Shift Boot Recommendations?

sammyj5290

sammyj5290

New Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2021
Messages
7
Location
Phoenix
Hi there. I have a 1990 Jeep Wrangler YJ, 5 speed.

I live in Phoenix and, while the weather is perfect for driving around town right now, inside my Jeep with no A/C, it still gets a little toasty. Especially from the heat that seems to be coming from my shifter boot. Upon further inspection, it doesn't really seem like the boot is doing a lot to keep engine exhaust/heat from coming into the main cabin of the car.

I've been looking at Rock Auto and Quadratic but thought I'd ask in here... anyone have a solid reco for shifter boots that will keep the heat out better? Or do I need to do a better job sealing the one I currently have? Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks!
 
I just went through this exact project recently because previous owners had hacked up the shift boots and the shifter cover. It was functional, but I can't stand when there are all kinds of mixed screws and bolts going into a bunch of non-OEM hole locations drilled by years of POs and bad mechanics.

As Macho mentioned, there are two boots - the outer one you can see and an inner boot under that. From what I could tell, some of the screws holding things together pass through all the pieces - outer boot, inner boot, shifter cover, into the tub. A couple bolts just hold the boots to the shifter cover. I even think there may have been a couple screws that held the inner boot to the shifter cover and didn't pass through all the parts. My process was to buy all three pieces (my shifter cover was pretty rough), start with the shifter cover and work backwards until everything fit to my satisfaction. It looks really nice now.

One thing to consider, on some lifted YJs the shifter itself can contact the tub when using second, fourth, and reverse - mainly fourth and reverse in my case. This required trimming of both the shifter cover and tub to avoid the contact and prevent those gears from popping out when driving. The trimmed area would've had one or maybe two screws passing through it and I lost those when reinstalling everything. This means there is an area near the front of my center console where things aren't as tight as I'd usually like and I can feel air getting through. Not much, but it's noticeable if I put my hand down there.

Two other quick points - 1) I bought the OEM Mopar outer boot because it got the best reviews of all the ones I looked at. It's really nice and supple, and allows good movement of the shifter. The inner boot is aftermarket. 2) I had to do some trimming of the holes in the inner boot where the shifter and transfer case shifter pass through to make sure I could move everything freely. The holes were too narrow/tight and needed some modification. I knew this from reading reviews so it didn't bother me.

Long story short, I bet you can get some good improvement if your current set up is janky, but even after your best efforts, it may not be perfect. Good luck.
 
Hey @ChibbMD, really appreciate the thorough response here. I had no idea there was an inner and outer boot. Still pretty new to all of this.

My Jeep is lifted slightly, so I'll be sure to keep an eye out for contact like you mentioned.

This was SUPER helpful!! Thanks so much.
 
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