Transmission Swap in 81 Air Cooled

[mightyart]

The last thing I have a receit for from the previous owner was for having another transmission put in the van.
It was a used transmission and it was put in three months before I purchased the van.
a couple years after owning the van I started noticing a whine at highway speeds.
Well I knew I'd have to replace the tramsmission in the future at some point.
I started looking around and reseaching who had the best rebuilds.
One day while looking at Ebay, I spoted the holy grail of rebuilts, a VW Factory rebuilt, side shifting, and for an Aircooled.
I checked the part numbers and it was a direct replacement for mine, but had a letter designation that it was geared more for hilly moutainous places.
I didn't think that was much of a big deal, so since I wasn't ready to buy a transmission, I juggled around a few things and bid on it.
Well I won the auction at alot less then it would have cost me to buy a rebuilt, and I didn't have to worry about the "core", I got to keep it.
This transsmission must have been sitting in the crate god knows where for a good many years.
It was shipped to me UPS and wasn't reall that big of deal to move, compared to some of the American transsmisions I have messed with this one was cake.
Well it came, I took the top off the crate and admired it for a few days, then sealed the crate back up and stuck it on the patio till I was ready to install it.

Well the whine had gotten worse, like worn bearings will and spring was approching so it was a good time to get busy.
I had some extra money and I checked to see when Colin the itineran Air cooled mechanic was going to be close.
He was going to be in my area soon so I asked the wife if I should spend the money and hve him help get it in now, a big yes was what I got.

So I contacted him and sceduled an appointment.
It was as always money well spent, I could have gotten the transmission in myself, but I would have done it the monkey way I learned on big cars.
He knew the tricks and had done it so often that he made it quick and easy, we actually had more time to talk VWs and the like, then actual work time.
I also went increadibly smooth with very few snafus, even the small ones we had were quickly overcome.
We basicaly diconnected everything tilded the trans and engine on two jacks, lowered them slowly togerther and slid the trans away from the engine, then laid the trans on the ground and slid the trans out the bottom.
Took the new trans out of the crate, put it beside the new one and swaped parts, filled it, and slid the new on under the van.
Replaced it in the reverse order and hooked every thing back up.
My worst fear was of course that my ebay transmission wouldn't work.
Thankfully that wasn't the case.
WOW what a differance, some of the slop I attributed to the linkage wasn't, its nice and tight like it should be, but my shifter still has some slop it it, I'm really jucied up about fixing it now.
I've had the mytical NLA bushings for awhile, just not the ambition.
I also hadn't relized how load it had gotten, that's what happens when things slowly erode in a vehical.
I've only driven it around here under 40 so far, th van is still full of tools, and man when I woke up this morning I felt my age, and out of shapeness.
So I'm going to take a little time and clean her out, go over everything again, then give it a better test.

Old transmission next to new crated one:

Colin's bus, and putting it back together.

Old transmission and old axel in the crate, ready for rebuild and repack.

[airkooledchris]

congrats on a great find and a great itinerant aircooled visit.

do you have any more info on this specially geared transmission for hills? either part numbers or what the actual ratio's are?

ive loved the idea of doing some custom gearing for my really hilly area, but I figured you only had the option of stock gears (swapped from a bay for slightly better performance) or custom cut gears, which are really loud from what ive heard (sand rail guys do it that way.)

having stock VW gears configured for better hill performance, even at highway speed sacrifice, would be fantastic.

did you get the new CV's/axle off eBay as well as a complete unit? I saw that someone was making them for our vans now hella cheap and ive got one clicking myself after my own recent trans removal and reinstall. not sure if I want to F around trying to repack it only to have it still clicking when im done and for the cost of those new rebuilts on eBay right now, it wouldn't be worth it to do the job more than once.

[mightyart]

[reluctantartist]

The ebay cv's are junk...but I did figure out why they are noisy....you need to use the thrust washer on them because they are machined a few hundredths of a mm thinner than the originals .... so they allow the axle to bang against the hub. Unfortunately for me I threw away some of the thrust washers before I realized that I would need them....if anyone has a few I would love to have them (thrust washers).

Back to the thread topic...

So mightyart now that you have driven with the different gearing, does it make a difference on hills?
_________________
1982 Westy, 1974 412 Variant... Yes, Aircooled's are great! Oh and I do have modern computer controlled vehicles too, but I just don't care about them.

[mightyart]

[crazyvwvanman]

That DJ code tranny was for a early and odd model Vanagon with a type1 1600 engine and cable clutch. I am curious how the highway rpms will turn out. Did you swap the bellhousing and input shaft? The parts info shows the DJ as having the short input shaft.

Mark

[mightyart]

[crazyvwvanman]

I did some more digging on the DJ. It has the gearing for a 50 hp 1600, and the mountain version gearing at that. At the engine rpm where you used to be doing 65 mph you will now only be going 53 mph. Assuming the old VW Parts data is correct. Newer VW Parts data has almost nothing in it that can be used to determine what a DJ is. Both the old and new VW parts data show the DJ as having an input shaft 11 mm shorter than the DK. I hope you looked at this closely enough to notice, or your pilot bearing may not live long.

Mark

[mightyart]

[airkooledchris]

id gladly trade in my highway performance for better hill climbing.
i had my stock trans rebuilt by german transaxle in Bend Or.
if you hate this one, send me yours and ill send you mine!

you'll probably end up liking it I bet. I dont mind driving slow, top speed wise, I just hate waiting forever to get to 60 or up hills.

[Microbusdeluxe]

Saw your post on the tranny swap in an aircooled. What interested me most was Chris the traveling VW dude.

Does he cruise the nation and does he ever come to the beautiful NW corner??
I'd love to host (& even pay) for a hands on aircooled fuel-injection tutorial from a f.i. jedi master.

So Chris are you out there??
Thanks
Jim

[mightyart]

[mightyart]

[Microbusdeluxe]

This is the guy I want! Thanks for the link, Art.