Date:         Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:29:58 -0500
Reply-To:     Allan Streib <Streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Allan Streib <Streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Subject:      Frankenshifter
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed

Dug into the gearshshifter mechanism on my '91 GL today.  You may
recall that I'm my trouble is that the shifter is sloppy and that the
reverse lockout does not work (shifter pops right over the lockout
"fence" with no downward pressure).  Adjusting the shift linkage per
the Bentley instructions resolved a good deal of the sloppiness but
not the reverse lock-out issue.

So, I thought I would take the gearshift pivot stuff apart and see
whether it looked significantly worn.  I got the gearshift lever out
and discovered -- it's a Frankenshifter.  It's been cut, and re-welded.

http://picasaweb.google.com/allanstreib/UntitledAlbum/
photo#5157279273183368114

Whoever did this did not grind the weld back down to the diameter of
the rod, so now I can't remove that lower ball half from the rod: it
won't slide up past the weld.  The other thing this weld does is
interfere with the movement of the upper spring, and also prevents
the top collar with the set screw from sliding down past that point,
so the upper spring can't be compressed more than that.

Why might this have been done?  All I can think of is that some ham
fisted PO was unable to disassemble the shifter bearing at some
point, and decided to cut the rod -- maybe he didn't know that the
shift knob unscrews?  OR, he wanted to reorient the shifter to bring
it closer to the driver.  The rod is welded back on at an angle, so
that when installed the top part of the shifter angles towards the
driver.  I can't tell from the Bentley illustrations whether this is
correct or not.

SO -- I can grind the weld back down, hope there's enough of it left
to hold the rod together, reassemble and see if the reverse lockout
problem goes away.  But does anyone know if the shifter is supposed
to be angled toward the driver?