Thanks Mark.

As for robustness, AA-Daryl's had kindly pmailed the same opinion.
Interesting to note that the buggy guys use them. Looking at both the
DK an AB, I wondered if the nose couldn't be swapped out.

What's making the decision difficult is that I only drove the WBX AB
for a short distance. IIRC, it "caught" in all forward gears but
stayed in gear. Could have been due to brake MC  starting to fail
(though I really can't see how unless fluid really low air allowed in
clutch hydraulics) or due to the TOB which seemed to be incorrectly
installed by PO. Or ?

DK wasn't driven. Just pulled it along with
lot-o-parts-fora-great-price a while back.

Shifting and turning both by hand, all gears work. No excessive play
at input shaft. But. Shifting DK and AB by hand on bench, AB seems to
shift harder and noisier. DK smoother/quieter. AB has slight noise in
neutral turning the flanges only. I assume this is the diff. DK does
not.

Clutch housing wear seems similar. (cross shaft bushings)

I guess it just boils down to installing and trying them out. Worst
case: I end up with a shortened shift linkage. And I bet that could
easily be put back to spec.

(added more tranny comparison pics here):

http://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/ABVsDKTransmissions#

Neil.

On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 4:48 PM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:
> If you are keeping the van for a long time go with the WBX tranny
> conversion. Sell the DK trannys, better money in the spring. The DK type can
> be converted to bus nose shift and so are sought by dune buggy types since
> they are stronger than other nose shift types.
>
> Mark
>
>
> neil n wrote:
>
>>
>> I was thinking of supporting the engine from above this time.
>>
>> Still undecided about tranny choice. Upgrade to AB (WBX) + linkage or
>> stick with DK.
>>
>> Details details.... � �;)
>>
>> Neil.
>>
>

-- 
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines