Friends,
  The weather is finally consistently warm here in Boston, so it's time
  for the great Summer Vanagon Maintenance Offensive to begin.  My three
  questions for you, on behalf of Mudskipper (Orly blue 1990 GL), are:
1) Can I do the rear shocks and springs myself?  I've got jackstands, a
shop jack, basic tools, and a Bentley.  I have no means of compressing the
springs, though -- do I even have to do that on this vehicle?
2) Mudskipper's tranny (regular ol' four speed) is still tight after 152k
mi, but the linkage is getting tweaky.  Specifically, it feels like the
reverse lockout has crept over to first -- to get the box into first, I
need to push the lever straight down and then carefully ensure that I
don't accidentally put it into reverse.  I've gotten the hang of this, but
it's a little nerve-wracking.  I've adjusted the plate at the foot of the
shift lever; do I need to play with this a bit more?
3) Profuse apologies to Herr Fish in Osterreich -- I, too, have power lock
problems.  The power locks work great except that the driver's side
behaves erratically.  If the passenger locks/unlocks his/her door, the
driver's side responds.  If I lock my door, though, nothing happens until
I hit a bump in the road.  I checked the wiring, and connections are tight
/ no visible frayed wires.  Which wire acts as the sender?  I'd love to
put the multimeter on the driver's side if I knew which wire was
responsible for sending state rather than receiving.

Many thanks, volks.
d.

PS:
  I rented a carpet shampooer ($20 + $7 in noxious chemicals, from the
  local food store) over the weekend; can't recommend it enough.  The
  interior looks pretty tasty now.