TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue May 14, 2024 5:29 am

I've read through many many threads on shifting, but I'm still having trouble identifying why I'm having trouble shifting smoothly into gears. I can still for the most part do it, but I have to push all the way down on the clutch pedal and then move the shifter slowly. It will initially meet some resistant, but after a brief pause the resistance will give way and it will shift into gear. It feels like the time element of holding down is more important than the depth of the push. It just happens that pushing all the way down helps to extend the time of the shifting action.

Now if I don't do that it will still shift, but I get a bit of a clunking noise and I end up pushing into the resistance rather than having a smooth shift. It never grinds in the forward gears nor pops out of gear.

I've done the following:

- Fixed the front bushing so it is free of play (had wallowed out a nice oval shape)
- Replaced the gear oil (old oil had 40k miles on it and looked pretty bad)
- Adjusted the stop plate multiple times (tried multiple stop plates)
- New clutch

40k miles ago it was overhauled by Rancho Transaxle in Fullerton. At the same time the bushings all the bushings and the shift coupler were replaced. I haven't been able to check the shuttlecock ones yet, but I don't have any noticeable rod play when gripping the rod from underneath and moving it side to side. The shift couple was the red silicon one and is looking great.

I do have some play still between the shifter pin and 6mm notch on the bowl. Current gap is roughly .4 mm of play at the pin caused by light pin wear and loose tolerances of the aftermarket front shift rod. I'm working on fixing this, but the replacement part that I was able to get has the same loose tolerances. The rest of the shift rod looks in great shape. I'm guessing this won't fix the issue, however, as it was more or less the same when I installed the rebuilt transmission 40k miles ago and it shifted great back then.

All that said, any thoughts on how serious an issue I might be facing up? I feel like I've mostly covered the more obvious stuff.

Thanks!

K

Edit: Here is a video of the shift rod moving through the gears 1-4 and the noise that it makes when not shifting smoothly.

Tue May 14, 2024 7:16 am

the pilot bearing may be failing. Make sure you adjust your clutch freeplay properly at the pedal up front.

Tue May 14, 2024 7:22 am

Thanks Steve! Should have had that added to what has been done. I adjusted the freeplay using your video as guide and set it to 3/4”.

In a previous post from 2010 you mention pilot bearing is mostly an issue only with a running bus. If that is the case this seems to be the same not running and not.

Tue May 14, 2024 12:25 pm

Can you video your clutch arm on the side of the transaxle while you show free play, then push the clutch in and out all the way?

Gear engagement detent pins and balls need smooth/polished surfaces to give proper shifting feel. Rancho does not have a 100% track record in this department. The "engine off" comment is the big tip-off here. Play in the gear carrier/intermediate housing shift rail bores can also give you wonky shifter feel.

Robbie

Tue May 14, 2024 8:27 pm

had my trans rebuilt by german transaxles in bend.

upon installation (by me) there were some shifting issues. tried my best to adjust the shift plate, and got it good enough to drive, but still not great.

had occasion to drive through bend, and brought my bus to ken. he replaced the front bushing with one meant for a super beetle. had to work on it a bit, but said it fit better in the enlarged hole in my bus than the bus bushing.

then, he and his helper put the bus on his lift with one of them in the cab, while the other made adjustments at both the front and the back of the bus. can’t for the life me figure what they were doing at the coupler end, but it’s been shifting well ever since.

steve’s right, could be the pilot bearing. but, could be bushings and adjustments.

you don’t say where you are, but, have you called rancho?

Wed May 15, 2024 6:23 am

airschooled wrote: Can you video your clutch arm on the side of the transaxle while you show free play, then push the clutch in and out all the way?

Will do! ...once I can shift again. The long story:

I bought a replacement front shift rod to address the pin/notch play issue. Of course the tolerances on the repro part sucked. Since I don't have easy access to a machinist, I read about someone using JB Weld and a feeler gauge to shim up the notch. I tried that, but the weld didn't adhere to my feeler shims. I then just went straight JB Weld and then filed/sanded to the correct tolerance for the worn pin. Great I thought.

So I remove the front shift rod, only to realize the replacement one is too long between the screw hold and the center of the bowl by about an inch. Not to mention it being too thick to fit the coupler or through the front bushing. Not actually usable. Given that I have the thing apart and it's been bothering me for ages, I went ahead and JB Welded the old one and now have to wait for it to set.

Which brings me to...

dodger tom wrote: you don’t say where you are, but, have you called rancho?

I'm currently driving around the world, which usually means I'm in a terrible location when it comes to servicing a VW bus not to mention finding a decent spot to work. I just arrived in Albania yesterday and it's about as bad a place as you can be for this. I would have stayed in Italy as I'd just heard about a mechanic from a classic Porsche guy, but the car had to leave the EU.

I'm sure I would have had this solved if I were at home in the US with a garage and tools and not relying on the car as my home and transport in a foreign country. So it goes! It's a great vehicle to travel with but it comes with its costs.

-----

For the first 4 years this thing shifted great. It was the engine that caused me trouble. At the end the used camshaft the builder recommended was ground down to a circle. When my new builder broke it town he found the oil cooler gasket installed backward and upside down and blocking most of one of the passages. Yikes!

So now my engine is working great (in part thanks to the advice and advocacy of Steve to go with the webcam 142), but now all of a sudden my shifting has decided to get a little funky. Hoping for a bit of a miracle that this fixed pin play will help.

I want to check the front bushing, but I'm a bit nervous of creating an issue while undoing the rear shift rod and stranding myself. The front one had gotten pretty rusty, but in the end came apart OK.

Wed May 15, 2024 8:22 am

Stop wasting your time with the pin. Shift engagement happens in fore/aft movement. The pin only helps side to side movement.

I'm still unclear- did the shifting issues start immediately with the new transmission, or after putting some miles on the new transmission?

Robbie

Wed May 15, 2024 10:24 am

I wish I could recall exactly about the shifting. It was good for at least the first 30k miles. Very nice and smooth and always easy to find despite considerable looseness at the shift rod itself. I think the metal at the front bushing was already starting to hallow out when I put the new bushings in along with the rebuilt transmission. After tens of thousands of Latin American dirt roads it was pretty thrashed and originally my hope was that had been causing the issues.

Sometime between 30k and now (40k) 2nd gear started getting a little tougher. The situation now is worse but not terrible. Not enjoyable by any means. And distressing to some extent that I worry about getting stranded.

Some days it shifts better than others. Cold winter weather was definitely making finding gears, especially 1 & 2, more difficult. The first three to four shifts were very hard to find and then would ease into the “normal” condition I have now.

I may have had the freeplay incorrectly adjusted too tight for some of that time period. Maybe up to 5k.

Thu May 16, 2024 4:41 am

By request.

I fixed up the pin slot and I think at this point the rods forward have been eliminated as potential issues.