In a message dated 12/08/2005 12:03:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

A  clutch/hydraulics question.  About 1000 miles ago I swapped a  rebuilt
transaxle into my 84 Westy.  I reused the old clutch kit since  it was
almost new.  Ever since the rebuilt tranny went in, the Vanagon  feels like
its clutch is dragging just a bit even with the pedal pressed  all the way
in: a little bit hard to force it into gear, reverse gear wants  to grind,
and often going into 1st you can hear a "clunk" as the slack gets  taken out
of the drivetrain when it slips into gear... it acts as if the  clutch pedal
wasn't being pressed quite all the way to the  floor.

The one thing I did notice when I was putting in the rebuilt  tranny that
might be relevant is that the little hardened nib/ball on the  clutch
throwout outside lever -- i.e. the "bearing" surface the clutch  slave
piston directly presses onto -- is quite worn down on my rebuilt  tranny vs
what the original tranny looked like.  Could this cause the  clutch to not
disengage fully?  Or should the hydraulics self-adjust  to compensate?  I
REALLY don't want to pull the tranny  again!!!

Robert, there could be more than one cause of your  problem.  Check the rod
in the clutch slave cylinder for wear.  You  may need a new one to tell if the
old one is worn too short or something else is  wrong with it.  Check also the
bracket on the bell housing that holds  the clutch slave cylinder.  It should
be mounted solidly to the bell  housing.  Quite often the boss on the bell
housing that keeps that bracket  in place has corroded away and the only way to
fix that problem is to either  replace the bell housing with a good one or
have a machine shop manufacture and  fit a bronze bushing in the bell housing to
replicate the missing boss.  I  have a local machine shop here that does that
job for me.  I currently have  one good used bell housing in stock with the
bronze insert if you need it.   Also check that the bushings on the clutch throw
arm that goes into the bell  housing are in good shape.  The bushings and
related seals are available  only from VW.  Any time you have a tranny out all
these bell housing parts  should be inspected and repaired or changed if needed.

Cheers,

Frank  Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy, '90 Carat & Lionel  Trains
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
or http://frankcondelli.com
_STEBRO/Vanagon Stainless Steel  Mufflers_
(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 09 ~ 12,  2005