Replacing The Actual Shift Stick????

I have a 96 Jetta diesel, my shifting sucks. It is very loose. Going into 2nd gear it often grinds and down shifting through 2nd is almost impossible. When I purchased the car it came with a new white ball and seat thingy that fits on the bottom end of the actual shifting stick inside the car and acts as the pivot point. I'm hoping that by installing this new one some of the play I am getting from the badly worn one will be gone and improve shifting.
I went to replace it yesterday and could not get the shift stick out to do so!!!???? Can some one please ginve me an idea of what I need to do to get the parts out so that I can replace them.
Thanks

If you have a 1996 diesel then you most likely have an AZZ engine. That has an 020 transmission and the linkage is known for wear. There are rebuild kits high end and stock. The 2nd gear grind might not go away if the 2nd gear syncro is shot.

http://faculty.ccp.edu/faculty/dreed/Campingart/jettatech/020shifter/index.htm
http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/ForSale/ShiftLinkage.shtml
http://eurowerks.org/showthread.php?t=11964&page=1

Parts:
http://www.germanautoparts.com/Volkswagen/Jetta/Transmission/186/3

I goofed around with the little adjuster that is attached to the gear shifter inside the car under the shifter cover and it shifted a lot better in and out of 2nd but it's still tempermental because stuff is so worn. I really just need to know HOW to take the shifter inside the car out so I can replace the bottom pivot point.
Thanks
jair

If your car is not a tdi and is a TD with engine code AZZ alls you need to do is spend a a few minutes searching google. Search for 020 shifter information like I did after seeing your question originally.