Well his broke. If he owns one that's a hundred percent breakage rate.
Pretty bad design I'd say!

Of course of my two vans I have no breakage so we're down to 33% breakage
rate. Not 100% but still pretty bad.

Maybe we should do a group buy on the titanium/carbon fiber/synthetic
diamond ones that Unca Joel will be manufacturing soon?

Mike

On 3/17/08 8:57 AM, "Jake de Villiers" <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
wrote:

> What do you mean 'prone to breaking'?   Have you broken several?   Seen a
> bunch of broken ones?
>
> My vans are each well over 200,000 miles, one of them's been to Alaska 6
> times, and the shifter's are intact. Go easy on the projecting.
>
> On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 9:06 AM, Allan Streib <streib@cs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>
>> Mike,
>>
>> I did not remember that -- here I thought I was being pretty clever!
>> Perhaps your suggestion was subliminally effective.
>>
>> Actually it's a pretty obvious "patch up" solution if you think about it
>> for a few minutes.
>>
>> I'll get a stronger bolt, thread that in and then weld it WITH the bolt
>> in place.
>>
>> Anyone know why these are prone to breaking?  Is it just metal fatigue,
>> or were they designed to snap off for safety in an accident?
>>
>> Allan
>> --
>> 1991 Vanagon GL
>>
>> On Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:52:16 -0400, "Mike" <mbucchino@charter.net> said:
>>> Hi Allan,
>>>   I'm the guy that originally suggested the tapping and threading as a
>>> good fix; I'm glad you were able to use it to get you home!
>>> A threaded rod is about Grade 5, it's not strong enough to last in any
>>> automotive application.  You need to use a Grade 8 (or higher) bolt with
>>> threaded area that's long enough to do the job.  Just buy an
>>> automotive-grade bolt of the same thread that you've already tapped it
>>> for, cutting off the head and unthreaded portion.  You could also have
>> it
>>> 'properly' welded and ground flush again, after threading it back
>>> together for a permanent repair.  Or, you might just be able to buy a
>> complete
>>> shifter from a parts yard or a member of this list.
>>>
>>> HTH,
>>> Mike B.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
> Crescent Beach, BC
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com
> http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27