Jim, if this were me I would take this apart and see what is going on.
Something is worn out and is causing the pin to drop down. This is not
normal as the pin is steel and is a spring pin (roll pin).  I am
thinking the hole that it goes into is worn out either in the shifter
cup piece or the end of the shift rod or both.  You can easily take this
apart by taping the pin up and out once you drop the shift cup, then see
what is up.  Better to repair it now than to wait until it fails on the
road.

On 10/2/2014 8:20 AM, Jim Felder wrote:
> Just being too lazy to look it up, and it's been too many years to remember
> exactly, but what's the deal with the pin that holds the cup onto the rear
> end of the shift rod?
>
> I do recall that the setup is almost identical to later manual transmission
> vanagons.
>
> When I did my engine swap a month or so ago, I noticed that pin protruding
> and had been noticing slightly sloppier shifting. While under the car I
> tapped it back in. When I look at it yesterday it was sticking out almost
> enough to fall out.
>
> I drove it back in, followed it with a few taps of a punch to recess it,
> and then lightly peened the hole in the cast aluminum housing.
>
> This is a problem I don't need to happen on the road. I am pretty sure it's
> not a split pin, but it is tapered? Is there anything in particular I
> should be doing to make sure it doesn't fall out, but comes out if I want
> it to?
>
> Jim
>

--
Thanks,
Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com
Phone: 856-327-4936
Fax: 856-327-2242