My bet is that the linkage needs adjusting. For some reason the 1st and
2nd gear gates are not exactly in line. As the shifter bushings wear,
the shift selector shaft does not get pushed in quite far enough to line
up with the 1st gear gate. To test this, while going for 1st, push the
shifter down to clear to reverse lockout. If you can then find 1st, a
linkage adjustment is all you need. Any easy adjustment may be to loosen
the 2 bolts holding the bushing bracket the transmission. Then push the
bracket towards the transmission and tighten. The play in the mounting
holes may be enough. If not, than move the bracket out, and adjust the
linkage by loosening the connection near the front of the van and rotate
one spline and re-tighten. The bracket trick can be used as a fine
adjustment if needed.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Damon Campbell
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2003 12:49 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: tranny suggestion Q

So my soon-to-be father in law has an '87 weekender,
that doesn't go into first gear (this happened
suddenly and all other gears shift fine).  He thought
clutch, i'm thinking shift fork.  Now let's assume i'm
right :-)...

He went to the dealer, and they quoted him $1500 for
some service.  He knows nothing about cars, so i
couldn't really get out of him what that service was.
This is more than he would like to pay, especially
since i did tell him the "secret" that vanagons are
not necessarily for the faint of mechanical heart
(which he is).

Options, in varying degrees of difficulty:
1) buy rebuilt tranny, and install ourselves.
2) buy used tranny and install ourselves
3) repair existing tranny
4) he buys a eurovan

Questions about each option (coordinated for your
reading pleasure):
1) a tranny install isn't the biggest deal in the
world, right?  Easily doable by the home mechanic, no?
2) if we found a used rebuilt tranny - does that mean
the shift fork problem is addressed and won't break
again?
3) ummm... yeah.  Is this even a possibility?
4) how reliable ARE eurovans, anyway?

Of course, the fifth option is that i sell him my 4sp
tranny, and i upgrade to 5sp :-)

So i'm just trying to gather info for now to help him
get a little educated.
Thanks for any insight,

-Damon

=====
'84 Westy (Sparky)
'65 Kharma Ghia (Dharma)

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