Getting stuck in a gear is either the result of the clutch not disengaging or the transmission failing internally. It is rare but the 1-2 gear slider hub can crack same as the common 3-4 hub failure. If you know the clutch is working properly you are looking at tranny time.  Do make sure that there is adequate gear oil in the box. 

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Dan N
Sent: Sunday, October 4, 2015 12:55 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: shifting anomaly...

1990 Carat - manual trans..

the sifter base plastic hardware was replaced (all of it including the plastic ears) last year (9 to 12 months) - the shifting was good...

recently a weird thing appears (not all the time) - sometimes I have hard time to get out of 1st gear - it looks it get stuck in 1st and I have slow down re-clutch to get it out...

I looked at shifter base and everything is OK nothing broken.. the rear (at the trans) is OK too not sloppy

why? and what else to look at?

please help...

thanks in advance

dan