Regards the pilot bearing - I understand that the pilot bearing can be
replaced by using the sealed diesel pilot bearing, thereby never again
having to worry about the felt washer being inplace to keep dirt and grit
out and having the brass ring inside the flywheel to keep the felt washer
in place  - the brass that macine shops tend to knock out, lose, and never
replace - leaving your bearing felt to come off and expose it to grit and
dust.

You might want to look into the particulars of using this diesel bearing.

John
On Apr 6, 2016 15:12, "vw_van_fan_Mark" <madvws@cox.net> wrote:

> This is usually caused by putting the rear guide bushing plate on the
> wrong side of the 2 bolt ears that are on the side of the transmission.
> Make sure that plate is on the forward side of those 2 ears.
>
> Mark
>
> Rick Cooper wrote:
>
>> Finally got back to my '83 project van.  I'd replaced the tranny a few
>> months ago but for unrelated reasons had to leave the project for a few
>> months.  Finally, took it for a test drive today.  Initially had problems
>> finding gears, but much of that was sorted out by following the Bentley's
>> shift linkage adjustment procedure.
>>
>> However, the biggest and unresolved problem is that it simply will not
>> shift into second or fourth gear.  The shift lever simply feels blocked
>> from accessing second or fourth and if I apply pressure I get the unhappy
>> sound of gears grinding.   I shortened up the shift rod by moving the
>> front
>> shift rod further into the splines in the rear shift rod, but that didn't
>> seem to help.   Is this symptomatic of a bad pilot bearing (which I didn't
>> replace but probably should have) or what?
>>
>> Thanks, Rick
>>
>>