Rancho did the five speed in my 1983 diesel Westy. I shipped it to him from
Alabama and it was worth it. Nobody else has the five speed jigs you need
for that transmission. He has a good network of parts suppliers--I don't
think I could have gotten a better job done anywhere. He was also willing
to discuss the costs and benefits with me and answered the phone when I
called him.

Jim

On Thu, Jan 13, 2022 at 10:15 AM Stacy Schneider <vwcrewman@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Why ship it all over the place when one of the best guys is right down the
> Freeway.
>        Try mike with Rancho Transaxle.  He has a backlog, but knows his
> stuff. He’s done 2 Syncro boxes for me and about 10 for other local owners.
>
>                                Stacy
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 10:04 PM Alex MeVay <alex@mevay.org> wrote:
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > 1982 Vanagon, early 091 4sp manual.  Over the past few k miles, I've
> > been hearing more and more gear noise (buzz/whine) from the
> > transmission. 1st and 2nd are "pretty darn" loud, 3rd audible.  No
> > audible noise from 4th, but I believe 4th gear was replaced a few
> > years ago.  In neutral, there is a slight "grumbling" (bad bearing?)
> > sound that fades away if I push the clutch in and (presumably) the
> > input shaft spins down.  Van drives and shifts great.
> >
> > I pulled the magnetic drain plug recently to have a look and found a
> > nice little christmas tree:
> >
> > https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/2252060.jpg
> >
> > The deposits seemed to be thin metal flecks of up to about a mm:
> >
> > https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/2252059.jpg
> >
> > Fluid level was just below the filler hole, seemed OK.
> >
> > I had changed the fluid and cleaned off the magnetic plug 18 months
> > and 8,400 miles ago (filled up with Mobil 1 full synthetic 75W90 LS)
> > when I upgraded to the 930 CV's, so all accumulation was from that
> > recent period.
> >
> > Soooooo.....thoughts/advice?
> >
> > Separately, I am in the market for a new shop for this work.  I recall
> > there were some recs in a thread last year, but I haven't been able to
> > dig it up.  Interested in any recs within 1000 miles of San Diego,
> > whether that's for the complete project, or just to pull the
> > transmission and send it off to AA or German Transaxle, or whomever
> > the favorites are these days.
> >
> > Thanks as always,
> >
> > Alex
> >
> --
>    1989 Swedish Tristar with Aluminum gates and Atiwe 16" Wheels.
>     Oldest son is an Eagle scout.
>