# Heated shift knob help



## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

So I got this sucker:








It's a big cold sob in the mornings. I'm tired of getting frost bite on my hand. Any ideas?


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (GodSquadMandrake)*

This is the best I could come up with. Maybe wrap this around the shift rod under the boot and tap it into the cigarette lighter power, install rocker switch in one of the switch blanks pictured above. 
http://www.newenoughhp.com/acc....html


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## jhines_06gli (Feb 3, 2006)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (GodSquadMandrake)*

I HEAR YA!!! I have this as well and it's a killer in 15* weather!! Dealt with it last winter and gonna do it again this winter I guess. I took a quilted hacky-sack and cut a slit in the bottom of it and threw all beads away. Then made slit large enough to slide over the shifter and leave that one at night and into next morning going to work......helps, but would be nice to come up with a heater that is safe and works effectively instead of having a cover.
Gonna have the wife make me a VW cover to go over it hopefully








-J. Hines


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## jhines_06gli (Feb 3, 2006)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (jhines_06gli)*

Would be nice to find some smaller heating grids so that it would not roll over itself 10 times. Wonder if a small heating element wire could be found and wrapped around the shifter shaft? Anything to cut the chill off in 10 minutes or so would be AWESOME!! Let me know what you come up with and I'll keep looking as well
-J. Hines


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (jhines_06gli)*

I found the perfect heater at at ATV store:








Symtec thumb warmer for thumb throttle ATV's. The heater pad is small enough that it fits on the base of the Forge knob. The switch is the perfect size to install in one of the shift blanks on the center console in front of the shifter. Just wired it into the back of the cigarette lighter. It has two positions, high and low. 
It works! Yesterday my shifter was very warm and comfy. It took a couple minutes to get there, but wow that's luxury! Today when I started my car it wasn't really working though. I had it on for half an hour and it still didn't get as warm as last time. I don't know if something burned out, came disconnected, or maybe it just doesn't work as well when it's really cold. Yesterday I started the car in the garage so the knob started at 70 degrees, but today it was like 0 degrees. So I'm going to have to do a little more testing to find out if it's just not enough heat power, or if I broke it. It's squished between the knob, shift boot, and knob base so maybe I killed it when I screwed the knob on.


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (GodSquadMandrake)*

Oh and the kit I bought doesn't have a toggle, it's a black plastic rocker switch. Much nicer looking.
Kind of like this with center off, top high, bottom low:


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## jhines_06gli (Feb 3, 2006)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (GodSquadMandrake)*

yea......just let me know what you find out. Would be very interested in something similar to this for winter, or may end up swapping knobs out for winter.....but don't really want to cause I like the weight of Forge knob.
-J. Hines


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (jhines_06gli)*

This heated shift knob is wonderful!!!! 
It saved my life today! 







Well actually what happened is I broke my plastic belly pan during an excursion on a frozen pond which ended with the union of a large chunk of ice and my bellypan. So in the middle of trying to fix that with the clever use of zip ties my fingers got wet and cold. That's when the heated big knob came to the rescue. Wrapping my fingers around that big hot knob warmed them up in no time! 
bellypan 0
warm big knob 1
I think what happened earlier today was I had it switched off or on low or something. It was certainly working the rest of the day. Yeah it takes a couple minutes to warm up, probably about the same time the engine takes to warm up, but it's never cold like it used to be. 
Everybody buy the symtec thumb warmer now! You never know, it might save your fingers!


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## jhines_06gli (Feb 3, 2006)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (GodSquadMandrake)*

thanks for the input......think I'll make a stop by the cycle shop sometime this week and pick one up. Like $30?
-J. Hines


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## jhines_06gli (Feb 3, 2006)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (jhines_06gli)*

So you just put the heating element at the base of the knob? Or up inside the knob? Or on the shaft? Looks pretty small, so you could put it about anywhere needed. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif 
-J. Hines


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (jhines_06gli)*

Yes it was $30. The instructions say not to cut or "needlessly" bend the heating element so I tried to put it in the spot which required the least bending. So it's just on the base of the shifter, the part that the shifter threads on to.


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## jhines_06gli (Feb 3, 2006)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (GodSquadMandrake)*

Yea......guess it's one of those "Seeing is believing" things......I'll have to get the warmer and then figure out how to make it work best...lol
-J. Hines


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (jhines_06gli)*

I wish I could put the pictures up but my web hosting is down right now.


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## ejg3855 (Sep 23, 2004)

picutes?


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## rabriolet (May 27, 2005)

i just wear gloves


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## jhines_06gli (Feb 3, 2006)

*Re: (rabriolet)*


_Quote, originally posted by *rabriolet* »_i just wear gloves








...but even with gloves, this knob is COLD!!! Plus, just another mod....lol
My only issue is that we have no snowmobiles down here and the 4-wheeler place carries them for motorcycles, but not the thumb-throttle heaters that are perfect size







Would rather not have to pay shipping, but guess I may have to
-J. Hines


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## where_2 (Jul 21, 2003)

*Re: (jhines_06gli)*

a spool of nicrome wire and +12v is all you need. 
Make your own heated socks, mittens, jackets, gloves, car seats... The projects are endless... Google it if you think I'm kidding.


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: (where_2)*


_Quote, originally posted by *where_2* »_a spool of nicrome wire and +12v is all you need. 
Make your own heated socks, mittens, jackets, gloves, car seats... The projects are endless... Google it if you think I'm kidding. 

Yeah but you have to insulate the wire right?


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## SailorFitz (Dec 30, 2009)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (GodSquadMandrake)*


_Quote, originally posted by *GodSquadMandrake* »_So I got this sucker:








It's a big cold sob in the mornings. I'm tired of getting frost bite on my hand. Any ideas? 

Gloves?








j/k







...good luck with the MOD


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## where_2 (Jul 21, 2003)

*Re: (GodSquadMandrake)*


_Quote, originally posted by *GodSquadMandrake* »_Yeah but you have to insulate the wire right?

For this application, I would buy the spool of nichrome wire with the teflon insulation, like the stuff VW/Audi used in the Mk2/Mk3 seat heaters. The length of the wire controls the resistance of it. It helps if you understand the concepts of voltage, current, and resistance as they apply to a simple DC circuit. It was that thing called "Ohm's Law" in that physics class you thought you'd never use again.


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: (where_2)*


_Quote, originally posted by *where_2* »_
For this application, I would buy the spool of nichrome wire with the teflon insulation, like the stuff VW/Audi used in the Mk2/Mk3 seat heaters. The length of the wire controls the resistance of it. It helps if you understand the concepts of voltage, current, and resistance as they apply to a simple DC circuit. It was that thing called "Ohm's Law" in that physics class you thought you'd never use again.









Oh I didn't know you could get it with insulation. Yeah nichrome wire would probably be better for this application because you could wrap it around inside the knob or on the shifter rod. Oh well too late now I guess.
Now here's your next assignment. How do I make my steering wheel heated?
I never took physics class. Basically dropped out in 9th grade but somehow still got into a community college. So when they ask for my high school diploma I show them the college one instead







But they don't teach physics at a community college either and I failed the math classes. Electricity kicks my ass. Every time I have to read a wiring diagram it takes me like 2 hours. The only way I was able to build a megasquirt ECU is because the directions are so good.


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## ejg3855 (Sep 23, 2004)

*Re: (where_2)*


_Quote, originally posted by *where_2* »_
For this application, I would buy the spool of nichrome wire with the teflon insulation, like the stuff VW/Audi used in the Mk2/Mk3 seat heaters. The length of the wire controls the resistance of it. It helps if you understand the concepts of voltage, current, and resistance as they apply to a simple DC circuit. It was that thing called "Ohm's Law" in that physics class you thought you'd never use again.










from reading to get reasonable temps (low) you need in excess of 30" of wire this seems like it would be hard to conceal in the shifter. 
Also where can one acquire such wire ?


_Modified by ejg3855 at 9:51 PM 1-13-2010_


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: (ejg3855)*


_Quote, originally posted by *ejg3855* »_

from reading to get reasonable temps (low) you need in excess of 30" of wire this seems like it would be hard to conceal in the shifter. 

There are no reasonable temps in Alaska. Someone hit a moose on the highway and the chunks instantly turned to ice and froze to the road. There's nothing like running over frozen 3 dimensional moose gore








I'm guessing you could run a resistor in the switch and have like a hi/low setting.


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## 5i1verbu11et (Nov 4, 2009)

*Re: (GodSquadMandrake)*


_Quote, originally posted by *GodSquadMandrake* »_
Now here's your next assignment. How do I make my steering wheel heated?


My mother in-laws BMW 5 series has a factory heated steering wheel. I like to borrow her car on a cold morning.
You could always recover your steering wheel but first wrap the wheel with that wire mentioned before.


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## SixSpeedOnly (Dec 31, 2009)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (GodSquadMandrake)*

when i lived in arizona i had the opposite problem with the shift knob being way too hot. what i did was take off the shift knob when i went to class and just reinstalled it on the drive home. it was just necessary, i didnt want B&M branded on my hand.


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## GodSquadMandrake (Feb 17, 2004)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (SixSpeedOnly)*


_Quote, originally posted by *SixSpeedOnly* »_when i lived in arizona i had the opposite problem with the shift knob being way too hot. what i did was take off the shift knob when i went to class and just reinstalled it on the drive home. it was just necessary, i didnt want B&M branded on my hand.









I'v eheard of people taking off the steering wheel but not the shift knob


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## EuroDub09 (Jun 19, 2009)

*Re: Heated shift knob help (GodSquadMandrake)*

put a sock in the microwave before getting into car.. and then put the toasty warm sock over the knob. waaa laaa


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