Ls430 Gearknob Recovering

[Haylands]

Hi all

When I bought my 430 it had a worn gear knob, the wood was fine but the leather had worn badly on the top rim. If the mileage of 56,000 hadn't been backed up by a full, checked service history, and old MOT's then I would have suspected some foul play.

Looking on eBay USA though it appears that it is a common problem, there are always loads to buy but they work out about £100 delivered across the pond.

Well I couldn't stand the look of mine so I thought I would have a go at recovering it, if it didn't work, well heck I had to buy one anyway.

I did it ages ago but lost the photos of it in bits.... well I have just found them so I thought I would put them up.

So the first thing is it just unscrews from the car.... so much easier than the 400

The chrome bit on the bottom then just pulls off

You then have to get the wood bit off, I thought it may have clips, and just clip off, but no it has clips and is glued on, I got a long very thin screwdriver and kept forcing it up from the bottom of the wood piece where it is covered by the chrome ring, it took ages to force it up, you can feel it cutting through the glue. It takes quite a bit of force and you have to be careful but forceful. After a while it started to loosen at the bottom and I then kept teasing it away from the knob until it was just held on by a small piece of plastic at the side, you could see underneath it and it looked like the small piece was well stuck in... Anyway I carried on and eventually the rib of plastic broke off and luckily the wood piece came off with no damage at all to the top face. Its actually made of plastic, not wood, it may have a very thin veneer of wood but it does look like all plastic. You are then left with this

(Sorry about the quality I didn't have the auto focus turned on for some strange reason and I didn't notice till I had it finished)

You can see where the glue is on the white nylon piece at the top, the very light marks at the very top are where the screwdriver marked the nylon

This shows the underside of the wood piece, you can see the piece that broke off, the glue was up the middle between the two ridges. If you look you can see a square hole in the ridge that is intact, there was one the other side, they clipped onto the nylon bit, along with two at the top of the wood piece.

Another picture from a different position

You can see how the leather is just wrapped over the edge of the knob.

This next one shows the leather taken off, you can see where I had a go at colouring the worn bit in black but it looked terrible....

This next one shows the back of the knob, see where the leather is just stuck on around the edge

Well I used the old piece as a template and cut a new piece from a piece of scrap that came from a local upholsterers, it’s not quite the same colour as the old one but its far enough away from the dashboard (the same colour) to not look out of place.

I then stuck the new leather on with superglue, I put a very small amount around the edge where it had been before and pulled the leather tight. I then used more super glue and a large flat bladed screwdriver to force the leather over the edge and under where the wood goes, the sides are easy, the top and bottom need some finesse to get the leather to sit right.

That was about it, I stuck the piece of wood back on with just one drop of superglue so I could get it off if needed and fitted the chrome piece back on.

It’s been done about a year now and 20,000 miles and it still looks like this

Total cost about £3 all in......

Pete

[M.IQBAL]

Pete what can i say - that is work of a genius! it looks as good as new - you make this forum more interesting and informative with posts like this - i have also been reading about your newly acquired vehicle!

keep up the good work!

regards

miq

[kenmac]

Pete all I can say is,what a top job and looks fantastic.

[steve2006]

Excellent job Pete now where exactly are you in North Ferriby so I can send mine for a refurb?

[Haylands]

Pete what can i say - that is work of a genius! it looks as good as new - you make this forum more interesting and informative with posts like this - i have also been reading about your newly acquired vehicle!

keep up the good work!

regards

miq

Miq

Thanks, do you mean the slightly modified one on the Toyota forum?

Pete all I can say is,what a top job and looks fantastic.

Thanks

Excellent job Pete now where exactly are you in North Ferriby so I can send mine for a refurb?

Steve,

I can't do yours as it’s difficult to match that red ring around it.....

Seriously if anyone wants me to have a go at theirs I don't mind. I am in the process of having some leather dye made the correct colour because I'm a sad git...There is NO guaranty though, the wood bit may break... in which case it’s a new knob (sounds painful)

I'll do it for £25 plus P+P or nothing if I break it.....

PM me if you want it doing

Pete

[Hunt.trophy]

Great post, well done and thank you.

I have just hit the dreaded 100,000 miles in my 2001 LS430. My knob is still like new though. So is the rest of the car.

[Haylands]

Great post, well done and thank you.

I have just hit the dreaded 100,000 miles in my 2001 LS430. My knob is still like new though. So is the rest of the car.

Hi

Yeah it's funny mine was well worn at half that.... I can only think it's because some people drive witht their hand on the gearknob all the time..... my mate does it ALL the time, he has a manual but even on the motorway one hand is on it.....

Or is it that Lexus use cheap leather????.... I doubt that either

Pete

[JellyBean]

... some people drive witht their hand on the gearknob all the time..... my mate does it ALL the time, he has a manual but even on the motorway one hand is on it.....

Pete

Problem with resting your hand on your gearknob is that the relevant selector fork will eventually wear until the car starts jumping out of that gear, because it hasn't quite gone in properly. I speak from experience, alas.

[JellyBean]

... some people drive witht their hand on the gearknob all the time..... my mate does it ALL the time, he has a manual but even on the motorway one hand is on it.....

Pete

Problem with resting your hand on your gearknob is that the relevant selector fork will eventually wear until the car starts jumping out of that gear, because it hasn't quite gone in properly. I speak from experience, alas.

[JellyBean]

Problem with resting your hand on your gearknob in a manual car is that the relevant selector fork will eventually wear until the box starts jumping out of that gear, because it hasn't quite gone in properly. I speak from experience, alas.

[sorry everyone - my attempt at editing didn't quite go as planned.]

[DJ Wozza]

Nice work mate :)