Wow. I had a nice two write up explaining this, then the forum deleted all of it when I went to upload the picture. So....here’s a picture of the OEM lower boot vs the lower boot from the Dorman kit on Amazon.

This is on my 1994.

The Dorman is not a tight seal and it’s super short.

 

 

Thanks.

 

Huh? Where is the Dorman not tight, and how is it short?

 

The two are side by side in the first picture.
It's pretty clear how much shorter the Dorman one is.



as for where it's not tight, by the looks of it the Dorman one tries to seal against the straight shaft section instead of the bulge up top that the OEM one seals against (which is exactly why the bulge is there)

 

Yep ^^^

There is a visible separation between the shaft and the seal if you look down over it.

Maybe the Dorman fits the NB shifter designs better? I have never owned an NB, so I don’t know if it’s the same shifter or not. The parts listing said it fits 90-05.

 

Ah I see. OP failed to identify which boot was which in his photos. Apologies for not reading far enough into your post to figure it out on my own.

 

Zip tie for the win. . .

 

On the NB's it's a non issue. I've run one with the rubber trimmed
And there is no splash creating a leak.

 

!!!THE SHORT ONE IS THE DORMAN!!!

is that better?

 

I am using the dorman piece with a zip tie around it.
and a ebay manzo short shifter .
and a new OEM lower rubber cover plate.

Works great. super shifts. short and solid.

 

Good suggestion to use a zip tie. Maybe too soon to tell, but did you experience any issues with the zip tie distorting the rubber when you tightened it or the edges eating into the rubber over time? Thanks for the insight.

 

I would use heat shrink or gates heat shrink hose clamps. Seal best, and look best. IMO