Date:         Fri, 12 Nov 2004 07:18:06 -0600
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject:      Re: shift linkage concept question
In-Reply-To:  <20041112124105.63972.qmail@web11208.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

I'm not the real deal on this but others who are will surely chime in
soon. But I have been through it recently on two vanagons.

The lateral movement of the shift lever is very important in the
vanagon setup. The lateral movement ends up putting the shifting shaft
(coming out of the side of the transmission) at precisely the right
depth for shifting into the gear pairs (1-2, 3-4 on a 4-speed). If the
depth of this shaft isn't correct within millimeters, you are shifting
into "nothing" back at the transaxle. And to guide you to do it right,
and not shift into reverse by mistake, the shift lever up front moves
around what you might call a shift gate, but it's really a box with
obstacles that you must move the end of the stick around, the effect to
the driving being that it's moving through an H-shaped gate. If the
movement through this gate doesn't match up with what should be
happening back at the transaxle as described above, the car does not
shift acceptably.

All this said, I worked with my two until I learned a lot about all the
setup, preloading of the shift shaft, etc. but after many many trips
under the car and test drives I wasn't happy with the results. I turned
both cars over to a local shop where they have racks, help and
experience, and the result is that both cars shift like they did when
new.

Jim


On Nov 12, 2004, at 6:41 AM, Michael Rule wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> rebuilt 4spd tranny in, trouble shifting into 2,4 without having done
> more than unbolt and rebuilt linkage at trannyand replacing the
> ball-joint on the relay lever (and grease the socket)... found bucket
> loads of advice to try, since Bentley pics pretty murky, altho I
> haven't read an explanation of what the Bentley's 19/22mm "adjust
> shift rod end" yet, mostly just "loosen linkage at the band clamp and
> twist the shafts slightly"... any greater explanation of that would be
> great, but my real question is...
>
> Can someone explain how a slight twist of the linkage might/will bring
> these gears back into proper shifting range?
>
> I can't seem to wrap my brain around how that would make such a
> difference, which probably mean I am making it more difficult than it
> is (or I'm lacking in coffee intake, or just plain ole dumb as
> rocks!). When I shift into 2,4 it "feels" like the linkage isn't
> pulling the tranny lever far enough foward; but clearly the linkage is
> as far forward as possible (at the tranny clamp/linkage support plate)
> altho I can't be certain the lever/shift rod on the tranny is with the
> linkage attached.
>
> Thanks!
> mike
> 84
>
>
>
>
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