chuffed I've managed to take it all apart and put it back together again with the new gaitor and with little effort. Took about an hour from start to finsh. I superglued the ends of the gaitor where they had originally been stapled. The end result is just as good. Thanks for posting the guide. It helped a lot and gave me confidence to have a go myself. :)
 
At long last I bought a replacement leather gaiter for my FN2 before Christmas. Mine though has been made with many pieces of leather that have been sewn together vertically with red stitching, and weirdly, horizontally as well halfway up the gaiter. Don't know if this a new design, and subsequently I haven't fitted it, but I was expecting different.

Can't work out how to get a photo off my phone onto this bloomin laptop that i use at work.
 
My (gear) knob is on the wonk, was like that when I bough it.

When it's screwed on fully tight, the numbers and lines point towards the steering column instead of straight forwards. It's giving me OCD worse than the shagged out gaitor (new one of those in the post).

Would you fix this by moving the locking ring nut to a higher position or is it something wrong with the knob itself?
 
Get the knob where you want it and then use the locking ring to hold that position.

Also if you want to avoid rubbing the gaiter with your fingers and so wearing the top of it get a taller gear knob.
 
Get the knob where you want it and then use the locking ring to hold that position.

Also if you want to avoid rubbing the gaiter with your fingers and so wearing the top of it get a taller gear knob.

Quick question, can you take the gaitor off the locking nut without pulling up the plastic surround?

I've seen videos on YT where they appear to just twist it off, but mine is locked on pretty tight.

I can't get to the locking nut to lock my knob in place.
 
To get the gaiter off the locking nut you push it down not up.
Be careful there are fragile plastic tangs that clip it to the nut that are easy to snap.

If you want to take the gaiter out completely you have to take the whole knob off and remove the plastic trim around the gaiter that it is screwed to.

If you wind the knob down too far then there is no thread left for the locking nut to engage with.
 
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