Any tips before I install TRD short shift kit? Instructions with kit are brief and cable clips look difficult to remove.

 

Those cable clips suck. Took me 20 minutes to get them out and there's no "trick" to getting them out. If you get desperate you could destroy them and just use cable ties. Otherwise it's a simple install.

 

the way I get them off ( did both the TRD SSK and just did a clutch flywheel swap) i

1. remove air box
2. get a large pair of vice grips
3. lock vice grips on the the flange that points to the drivers side fender
4. rotate the vice grips towards the firewall
5. remove

 

OP:

You know, it's odd this should come up as I was just reading a long-term
"wrap-up" authored by 'Road & Track' (a magazine I once subscribed to for 30+ years) ...

[http://mobilez.roadandtrack.com/test...2008-scion-xb]

... and they make the following comment about the TRD short-throw shifter:

"The TRD quick shifter, on the other hand, trades marginally shorter throws for notchy vagueness — a part we wouldn't bother installing if it were free."

This really perplexes me because I regard the part as giving the most "bang per buck" of any accessory I've installed on my xB to date.

I bring this up not to foster any misgivings about the TRD SSK, but rather to speculate that a poor installation will give poor operation (although I don't see how).

Anyway, I realize this is sorta off-topic. Sorry. For the record, I second the motion that those cable clips suck. Anyway, I certainly had trouble:

1. Disconnect the transmission cable ends from
the gear shift linkages on the transmission.
(Fig. D1)
i. Remove factory transmission cable clips
and save for re-use. (Fig.D1)
ii. Remove transmission cable ends from
transmission linkages and set cable ends
aside. (Fig. D1)
2. Remove U-clip from shift cable bracket.
(Fig. D1)

[http://trdsparks.com/install/PTR46-52080inst.pdf]

 

Wow, I've had a subscription to Autoweek for 40 yrs and think the writer's know what they are talking about. Maybe not. Just looking for a fix for the horrible 1st to 2nd gear shifts. NST bushings did little, MT90 tranny fluid same. Didn't think about the vise grip idea for the clips. Thanks!

 

Vice Grips were the only way I could get those @#$$%# things out.
there's not a lot of room to work in there