Cadillac: dissassembling or replacing shifter handle ('92 Eldorado)

The shifter handle on our 1992 Eldorado is regularly dropping the spring
and lever, as well as the little button that drops them.

I can manually actuate whatever the enabling device is called with a
finger or a thumb, though that is uncomfortable.

Possibly as a consequence of this (or possibly the cause), the top of
the handle now flops a bit upwards, hinging from the left side.

Do I need to cut the leather stiching to get at the handle, or is there
something I'm missing? At the moment, I'm not seeing an alternative
other than replacing the whole assembly

hawk