shifter boot

[MMiller]

Was doing the transmission service on my getrag and when I took the shifter off to fill the transmission I found that the "middle boot" was cracked. It is the one right under the black shifter boot around the handle. Then you take out 4 more screws and remove the boot I am wanting. Then you get to the trans.



Here is the dodge part #



4446991 Boot assembly $79. 98 Discontinued



I have no idea were to even look for a replacement.



Anybody got and ideas?? Hopefully less expensive.

 

[RBurleson]

I encountered the same thing ... discontinued.



My boot was intact where it wrapped around the shifter, and also intact where it was vulcanized to the metal frame, but completely separate between the two.



I originally conceived tis to be a rather hillbilly solution, but it seems to be holding up well... I pulled what was left of the boot and set it on my workbench, and used saran wrap top and bottom to form RTV gasket into an ugly but serviceable bellows repair.

1. ) I folded some saran wrap to rougly match the bottom side of the bellows, and goo-ed it to what was left of the bottom of both parts of the rubber, trying to form the saran wrap up into the creases where possible. You'll wind up with folds in the saran wrap -- that's not important -- what you're trying to do is reverse-engineer a bottom mold to retain the RTV.

2. ) Let the RTV dry/cure to hold the 'mold' in place.

3. ) Spooge the RTV liberally on top of the saran wrap, trying to fill in the holes in the old rubber and put a thin layer on top of the old rubber itself (reinforcement).

4. ) Lay another layer of saran wrap on top of the uncured RTV and use it to *gently* manipulate the gooey RTV into the shape of the old bellows (be careful not to press to hard -- you don't want the saran wrap to be the only membrane, rather, you want a saran/RTV/saran sandwich).

5. ) Let the RTV cure.

Repeat 3, 4, and 5 as many times as necessary to build up a 'replacement' rubber bellows. I thought I'd be able to peel the saran and just have RTV left, but it seems to work out equally well to have three alternating layers of saran and RTV serving as a flexible composite.



For extra style points, use black RTV -- it will still be ugly, but at least it will match. If rice racing is your thing, consider alternating blue and grey.



Hope that helps -- it is holding up quite well on my truck.



Randii

 

[MMiller]

Should have reposted sooner. I went and ordered the boot that clamps around the shifter tower, directly on the trans. It changed part numbers and the piece I got was a boot that still clamps around the shifter tower with the hose clamp BUT it is made into a square piece of rubber that then screws down to the center hump. One piece replaces two.



I am ashamed to say that it is still in the top of my toolbox in the garage, waiting for installation!



The rear end went out a couple of weekends ago. Been working on that the past few nights. Thank goodness for company vehicles!!



Thanks for the idea! I prefer burnt rice, cooked with diesel smoke!!



Michael