Date:         Sun, 31 Aug 2014 11:55:55 -0700
Reply-To:     Tom Young <tomyoung1@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Young <tomyoung1@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Air-cooled Vanagon (Westy) shifter bushing question.  A follow up.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Hi all:



I posted a couple of days ago some questions about what I thought was the
problem with my somewhat funky shifting, that being the bushing through
which the center shift rod passes.  I'm ashamed to admit that after 33 years
of continuous air-cooled Vanagon ownership and maintenance - which included
dropping the gas tank a couple of times - I never consciously looked at that
bushing or even knew it was there.    One of my questions to the group was
"where is this bushing located?" and the answer I got back was "above the
gas tank."



So, today I dove under the van to hunt this bushing  down and see if it's
really the source of the problem.  I first dropped the spare tire and
crawled up there for a look and could see nothing that looked like a
bushing.  All I could see from that end was the front side of the connection
between the first shift rod and the center shift rod.  Then I dropped the
belly pan that guards the gas-fired heater in the van and looked forward and
I THINK I'm seeing that bushing up there.  It looks to be almost smack dab
above the middle of the gas tank.  But, because I've never really "seen"
this bushing before I took some pictures located here:



https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=5589B44FA96431AE!483
<https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=5589B44FA96431AE!483&authkey=!AEO22XN
IA0a38XY&ithint=folder%2c> &authkey=!AEO22XNIA0a38XY&ithint=folder%2c



and I wonder if someone could take a look at these pictures and tell me



1)      Am I looking at the bushing in question?  It seems to me that I am
as I see some "polishing" on the shift rod, indicating the shift rod is
moving back and forth through what I take to be the bushing

2)      Does the bushing look OK?  I've seen some pictures of this bushing -
removed from the vehicle - where the bushing  looked pretty deteriorated,
and what I'm seeing looks to be in good shape.



If you click on any of the three pictures they'll expand to a larger size.



If the answers to the two questions are "Yes" and "Yes" I'll be greatly
relieved.



TIA.



Tom Young