Hello! Log in or Register   |  Help  |  Donate  |  Buy Shirts See all banner ads | Advertise on TheSamba.com  
TheSamba.com
 
new trans shifting Issues
Forum Index -> Vanagon Share: Facebook Twitter
Reply to topic
Print View
Quick sort: Show newest posts on top | Show oldest posts on top View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Jake from Skatefarm
Samba Member


Joined: September 25, 2020
Posts: 22
Location: Asheville NC
Jake from Skatefarm is offline 

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:29 am    Post subject: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

There's kind of a lot to say so I’m going to try and make this as easy as possible. So, below are my plain questions and down below that is what has made me question all of this. There could also be something I’m totally not seeing too.

Questions for you all:
1. What should the clocking on the clutch lever look like?
2. Is there a different clutch lever for early model vans
3. Will there be any unusual wear to my TO bearing, PP fingers, or slave with a longer push rod?
4. What should resting neutral look like for the shift selector lever?

For the record, this is an 82 air cooled Vanagon with a gas engine.

lemme give some back story for context. About two months ago I blew up my pilot bearing so I had my clutch fully re-done (with new pilot bearing OC) and they installed a new slave cylinder. Then one month ago my transmission blew out due to a blown up main shaft bearing I think (that's not super important tho). Fast forward to this week. I have my newly rebuilt transmission (I sent them mine and they rebuilt my unit) and I'm eager to slap er in and get back on the road. Side note: They had to replace the bell housing too because it got cracked in shipping.

The install went pretty darn smooth (my first time installing a trans) and I get it all bolted up and hop in the drivers seat and decide to press the clutch pedal. It goes down about 1 inch and stops HARD. I decide I don't even want to start it out of fear of hurting the trans or clutch. I did some research and some wrenching and found out the reason my pedal won't budge is because the slave cylinder is bottomed out (fully extended) without even putting pressure on the clutch lever (the one on the side of the trans). My first thought is the push rod in the slave is not long enough.

I had heard of their being two different length push rods in the past. I pulled it out and sure enough mine is the shorter of the two (90mm ish). I stacked some ratchet sockets on the end to make the push rod longer and then the clutch pedal felt as it should. So I just need to buy the longer push rod and problem solved right?? Seems so but I will have to get it running to be sure.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Instagram Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Jake from Skatefarm
Samba Member


Joined: September 25, 2020
Posts: 22
Location: Asheville NC
Jake from Skatefarm is offline 

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:33 am    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

It seems very strange to me that the same short push rod worked fine for a month or so before getting this new trans. Which made me think maybe I have the wrong lever but I can't really tell for sure. I can’t tell if the lever I have now is brand new of if its my old one just painted. I will call the shop tomorrow and ask about that. It would make sense as its one of the main variables that has changed since before the rebuild but also because when I see the exact lever I have now on their website, it says only works on 84+ vans.

So my thinking is this lever has a different clocking than my old one did (lower down) meaning that the the slave would have to extend farther to push the lever all the way down. Getting the longer push rod seems like an easy solution but I want to make sure that just slapping a longer push rod in is going to A) get the clutch to fully disengage B)not be pressing the TO bearing against the clutch fingers and cause unusual wear(idk, do vans keep the TO bearing touching the fingers?) C) ruin the slave cylinder some how.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Instagram Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Jake from Skatefarm
Samba Member


Joined: September 25, 2020
Posts: 22
Location: Asheville NC
Jake from Skatefarm is offline 

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:37 am    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

So it seems like that is all solved and I mount everything back up how it should and then I figured I’d need to re adjust the shift linkage. I have done it in the past without too much head ache. But this time, I’m having a problem I don’t remember ever having. The two-ball-shift-selector-lever thing is getting hung up in second gear. It is very possible this is happening because I don’t have the shift linkage dialed in yet ( I can just tell it feels wrong) but it seems like im gonna have this problem even once it is all dialed in. It was hard to get a good picture but basically when the lever is in the 2nd gear position, the box that manipulates the selector arm is smacking into the bottom ball of the lever. The only was to get it out of 2nd when this happens is to push the ball/ lever back towards neutral by hand.

Im hoping this is only happening to me because I just haven’t adjusted it right. My friend and I gave it a go for about 30 minutes before giving up for the night. To me, the resting neutral position seems to be clocked backwards from how I remember. I thought the lever was straight up and down when is neutral but this appears to be around 6;30-7 on a clock lol.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Lever getting stuck in 2nd gear^^
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Lever resting in neutral ^^
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Instagram Gallery Classifieds Feedback
MarkWard
Samba Member


Joined: February 09, 2005
Posts: 17014
Location: Retired South Florida
MarkWard is offline 

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 11:56 am    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

If you temporarily remove the shift rod can you manually select 2nd gear? How is first gear? They share a few components. There is a bushing on the pin that supports the rod? Is that present? If not, a couple O rings the correct size will work.
_________________
☮️
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Jake from Skatefarm
Samba Member


Joined: September 25, 2020
Posts: 22
Location: Asheville NC
Jake from Skatefarm is offline 

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:29 pm    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

MarkWard wrote:
If you temporarily remove the shift rod can you manually select 2nd gear? How is first gear? They share a few components. There is a bushing on the pin that supports the rod? Is that present? If not, a couple O rings the correct size will work.



Yea the bushing is still in there (I replaced it last summer) 1st gear feels great. no problems. I can move the selector by hand into all gears fairly easily. It appears the shift linkage box (that moves the selector arm) is 1/4 inch too low and that's why its getting hung up on the linkage.

Thought maybe the piece that comes off of the trans to hold the support rod got bent somehow but it looks pretty good. I feel like it would be pretty noticeable to bend the support rod down that much
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Instagram Gallery Classifieds Feedback
MarkWard
Samba Member


Joined: February 09, 2005
Posts: 17014
Location: Retired South Florida
MarkWard is offline 

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 3:25 pm    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

The part that fits over the pin looks slightly bent. The pin should be straight and the sleeve of the shift rod should move square to the pin. While similar, the air cooled transmission and the diesel transmission externally look the same have different last section of shift rod.
_________________
☮️
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Russpauly
Samba Member


Joined: January 13, 2019
Posts: 134
Location: San Diego
Russpauly is offline 

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 7:28 am    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

I think I ran into the same issue very recently. Put a new braided line on, slave cylinder, bled the line, and I just could not get it to engage. Thought it was air in the lines, but really couldn't get it further than a couple blocks. Saved the old slave and rod, see the parts below. Finally after dealing with it for months and not driving pretty much at all, I decided to pull the slave and rod, check to see if they were the same. Low and behold they were different. Put the older, longer rod in and it worked like a charm, zero issues.

Granted, my van is an '88 and watercooled, so not sure if it applies to your year (your shifter I think is the early model), but worth a shot.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

_________________
1988 Wolfsburg Edition - TinTop
2.1L Watercooled
The Space man Van
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Jake from Skatefarm
Samba Member


Joined: September 25, 2020
Posts: 22
Location: Asheville NC
Jake from Skatefarm is offline 

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:49 am    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

Mark: I agree it looks bent but after talking to Erick at Transworks, we figured out that the selection lever wasn’t clocked right. I assumed it made it on the right as it just slid on. I pulled it off and inspected it and the splines were messed up enough I could put it on a few different ways. But I got it on right now and shifts flawlessly.

So to answer my question from earlier. The gear selection lever should rest straight up and down in neutral!

Russ: yea I definitely have the shorter rod. I hope I can find a new (longer) rod and not have to buy a whole slave lol. I drone around today with the socket extensions on there and it seemed to work fine but I’m gonna get the proper rod in there ASAP
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Instagram Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Jake from Skatefarm
Samba Member


Joined: September 25, 2020
Posts: 22
Location: Asheville NC
Jake from Skatefarm is offline 

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:53 am    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

Also I forgot to post in the original post. Here’s a picture of the slave push rod. I believe the longer/ proper rod is about 100mm
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Instagram Gallery Classifieds Feedback
MarkWard
Samba Member


Joined: February 09, 2005
Posts: 17014
Location: Retired South Florida
MarkWard is offline 

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 10:27 am    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

The shift lever should index only one way, but the metal is old enough and soft enough, it could have been forced on wrong once. Usually the special nut comes loose and the splines get worn from the bracket shifting on them. Glad you solved it.
_________________
☮️
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Russpauly
Samba Member


Joined: January 13, 2019
Posts: 134
Location: San Diego
Russpauly is offline 

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 12:30 pm    Post subject: Re: new trans shifting Issues Reply with quote

Jake from Skatefarm wrote:
Also I forgot to post in the original post. Here’s a picture of the slave push rod. I believe the longer/ proper rod is about 100mm
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Yup. That rod looks to be about the same as the one I had on the new slave. It literally made the difference from being able to engage it vs not.
_________________
1988 Wolfsburg Edition - TinTop
2.1L Watercooled
The Space man Van
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Forum Index -> Vanagon All times are Mountain Standard Time/Pacific Daylight Savings Time
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

About | Help! | Advertise | Donate | Premium Membership | Privacy/Terms of Use | Contact Us | Site Map
Copyright © 1996-2023, Everett Barnes. All Rights Reserved.
Not affiliated with or sponsored by Volkswagen of America | Forum powered by phpBB
Links to eBay or other vendor sites may be affiliate links where the site receives compensation.