Bending B&M shift handle

jwilkinson01

TJ Enthusiast
Original poster
Supporting Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2016
Messages
348
Location
Aurora, CO
Since I installed my tummy tuck my shift knob hits the buttons on the switch panel in my center dash. I want to see if I can increase the existing bend but don’t want to screw anything up because it’s stainless. Some places I read said to heat it, others said not to heat it. I know we have some seriously smart people on here, how do I bend it the right way?
 
Heat will be the easiest way to do it, and it’s 303 stainless, which is austenitic. Austenitic steels cannot be hardened by heat treatment, so using heat to bend it won’t make it weaker.
 
I bent my B&M shifter on a bench vise using those plastic jaw protectors. I put a rubber hose on it to protect its shaft and used a cheater pipe to bend it about 3" away from the dash. Turned out good.
I'm looking for another B&M short throw shifter (for a NV3550) for my new to me '03 TJ that I acquired from my SIL a couple of months ago.

Anyone got one for sale?
I'll pay a reasonable price for one but not a stupid covid based price.
 
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Got it bent this morning. Thanks everyone. The hard part was finding something to hold it steady. I pulled my bench vice off my bench when I tried to use that. Ended up putting it through a hole in a shackle mount on my soon to be old bumper.

Now it looks like I am going to have to move the transmission tunnel cover a couple of inches so the shift tower lines up with the hole and dust cover:
IMG_2996.jpeg
 
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