Good morning Nico forums!

https://imgur.com/gallery/gof0vZf

I'm having trouble finding a how-to for removing the shift lever from a D22 Frontier

What I've run into is what I assume is the dust boot cover (upper and lower).

Can these be removed prior to the shift lever removal, or is it intended to stay together as one piece? I could probably finagle it out of the way while I'm removing the snap ring, but for ease of access I would prefer to have everything out of the way before attempting the snap ring.

I don't feel the assembly is adequately represented in the fsm either. Nor does the exploded view even show these dust covers.

I could stretch the neck of the dust covers over the tapered shaft of the shift lever, but it feels like I'll be tearing them. I might do that though if I can't find any other info. If it does split I suppose I'll just zip tie it together for assembly.

I'd love some advice from some of you veterans.

Thanks in advance!

-RF

need to unscrew the shifter knobs to remove the dust cover. The cover is attached to the center trim piece which is held on by a few screws in the sides.

Those shifter knobs are really on there....it'll take some oomph to unscrew them but they do come off.

Just an update on the repair...

Found my best guess at what was causing the leak. There was a washer sandwiched between the transmission housing and the control cover. The return spring was bent out of the way when whoever serviced it last reassembled it. One of the 4 bolts was missing a washer. Reinstalled and applied some RTV high temp. I'll try driving it a week and see how it does.

Pics and additional words on imgur: https://imgur.com/gallery/SAnqdox

Thank you Desert Rat for the reply, and you were right. I couldn't loosen it by hand. I ended up using a ratchet strap to wrap around the knob until only the hook was left. I used that as a lever to apply more force. If that didn't work, I could've used a cheater bar nestled into the hook, but that didn't turn out to be necessary.

There are 2 dust boot covers which was the original reason for my post. They were annoyingly in the way and removing them made life a lot easier.

Boots in question: https://imgur.com/a/7CpieEm

I managed to remove them by lubricating the necks and inverting them over the big round thingy on the shift and transfer levers.

Big necks of the shift levers in question: https://imgur.com/bKbFjB4