Hi All,

I am considering adding the wood trim center piece and was curious about how to remove the **** on the gear selector. I have heard several different ways of doing this, but the main I heard was that if you put the car in drive, turn it off, and the pull up firmly, it will come off. Is this how to do it? Thanks for any advice

 

That is correct. The **** is retained in the shaft by a somewhat bell-shaped piece of plastic that goes into the shaft. It's just press fir.

 

Step one, put in drive with parking brake on
Step two, pull really hard.
Step three, enjoy a cold beer while applying ice pack to chin area after being hit when shifter handle suddenly comes off,
Step four, the rest is easy.
Step five, another beer.

I got my burl wood shifter from a 2000 5 series and the wood and everything are a perfect match. When BMW owned Land Rover some of their parts ended up on the disco, like the shifter ****.

 

I think your right. The BMW shifters look the same on eBay.
Here is one that I think would fit fine.

BMW E38 E39 E53 E46 Automatic Wood Shifter **** OEM #26

And a pricy new one.
BMW Genuine E36 3 Series 1997+ Walnut Wood Shifter NEW

 

The one I have has the wood stripe down the middle and the rest is leather wraped. You can get one from any mid to late 90's up to early to mid 2000's

 

Yeah mine comes out quite easily now that I installed the wood console. No more wearing my full face helmet hoping to avoid busting my chin off. Its a cool setup. Now to find a cool looking screw on Hi/Lo walnut **** to match.

 

Okay, so I turned the car on, put on the e brake, put it in drive, then turned the car off, and pulled hard... Nothing. Do you push the button in and pull? Do you just pull the whole thing? I was afraid I would mess something up...

 

No need to push the button, just pull straight up. I believe I actually sat on the lid of the CD case, bank receipt, pay stub, don't-know-where-to-put-it box in the center console, with my legs straddling the console, bent over, with forehead nearly on the dash. The only problem with this position is the **** nearly whacks you in the junk when it comes free.

 

Doh! Now that just sux, but it would be kinda funny to see on home video...

I know I've succeeded in whacking myself in the forehead a number of times taking this off, but I don't think I've left a mark the last couple times. Of course, I'm not sure if I've managed to get a little better at avoiding it or the repeated blows to the head are just taking their toll so I don't see the mark...

Pull harder! (Shoot some video and post it up if (when) it has comic value.)