TheSamba.com :: View topic - Stranded In Alaska 4th gear decided to go.

Mon Apr 21, 2025 2:52 pm

Hello Samba users,

I am currently on a a road trip from Oregon to Alaska in my so23. Bus did great going up not a single issue.

But now, sadly my bus decided to randomly start popping out of 4th pretty bad. I have checked all my linkage and made sure its fully engaging. It is :(

The transmission is new without about 8k miles on it. Seems kinda random that it would just all of a sudden loose the ability to hold 4th.

So I ask for your help. Any other things I should check? Any ideas other than internal transmission issues?

Second does any one have a transmission near anchorage? I am running a big nut center section with small nut reduction boxes.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Mon Apr 21, 2025 3:32 pm

Sounds like you need one of these:

Mon Apr 21, 2025 3:35 pm

You think i could make it home with holding it in 4t? Worried i would loose the full trans in the middle of nowhere.

Mon Apr 21, 2025 3:41 pm

Years ago I drove my 66 microbus that wouldn't stay in 4th gear from central MS to Gainesville FLA and back with a Bungie cord around the shifter the other end anchored to the middle seat mounting bracket in the floor of the cargo area. Worked fine. Give it a try.

Mon Apr 21, 2025 6:01 pm

Check that the transmission mounts are still tight and not cracked thru.

Might try sliding the shifter base a little forward and see if that helps to get the linkage that extra reach to really get the gearing to snap into place fully.

While you could use a bungee to pull the shifter to the rear, that will wear the brass slider parts in the transaxle. So best to try to limit using the bungee usage as much as possible.

Mon Apr 21, 2025 6:34 pm

Does it pop out of 4th accelerating or decelerating or both equally?

Mon Apr 21, 2025 6:51 pm

Have checked transmission mounts they are good. Have played around each way with the linkage no change.

It pops out the second I put into 4th. Seems to pop out more on acceleration.

It all started yesterday. It popped out once and since then it barley held 4th before that 8k miles not one issue.

It hold with the bungee. My worry is i have over 3k miles to get home. I dont want to strand myself in the middle of nowhere. Is it likely the bungee will hold this long?

Mon Apr 21, 2025 7:50 pm

3000 miles is a lot with no fourth gear. I had a bus I drove from Houston to Austin 16 years ago and maybe 30miles into the 200ish mile trip it started popping out of fourth. I was able to hold it in gear for another 100ish miles. By that point it wouldn’t hold at all. I also developed low compression in that time and ultimately spun a rod bearing too about 30miles from town. My vote would be you won’t make 3000mi with a functional 4th. Can you limp it home slowly in 3rd? Maybe.

Who built the transmission? What do they suggest you do?

Mon Apr 21, 2025 9:17 pm

I have had a couple start popping out of fourth. One gave me a couple warning pop outs on the way to Los Angeles, and really started popping in LA. I bungied it in for a few hundred miles, manually held it in for a couple hundred more, but about fifty miles short of Redding, it was absolutely impossible to hold it in gear.

I haven't heard of one ever getting better once it starts popping out of gear. It is time for a new center section inside the next few hundred miles.

Mon Apr 21, 2025 9:24 pm

Thanks for all the replies. For sure thinking I need to get a new center section before making the trek down.

If anyone knows a good lead to source in AK that would be great.

I will be calling culmination motors tomorrow.

If not might have to have one freighted up here.

Luckily im at a buddies house with a safe place to park the bus.

Thought the motor would blow far before the transmission. But here we are. On a positive note. The drive up to AK is absolutely stunning. Behind the wheel of a bus is a tru dream. Will share the film photos from the trip when I return.

Tue Apr 22, 2025 12:25 am

Use a bungee cord as long as possible. Then cut a 2x4 the exact length with a “V” slot cut in each end. Wedge between the heater duct and shifter.
Back in the early 70’s, I bought a 1962 rusty green panel bus that wouldn’t start for $35 across the street from Doheney State park in Dana Point Ca. It had Missouri plates on it, and the guys I bought it from told me that they drove it all the way from Wisconsin in third gear after the 2x4 no longer worked. They said top speed was 35-37mph. Mind you, this was before the Interstate Freeway system was in place. It must have been quite a journey

Tue Apr 22, 2025 12:06 pm

I used a bungee cord to hold mine in 4th gear for quite a while.... 1x cross country trip from FL to CA and back.... and several trips from FL to NC and back.... some transmissions let you use a bungee... others will not stay in gear no matter what. The transmission never gave out all the way.... I just finally replaced it because I was tired of dealing with the bungee after 5-6 years.

Tue Apr 22, 2025 1:02 pm

That is an epic trip you are having- sorry to hear about trans woes. I too had the same thing happen to me on a multi thousand mile trip a few years and started losing 4th. It would pop up when accelerating up hills. I was able to limp home the last 400 or so miles with bungee cord "fix". Trans will get worse with time and where it decides to finally pack it in is anybody's guess, however Murphy's law will apply.

I don't know Frontier Finds- personally but he is selling a lot of stuff- perhaps he has a 'good" trans?? Option B I guess is chill at your friends place and order a good trans. 8k on "rebuilt" trans sure seems lame in my books

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2735689

Also take heart with other fellow Alaska travelers. Necessity is the mother of invention

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=596474&highlight=

Tue Apr 22, 2025 1:10 pm

Thanks for replies. I have reached out to Nate (frontier finds). Stopped by his place, super nice dude. He has some random unknown transmissions, big roll of the dice.

I am for sure bummed the rebuild let go so early. Not sure really what happened. It went from 0 to 100 quick. No slow build. I thought the transmission would be the last thing to go.

Anyway waiting to hear back from Culmination. I have a buddy with a Benco on standby. Might just have him ship it up.

With how bad its popping out. Literally wont stay in with out holding it in, no matter what speed. I think I would be unwise to try to risk it home.

Tue Apr 22, 2025 1:39 pm

Also a couple of iphone photos from the journey.

Tue Apr 22, 2025 2:28 pm

awesome pics!

Ya, check the shift linkage, adjusting it at the front floor doesn't help?

make sure your shift linkage square headed bolts are not backing out. snugged and wired so they don''t loosen up is what you want.

On a road trip one bus lost fourth on the way back from the Moxee show. Drove from north of Stonehenge on the Columbia near Maryhill (which has a great museum) back to Sonoma county in 3rd gear.

Get a bungee cord? Play the tranny lottery? Get another rebuild center section shipped?

Tue Apr 22, 2025 5:09 pm

Thinking......
Option to the bungee.....
4th gear position on the shifter pulls the shift select rod forward....
Maybe a little more forward throw is needed..

How about a thick washer between the 2 engine mounting horns (the 2 BIG bolts) and the engine mounting cradle, and the same thickness washers at the front transmission mount, effectively moving the entire engine and transmission backwards by the thickness of the washers. Just might be just enough and easy to try.

Good Luck!

Tue Apr 22, 2025 6:42 pm

My '67 Westy original transmission popped out of 4th accelerating. Put a bungee on it. It was like that for a long time. Just became natural to hook the bungee after shifting into 4th.

What has most likely happened is the pressed on hub that the 3-4 slider cogs with has come loose. People weld the 3-4 hubs to prevent this. I'd say try the bungee and see how hard you can treat it around town.

Physically what the bungee does is uses the dogleg shift lever to hold the steel shift forks onto the groove that they ride in to select the gear.

Last thing I can say is a VW transaxle can go all day long in any gear without adverse effects as all the shafts are bearing held. Unlike a Laygear or Clustergear tranny that needs to go "straight through" for final drive.

I feel your anxiety and reticense but you will still have 3rd gear.

Tue Apr 22, 2025 11:23 pm

on my my from Vienna/Austria to Gibraltar/Spain (1600 miles) fourth stared to pop out in southern France. cut a broomstick to hold it in, on the way back it got worse and worse, popping out more and more, even with the broomstick. left the bus in Avignon, had insurance tow it back and take the train home

Wed Apr 23, 2025 4:10 am

yeah, holding in 4th with bungee is more like hundreds of miles not thousands IMO.

on another note, why are those photos like that ? is this film ? some sort of hipster photo filter ?