Date:         Fri, 30 Sep 1994 11:09:46 EDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         cchubb@ida.org (Chris Chubb)
Subject:      re: No reverse Gear

/	BUT on a more immediate and serious note.
/Reverse is no longer one of my gear choices in my 73 bus.  I'm assuming
/this means a linkage or shift coupling problem (the tranny has been good to
/me so far.. no popping out, no grinds etc).
/	I have absolutely no experience with type of problem and have no
/idea what to look for or adjust (i did take a long look at it but didn't
/see any obvious scars).  The shifting positions did seem a little more left
/of center than before but that's the only change i can feel.
/	Any suggestions before i take it in somewhere? I'd like to
/conserve cash since i have absolutely none :)

This happened to me a while back. (Way back music begins to play...)
After getting real greasy and messed up squirming around on the ground
under the car, examining linkages and estimating how long it would take
me to drop the engine and trans, I discovered the real problem.

The shifter bracket under the gearshift up front had come a little
loose and drifted to the right about 1/16' of an inch, preventing me from getting
the extra leverage to make it into reverse. 2 minutes with a 13 mm wrench
fixed that problem. Make sure you line up the two small holes when
clamping it down. I still had to fiddle with it for a couple of days
to get the shifting real smooth, as 1/64 of movement in the plate can 
make the difference between an easy shift and a hard one. Again, it is just
under the rubber shift boot at the bottom of the stick.

Good luck.

--- Chris Chubb (cchubb@ida.org)
__________________________________________________________________________
\All opinions expressed or implied may not reflect those of the Institute \
 \for Defense Analyses, the US Government, or anyone else.                 \
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------