Shifter has gotten sloppy over the years and I'm trying to replace the bushing. I've got the service manual and have hunted around in this forum, but I can't figure out how to get at the boot to remove it so I can see farther down to the control housing and remove the shifter and replace the bushing.
I got the console box loosened up and console finisher out and shifter knobs off. Does the whole lower part of the instrument panel have to come off?
Any other tips? Thanks in advance
Sorry if this is in the wrong place--newbie here.
ddas

There is a boot band clamp at the top and bottom of the boot. My old '91 Pathfinder had a similar boot with the band clamps integrated into the boot. These bands pinch the boot around the shifting lever at the top and the control housing at the bottom. I recall carefully prying the bottom off the housing first and then pulling it up, inside out, until I could push the top of the boot up past the step in the shift lever where the top of the boot sits. With the knob removed, I could then slide the boot off the lever. Whatever is in the way of getting to the bottom edge of the boot so that you can pry it up and off the control housing, has to be removed first.

That's helpful--thank you! Are those boot clamps removable in any other way? I take it that they're not hose clamps. I can't see them yet until I can get one level below where I'm at right now.

Nissan referred to mine as band clamps. Although now discontinued, there were separate part numbers for these clamps. As I recall, they were within the upper and lower hems of the vegan-leather boot and I did not remove them from the boot. I think they were plastic. Looking at yours in the service manual, page MT-15 https://www.nicoclub.com/service-manual ... 9%2Fmt.pdf , they appear to be zip-ties of some sort so I can't be sure what you actually have on your boot. Nissan refers to yours as a retainer and a clip which are active part numbers that can be seen at Nissan Parts Deal. https://www.nissanpartsdeal.com/parts-l ... m=341_B001

I must've gotten those off then--the "leather" boot wasn't too hard to remove once the shift knobs came loose. Fortunately I didn't have to use vice-grips on those like some people have said they did.