I've got 251,000 on my original manual transmission in an 85 tintop.  I drive it really gently, always have, and my van is really light; I'm the second owner; bought with 32,000 miles.  I now have 2.2 Subie motor but only use the extra power occasionally.  Shifts silky smooth too; just got shifter ball replaced, it broke after 250,00 miles....just went "pop" one day while shifting into reverse to back out of garage.

BTW...what are the "warning" signs when a transmission is starting to die?
Rich
San Diego

      From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
 To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM 
 Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2017 3:21 PM
 Subject: Re: Borescope: Inspect Transaxle 3/4 Slider Hub?
   
You are a lucky one! Not the only one but lucky just the same. Are you the original owner? Proper care and feeding along with gentle driving pays off. 

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Steven Shelton
Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2017 6:17 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Borescope: Inspect Transaxle 3/4 Slider Hub?

I have 287,755 miles on my original transaxle.

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On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 4:30 PM, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:

> Would suggest it depends on how it's driven, type of gear oil used, 
> engine type, is it a rebuilt, by who, etc. My buddy has at least
> 400,000 KM's (250,000 miles) on his '85 original transaxle.
>
> Neil.
>
> On 8/1/17, steve meassick <stevem@tdhvac.com> wrote:
>
> > What is the consensus on how long the manual transmissions really 
> > last before they start failing?
> > Steve
> >
>
>
> --
> Neil n
>
> Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>
>
> 1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>
>
> 1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical 
> <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
>
> Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>
>