The reverse "lockout" is accomplished by the "fence" on the right-hand
side of the shifter box (under the car, directly underneath the
gearshift lever).  When you push down on the shifter, the "finger" on
that side of the fork will clear that fence and you can then move the
gearshift all the way to the left to engage reverse.

If the nylon piece is missing, then the "finger" will be shorter and
will need less (possibly no) downward movement to move across the fence
into reverse.

Allan
--
1991 Vanagon GL

John Goubeaux <john@ucsb.edu> writes:

> Allan,
> Congratulations on getting it all sorted out ! I was reading your
> thread during the last week or so and having had to replace some of
> the worn parts in my linkage was curious how it would go.
>
> I actually paid someone to replace some of the worn parts a few yrs
> ago and at the time they guy said there was one part that he could not
> get readily and the reverse lockout never seemed to work afterward, ie
> one does not actually have to push down to take the shifter to the lh
> and reverse. I have just gotten used to it but have always wondered
> what worn part was not replaced to allow this to still happen ? A
> while ago ( while doing some steering work) I had access up into the
> shift box area and was looking at the "sliders" on the side of the box
> and was wondering if I could get a better idea.
>
> I need to have a closer look at the Bentley diagrams but wanted to ask
> if the nylon "finger" on the reverse lockout side could play a part in
> this? I guess i don't completely understand how the reverse lockout
> mechanism works so any chance you could shed some light on the topic?
>
> I am gonna take a look at the pic you posted as well as this should be
> worth a "thousand words" as they say..
>
>
> -john
>