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Date:         Fri, 20 Nov 1998 13:20:55 EST
Reply-To:     Jwilli941@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Todd Hill <Jwilli941@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: David Bogel's 3rd Gear Grind
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

David writes:

<< My '87 syncro westy, when cold, is hard to shift from 1 to 2. When it goes into 3rd gear it grinds a little. Once it warms up it feels fine, but I've only driven one, this, vanagon. >>

Sorry to say but I would agree with the diagnosis of a bad 3rd/4th hub simply due to past experience. The difficulty you are having with 1st/2nd could be several things but most probably is the pin for that fork beginning to stretch. Eventually it will snap and you will not be able to engage those gears at all. VW seemed to do a good job in both the updated design for the 3rd/4th hub and 1st/2nd shift fork. I always use this new hub for 3rd/4th and either will replace the 1st/2nd fork with a new part or, if it is not excessively worn, will modify the pin to match the upgraded part from VW.

How long do you have until its time to rip and tear? Hard to say. The last 2WD 091-1 box I did was because the 1st/2nd pin broke. Once in the gearbox I noticed that the clutch hub for 3rd/4th was cracked all the way around but the owner did not notice any problems shifting! You might be able to drive the Van for years like this with only a minor cold weather annoyance, however, it might break on you the next time you down- shift into 1st. What you could try is draining the oil and refilling with a good synthetic GL4 rated gear oil. VW recommends going with this type of oil due to shifting problems when cold and its alot cheaper than a rebuild if it works! If it doesn't help then you are no worse off than before and should be able to salvage the new gear oil to put in the rebuilt transaxle that you'll need.

I do not have any of these gearboxes built at the present time and usually only rebuild the customer's transaxle and ship back to them as these can be very expensive to do. If you decide that it is time for a rebuild then feel free to post me a note about it and I will be happy to submit a bid on the job. I am less expensive than some and more expensive than others but it has been my experience that you get what you pay for on these.

Good luck with the GL4 synthetic gear oil- maybe it will do the trick!

-Todd Hill VolksWerks Transaxles Olympia, WA


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