neutral safety switch stuck on shaft - 2015

hey - have a 2015 4cyl and the neutral safety switch is on the fritz.. decided to swap it out since its not a massive job and its been intermittent starting / giving me more trouble.

so crawl under there to take off the old one - everything is good until I went to wiggle it off the shaft....its extremely stuck. like stuck stuck. I've tried everything at this point, the little threaded tabs have since broken off, so everything is clean on it.. leverage behind it.. gently using a pry bar and some screw drivers to try and rock it back and forth. I've been soaking it in penetrating oil for a day or so, even tried to make a puller that mounted on the mounting holes to try and press it off.. nothing.

I'm not missing anything am I? anyone have any tips or tricks? I was gonna hit it with heat, but I'm running out of ideas to be honest.

 

I ran into that on a v6 4runner. I had to destroy the range sensor and basically ended up using a battery powered Sawzall to carefully cut the sensor off the shaft

It was a pain in the ass
Good luck

 

I was just thinking of how I would go about that. A Dremel might be the only thing I could fit, there's almost no room to work since they put it literally butted up against the transmission pan lip. And directly Infront of it is a hard line.

Sometimes I don't understand engineers.. and I work with them every day. Wish they kept it out of the elements a little better

 

Yea just keep cutting through the plastic sensor with the dremel until you get down to the metal. Even if you nick the shaft a little it's not the end of the world

 

That's what I was thinking, it's a solid steel shaft anyway.

Shit, I wish this was plastic. The back plate is, but the front is aluminum. Sounds like the jeep folks do the same thing. Just rip it off in pieces and buy a new one lol

 

Just go slow and easy. Get a work light up there so you can see

 

What everyone is saying above is the most common way to get the old one off .
In the past , I have even broke out the oxy/ acetelyne wrench
This happens to Fords more often than Toyotas
Use never seize after you give the lever shaft a good buff with the wire wheel .

 

Oh sheet. Mine is still working .

I do have a question though... Is there a shoulder on the shaft behind the NSS?

Would it be possible to use a deep socket that fits snug to the shaft; where hitting the socket with hit against the NSS where it slides on the shaft. If there's no shoulder holding it back, I'd think the NSS will move before the shaft and it's seals get damaged.

A good soaking of your favorite penetrant beforehand can't hurt either.

I haven't had to deal with this. However, when the shifter starts feeling stiff to move, I soak it down on both sides. I'm knocking on my head, as there's no wood around, so I don't know the details of how they interact per sé. I've read spraying the NSS loosens things up. It does. So, that's what I've been doing. Adding that to the oil change, grease the zerks routine. Probably every other time.

It's snowing. I've just finished the driveway. It's covered again. I'm not climbing underneath to get a better understanding. Lol.

 

Not really, just the case of the trans.. at least on the 4runner I did.

The NSS gets hard to move through its positions because the rust and corrosion builds up inside. You risk stretching the shifter cable if ignored for too long

If you need to replace it in the future you might get lucky and be able to pry it off with screwdrivers or a pry bar.

But of the NSS is rusty inside then usually the shaft is rusty too, and the sensor will be stuck

 

Yeah looking at room also.. I did about the max I want to with the pullet I fashioned... Basically has 2 threaded holes I used as anchors then tightened them until a piece of steel stock was up against the naked shaft. And tightened.. in theory it should have worked but I didn't wanna give it a crazy amount of torque..

The socket is interesting.. but there's not much room up there to get any leverage or momentum for a hammer. Prying is for sure the only thing.

 

Any prying that is done needs to be equal on both sides of the shaft.. as much as possible

 

the deed is done, everything but the collar around the shaft snapped off then went in with a grinder and got the collar off. Damn was that exciting! everything is back together and right with the world.

 

Glad you got the beast fixed up . I was hoping to see a few pics of the carnage

 

haha i have some non exciting pictures of it off. The fun part was adjusting it so that it didnt throw a code when it was in drive. plugged in my OBD and got it adjusted properly. what a shitty part to replace lol

Best part of this entire story is that it wasnt just the NSS that was wrong, looks like the starter was also going.. new parts for everyone!