Four transmissions in a year. Bad luck? Or more?

[Drakeskakes]

Before you say it's the driver....know that I don't drive over 60mph and I'm very gentle on my rig...

So, I'll.keep this short as possible.
(current problem on tranny four is shiffter aggressively shaking and popping out of gear on uphills. I had this problem twice before. It was the front support but wait... there's more.)
Tranny one - came with the bus. Not able to downshift unless stopped. Reputable mechanic put all new OEM parts in and that is what we will call tranny two.
Tranny two - 14,000km of buttery smooth service without any indication of a problem. Then one day, at 70km on flat ground... fourth gear goes. See photo. Looks like things got hot? How? I honestly don't know which oil the mechanic used. When we pulled it, it smelled like death. But only 13,000km of slow driving in cold Patagonia weather? Hrm
Note, when this rebuilt tranny was installed it had the popping out of gear problem on up hills. We replaced the front engine support and the problem was never seen again....until...duh duh duh...... tranny three!

Tranny three - cherry picked off a rotting Kombi in Patagonia...I had no other option. We installed this tranny with its current engine support and blap! Popping out of gear like crazy. My stupid mechanic refused to believe it as the suport and tried a ton of other ideas...until finally we changed the support and he felt like an idiot when I was able to pop the clutch up a steep hill and had no problems. To see the problem... check the YouTube Link. Tranny three lasted me 3,500km until it just started free spinning when I was trying to engage the clutch. I would have to pop the clutch rather hard to get it to engage. This lasted all of 100km until I decided enough was enough. I sourced out an absurdly over priced but highly recommended transmission from the most highly respected VW mechanic in South America. Don Bonito! Welcome to Tranny 4 (note. In the video, the problem was solved simply be changing the frong support and when I said 3 1/4" I mean 3/4")

https://youtu.be/JnKgZ06F6mg

Finally. Here we are. Tranny four.
Knowing what I know about the transmission support problem, I put this tranny in with my current, fairly new support. What would you know... on uphills, she shakes and pops out of gear unless I baby her ever so slightly. The clutch pedal has about 1/2" of free play, none of the supports are lose and we were sure to dial in the clutch position when we pulled the motor. I'm at my wits end. I also don't know if there is something else going on with my car that is causing transmission failures and I can't even begin to think what they could be. Please send help!

[Abscate]

I count three trans with no known History and a bad rebuild job.

It's not you, you just need to get one from a wreck.
_________________
.ssS!

[timvw7476]

Seeing as you seem to have a load of rotting VWs down there, look for
a gearbox with lots of 'ribs' on the exterior, (five or six would be ideal)
the 002 early boxes will be trashed by now,you want '75 & later with larger
bearings inside. Find one like that.

[sodbuster]

What style of gearbox is this? I know the buses made in South America are different than ones made in Germany. I'm just going by the pics you posted mind you, but those gear stacks look like they might be from a swing axle gear reduction style gear box. And not an IRS bus box.

[Drakeskakes]

[sodbuster]

[Drakeskakes]

Today I replaced all transmission supports, new clutch kit, and in the process found this bearing was completely toast. I didn't even know it existed until my mechanic noticed. Could this be the culprit to many of my problems?
I'm not even sure what it's there for.

[babysnakes]

That came out of the transmission? It looks like the gland nut that holds the flywheel to the engine. It is supposed to have a bearing for the tranny input shaft.

[Drakeskakes]

[Abscate]

I'm having a little trouble of a bad gland nut bearing taking out the transmissions as described, but let the experts chime in.
_________________
.ssS!

[TDCTDI]

[Drakeskakes]

Bueler?

[sodbuster]

[[email protected]]

It sounds like you've installed a few 40+ year old used transaxles expecting them to work, and one rebuild. In the 12 years I've built transaxles, I think I've come across three used cores that would have "worked" as is without issues. Pick one you have, and get it rebuilt. The 4th gear that got chewed up is from a Beetle. Buses never had that fine tooth of a 4th gear in a Type 1 based Bus trans. Some have found them to be stronger with more teeth surface area, but the tiniest bit of debris shreds the teeth. Most likely had little to do with the oil, but simply a 40 year old gear developing a chip out of one tooth, that lead to what you see. Someone has installed later 002 gears onto an early 113 main shaft. Either find a suitable late 002 4th with the coarse large teeth, or use the 113 gears getting the hubs welded.

[Wildthings]