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Tue Jun 21, 2016 12:07 pm

Hi.

My transmission is stuck in the granny gear. (2wd Diesel Trans, basically the same as a synchro but without the nose cone. 4 speed with a granny gear)

The linkage is now disconnect and the shift lever on the side of the transmission is stuck with no play in any direction. I can not get it out of the crawling gear. It still drives in this gear and makes no noise when driver, or when I first shifted into this gear.

Called AA Transaxle and talked to the lady. She said it will have to come apart. The transmission was rebuilt 2 -3 years ago by AA Transaxle with less than 20K kilometres on it.

Any other suggestion before I drop the transmission again.

Thanks!

Tue Jun 21, 2016 2:21 pm

Herman talks about an issue with the G/R synchro assembly "pins", which he attributed to his TDI engine.

http://vanagonsyncroproject-herman.blogspot.ca

Tue Jun 21, 2016 3:41 pm

That could be a potential issue. I guess I will find out when my tranny comes apart again.

Anyone else had this problem?

Wed Jun 22, 2016 2:36 am

Broken old (overused) synchronizers on 5-g or syncro gearboxes is a known issue. Nothing to do with the force of the engine, just how often you use the R-1(G) gear.
Broken metal springs or rivets.

No need to take it all apart for changing the synchronizer, but sure there are metal parts all over inside, so you need to take it l apart to clean it.

Wed Jun 22, 2016 1:08 pm

All the synchronizers should be pretty new as it was rebuilt less than 20 000 km ago.

I won't be dissembling the tranny. I will let Daryl or Matt do that.

Thu Jun 23, 2016 6:31 am

the low gear can get hot and gauld to the hub or shaft. usually from not enough end play on the gear. pretty easy to access right in the nose cone. But if its warranty then let them fix it . if its not warrantied shouldn't bee to hard to fix your self.

Thu Jun 23, 2016 10:25 pm

Its probably not warranty any more. Just realized its almost 3 years since the rebuild. The warranty is only for 2 years.

I know how to take the nose cone off, but would not really know what to do after that. If its not enough play, how would I measure that and how would I fix it?

Fri Jun 24, 2016 2:12 am

I dont think its a question of low play between G-bearing.
This happens only if the main bearing is overused.

I also dont think, the rebuilder changed the G-R synchronizer for new if it looked ok.
While the other 4 synchronizers are about 20€, the G-R is 180€.

Genaraly, if you want to save the G-R synchronizer (which are mostly 25 years old) try to avoid to use the R-G(1st gear.
Park if possible so you can start without using R.
Using a 5-G gearbox in a 2wd it is mostly easy to start in 2nd.

Fri Jun 24, 2016 8:56 am

Thanks for the advise Waldi. I do mainly start in 2nd but does add some extra wear to the clutch though. I also had the R&P swapped from 4.83 to 4.57 to drop the revs. I start in G on hills.
I am considering swathing back to the 4.83 and swapping 5th for the .77 which would give the same revs as my set up. But then 4th would be revving too high for my liking, and I don't think there is a taller gear for 4th to match my current set up.

I will hopefully get around to dropping the tranny next week and can post what the issue is for why its stuck.

Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:20 pm

I took the tranny down to AA Transaxle and it was fixed on the spot! Such great service from Matt!

So the issue was indeed the G/R synchro. The pins broke and the syncro came apart causing it to jam in the G gear.

Matt removed the synchro so that it won't happen again. This means I have to get used to making clean shifts into G and R and working on my double clutching. If the syncro was replaced, the same issue would likely arise again and perhaps well down a FSR somewhere well away from cell service.

I have some photos I was going to post of the syncro, but apparently I can only post from uploaded photos to the web.

Thanks for all the advise!

Sat Jul 08, 2017 10:05 am

The broken synchro.

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