Date:         Thu, 24 May 2001 19:33:05 EDT
Reply-To:     JKrevnov@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Rico Sapolich <JKrevnov@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Transaxle - Movement of Gear Shifter Normal?
Comments: To: steve@syncro.org
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

In a message dated 5/24/01 1:42:54 PM, steve@SYNCRO.ORG writes:

<< I was informed over the weekend around the campfire
that it is not normal for the gearshifter to move when
you let off the gas while driving... >>

From my limited exposure to both, it seems to me that a campfire is a lot
like a courtroom: while truth may exist in either locus, it is often hard to
find.  First, to my knowledge, there are no shims on the mainshaft.
Secondly, if you look at the geometry of every component involved, it seems
it would take one hell of a lot of slop in the mainshaft to cause the shifter
to move that much.  Lastly, the engine cum transaxle moves around quite a bit
from on-throttle to trailing-throttle.

I, too, had noticeable shifting of the gearshift lever on one of my Syncro's.
 When I replaced every bit of plastic and rubber between the transaxle
selector shaft and the gearshift knob, it went away and has not been seen for
the last 47 Kmi.  Perhaps that was overkill and redoing the shift lever ball
joint would have been enough, but it was all apart anyway.  Prior to the
redo, two other symptoms I noticed were a buzzing sound from the shifter at
certain road speeds (around 60 - 70 mph) and, with the shifter in neutral,
the lever could be lifted upward about 1-2 inch without any resistance being
felt.

Rich