Can't Get my 01 Shifter Cover Back in Place After Bulb Change

Can't Get my 01 Shifter Cover Back in Place After Bulb Change. It's not sliding in for me and I don't want to break it. But is there a trick to doing this that I may be missing?


I have been wanting to change the bulb in my Automatic Transmission shifter indicator on my 2001 4x4 Tacoma for a few years now!

I purchased the 74 LED Bulb - Miniature Wedge Base - from superbrightleds for this project. I am excited to install the bulb. Seems super simple enough!

I took off the shifter cover according to these instructions:



He explains how to take off the shifter cover and replace the bulb.

However I now need to put the shifter cover back in place according to the instructions but the cover doesn't seem to want to go in easily as described in the video and it being plastic I really don't want to force it back in because it could break.





Does anyone know if there is a trick to get the shifter cover back the place on the cup holder /center arm rest area where I screw it in? It's not sliding in for me and I don't want to break it.

I have predicted that actually I may need to take out the entire center arm rest / storage/ cup holder assembly FIRST which doesn't look to hard but I haven't seen any where on the web that indicates I need to do this.



Wondering if there is a trick to doing this that I may be missing. I would appreciate any guidance on how to do this correctly for this project.

Thanks

Yormosi

 

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I'm seeking guidance on the correct approach to getting the shifter cover back into place.

 

Just take out the console- there are just a two more 10mm bolts in the bottom of the lower compartment.

 

Simple enough... Does it all snap easily back in place with the console out? I didn't want to take the console out and not know that I should have known something ahead of time and make things worse for me.