Damper assembly for shift lever mechanism

A compound shift lever mechanism employs a noise and vibration damper assembly for isolating an upper shift lever 12 from a lower shift lever 14 of a transmission. In a preferred form, the levers 12,14 are held in spaced, coaxial alignment for unitary movement in a plurality of planes by a damper 20 which comprises two parts. The first part is a cylindrical elastomeric sleeve 22 defining axially spaced female end portions comprising bores 32 which frictionally overlie and snugly encase the two lever end portions 16,18 which extend thereinto. The second part is a cylindrical metallic shell 24 which circumferentially encapsulates the elastomeric sleeve 22 which contains the respective ends 16,18, of the upper and lower levers 12,14. The shell 24 thus radially encapsulates both of the end portions 16,18, as well as the sleeve 22, which incorporates a midportion containing a radial internal barrier 36 to prevent direct physical contact between the extremities of the levers 12,14. Finally, spaced female ends 26,28 of the shell 24 are crimped radially inwardly against the female end portions of the sleeve and, in turn, against both lever end portions 16,18, to frictionally retain the end portions 16,18 in spaced, coaxial alignment.