your shifting is either a busted transaxle or a mis-adjusted shift
linkage. You can tempt fate and go under the bus and rotate the shift
linkage a bit. To do this, shimmy to behind the gas tank and losen, move
and tighten the linkage clamp thinggee. You'll see what i'm talking about
when you get under there.  If that doesn't do it, you may need to move the
shift plate inside the bus (under the rubber boot where the shifter goes
through the flour). Move it a bit back if it pops out of gear  or to the
right if it can't find 1st and R.  good luck and i hope it aint your
tranny.
Cheers
matthew

Matthew Pollard             http://www.uidaho.edu/~poll7356
Dept. of Chemistry               http://www.chem.uidaho.edu
University of Idaho                   http://www.uidaho.edu

On Fri, 6 Oct 2000, Chuck Wooten wrote:

>      I too have trouble getting into first gear in my 81 vanagon?????
> I would also like to thank Ken at vanagain for my stickers  and thewestyman
> for my bentley  they both were very fast and honest in our dealing
>
>
>
>
>                  chuck
>                     81 vanagon  (jack)
>