Prior to disassembly, I disconnected my battery and let the truck sit for 1/2 hour as you are messing around near the airbag. I didn't want any surprises. The key needs to be in the ignition. There is a small hole with a stainless button on the lower part (bottom) of the ignition housing. You can see it when you remove the lower plastic steering housing cover. Depress the button with a small screwdriver or awl while turning and pulling the ignition (key) at the same time. Everything will pop out at once. Be careful of the tiny contact and wire for the key chime. On mine the plastic insulator broke off which made my keychime sound off all the time. A small application of super glue solved that problem.

With the covers off you can see everything very well. Unplug the wires that come out of the column end of the shifter. There are 2 screws that hold the rubber that attaches to the shift lever. Remove those and then drive out the pin that hold the shift lever to the column. The new lever comes with new rubber already attached and mine included the new switch for the $49.

Reassembly is just the reverse of above. A couple of cautions though. Be careful of the key chime wire. It is pretty fragile. Also before you button everything up, work the shifter through all the positions and make sure that the wires on the new shaft don't bind or pull.

All and all this is a very easy repair that can be accopmplished with no specialty tools and no huge technical talent. Trust me I know!