ok, this is a common problem and common thread...
what you need to do is first clean that thing  int he back and gob some
greese in it. That won't fix the problem though.  Now scoot on your back
under the bus just behind the front wheel. In the middle of the bus is the
shift-shaft thingee. it is somewhat yellow or just dirty brown.  THere is
a joint on it. You need to loosen this joint and turn it one notch some
direction. NotL sure which direction though. You SHOULD mark the origional
position before you loosen anthing so you can then move it one knotch the
other direction. Got it? And if that doesn't fix it, then you need to move
around the base-plate to the shifter inside of the bus, but that fix has a
very very very high frustration coefficient. So stick with the linkage
under the bus first.

BTW, when you go to clean the ball and socket, look to see how worn it is,
etc. It MAY be worn down pretty bad, but i doubt it.
cheers
Matthew

Matthew Pollard          "Racing with the wind and flirting with death
Dept. Of Chemistry        So have a cup of coffee and catch your breath"
University of Idaho
www.uidaho.edu/~poll7356

On Fri, 9 Nov 2001, s w wrote:

> i'm having a problem with my clutch, 85 gl westfalia,
> it is hard to get into first and getting harder to get
> into second as well, i was crawling around underneath
> the other night, and noticed that where it enters the
> transmission,it is quite messy, gummed up
> even...forgive my lack of technical discription, don't
> have the bently in front of me....anyway, it drives
> fine in all gears, which leads me to believe it is the
> linkage leading up to the transmission, going to play
> with it this weekend, just wondering if anyone had
> ever had this problem before...
>
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