Date: Thu, 18 May 2017 23:38:42 -0700
Reply-To: Dick Wong <sailingfc@DSLEXTREME.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dick Wong <sailingfc@DSLEXTREME.COM>
Subject: Re: Tranny end shift lever issue and fix
In-Reply-To: <A07657B8-E8D4-49D8-A833-EC2E2F6DF1B1@shaw.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
That was a nice easy fix.
Just an idea if you're making a new cup, mirror polish the bore and add a
"zerk" for grease.
-Dick-
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Alistair Bell
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2017 10:27 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Tranny end shift lever issue and fix
Hi,
Over the last couple of months I've noticed my van (86 syncro, 430,000 km)
getting harder and harder to shift into 2nd gear, both up and down shifts.
It felt like it was hitting a gate, an obstruction , not the same feeling as
baulky synchro. It would go into gear if I kept the shifter firmly towards
the left, (my knee).
It felt more like a linkage problem than a transmission internal problem.
So yesterday i decided to track it down, starting at the rear and the ball
and cup lever from the transmission. You know how the fit of the ball into
the cup can get sloppy, requiring replacements. I was thinking that might be
my problem. Getting those parts off the van I got reminded that some
previous owner had them bolted the cup part of the linkage to the horizontal
shift rod. The stock set up relies on a roll pin only, coming up from the
bottom. This bolt, m6, was horizontal thru the rod and lever. Actually the
lever had threads cut in one side so the bolt actually threaded into the
lever and also nutted.
Took things apart and cleaned. The fit of the ball in the cup wasn't that
bad. I think the diameter of the cup when new is around 30mm, and the ball
diameter about 29.5mm.
So I put it all beck together, before I tightened the added thru bolt I
noted that the roll pin didn't do much at all to fix the lever cup on the
shift rod. Wasn't very secure, could wobble around in the shift rod. But
when I tightened up the thru bolt, the assembly became solid.
Test drive and shifting back to normal. So I think the thru bolt had
loosened a little, and my reassembly had fixed that.
Oh and btw, the ball part which affixes to the splined shaft coming out of
the tranny was a good fit on the splines.
I'm happy for now with this unexpected easy fix but I think I'll make a new
cup part. I know you can by replacement stock units, or a nice aftermarket
one, but it looks like such an easy lathe project that it would be more fun
to make one. Maybe use a different material than aluminum and maybe make the
design better at holding the rubber boot.
Alistair