knob

I recently tried to take off my hard top panels and when trying to remove the driver side panel, my knob won't back out. It was very difficult to turn which has never been the case before. After uses a pair of channel locks, I'm able to get the know to turn but it won't back out. HELP!!!

does the gear shift for a cj7 simply screw off? For both transfer case and transmission? I'm trying to replace the boot on each, but i need the knob to come off first and i don't want to break it!!! thanks