Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 08:24:07 -0700
Reply-To: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stephen Grisanti <bike2vcu@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Tranny musings (or, getting stuck on my lawn)
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuJcg6nsLKGMPAgyx5eNxUXUcFMnqt7bWKNQG5cjvO0jkQ@mail.gmail.com>
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Regarding the lack of LSD on a given Vanagon, it has been suggested often here that you can improve your traction on slippery surfaces by applying a little of the emergency brake to help cut wheelspin on the spinning wheel. I have not had occasion to try this myself.
Stephen
On Thursday, August 28, 2014 10:13 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
I was just under my 84 5sp/inline powered Van last night, adding gear oil
and checking things out.
In my opinion, the 5sp manual tranny is an excellent unit in a
Vanagon...The gear spacing adds a lot of driveability, it seems, when
compared to what is written about 4sp manual or automatic Vanagons.
I find my very low first gear (essentially a granny gear) handy for
off-road or very steep situations and some help with the very poor traction
that Vanagons seem to have.
I usually skip using my first gear in every-day driving, except when
stopped on an uphill or on ice, snow or sand..
.The spacing between the upper gears allows me to keep my highway momentum
when I hit a long steep grade, by timely downshifting from 5th to 4th as my
speed drops through around 65mph. This brings my inline motor's rpms to a
comfortable 4000 rpms (the upper limit that I choose for sustained high
loads)...I rarely have to use my 3rd gear on hills, only when traffic or
tight curves are encountered, and then I can quickly get right back up to
55mph and ~4000 rpms in ,4th and hold that, comfortably at less than full
throttle....
The Net-rap on the 5sp is that it is "weaker"....Mine has shown no signs
of weakness and I've driven a lot of very tough miles with heavy loading
and very rough terrain.(eg. 7 times down Hwy 395..Portland to San Diego
with a weighed 4900lb vehicle) .I did, when I first bought the van with
the 5sp already installed, re-furbish all the shift linkages using a kit
from one of our fine list vendors.... It's still, after 60k of my miles, a
real pleasure to shift and drive. I will, however, soon be replacing an
axle oil seal..mine has recently begun slowly leaking my expensive Swepco
gear oil.
I am also looking into some type of traction enhancing differential.
If and when I do have to do major service on my transmission I will most
assuredly include something to enhance the very poor traction these
vanagons have. Some will chime in and say..."heck, mine has Great
traction"...but over the past few years, here on the list, getting stuck on
grass has been mentioned numerous times....THAT is poor traction..... I'd
be happy with a 'locker' like a Syncro, but syncro parts are way out of my
price range and rare.
Once moving, I can usually 'drive around' the crappy traction I have, but
when someone gets stuck in front of me or there's a long deep snow climb
(like my driveway sometimes), forget it! I also find my campsite
selection often is limited by my need to be conservative with the vanagon,
to not get stuck... When that perfect (or empty) camp site is down in a
depression, or perhaps on dirt with later predicted rain...maybe on a
deserted beach somewhere....I have to pass on these, often negating the
advantage a Vanagon has, being smaller and lighter, over real RVs and
camping vans...
I've had experience with various limited slip solutions on other vehicles
but not vanagons. They do work amazingly well. Not a substitute for 4wd
but good enough for a prudent driver to get through reasonable low traction
situations without chaining up. For my application, I think I'll be
looking at modifying my own transaxle to make it lock, hopefully with some
type of mechanical cable device activating the locking mechanism. Then
when I do get into a sticky situation I can lock the diff and get out or
through, then go back to your basic one wheel drive...
On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 8:19 PM, Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote:
> All,
>
> While I have not had time to fully hunt down the "new" surging idle issue
> on the Hyena ('88 2.1l WBX Westy), I am slowly working through all the
> suggestions given here last week and employing a copy of the Digifant Pro
> manual.
>
> Dennis raised the possibility of the 3/4 slider is moving with input shaft
> as the cause of my shifter moving with throttle change. I have since
> inspected and checked the torque on the engine and tranny mounts and all
> seem within spec. I have also confirmed that I do not get this movement in
> first or second gear. Short of dropping the tranny, what other diagnostic
> tests can be used to confirm/refute Dennis' rather expensive hypothesis?
>
> Assuming Dennis is correct, I have the opportunity to acquire an ACW
> tranny from a '91 with only 125K on it. I was thinking about updating that
> one then swapping out my current transmission {I also have a line on a
> 5-spd ASR transmission, but it has a diesel bell housing and would require
> finding a 5-spd linkage. However it does have a 40% LSD. It is also
> significantly more money).
>
> One thing I have notice in my short time as a Vanagon owner is the Hyena
> gets stuck much more easily than the '66 Westy. I actually had to use the
> TDi Jetta to pull the Vanagon out of the wilderness that is our lawn the
> other day. You would think such an undignified event would have shamed the
> Hyena {or at least its owner} into not parking on wet surfaces, but less
> than days later a similar event occurred climbing out a drive at a friends
> cottage. I have started investigating adding a limited slip or torque
> biasing differential to the tranny when rebuilt, but the projected cost is
> not encouraging .... I have only found one or two offerings (and suspect
> they may both be manufactured by the same provider) and the cost is more
> than what I would pay for the tranny itself.
>
> Could someone with experience with a TBD/LSD weigh in on whether it is
> really worth the cost? Are their providers other than peloquin? What
> impact on my already pathetic fuel efficiency would it have?
>
> Roy
>
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