Winter in NJ.  Intermitent cold, with snow and slush.  Not having a garage,
I had put off some work on my Westy.  Not a good thing.  

Recently I'd noticed some clunking when shifting.  Nothing too bad, so I was
trying to save the work for a dry weekend.  The other day the van popped out
of first.  Then yesterday it popped out of reverse coming out of the
driveway.  I got it into first with some trouble.  Finally got it going and
headed back home. Second gear fine, no third.  In the driveway, I find out
no first or reverse. Uh oh.  

So, in the cold and slush, I crawl under and find the problem.  Turns out I
need a new gearshift bracket.  The teeth on the bracket that engage the
splines on the gearshift shaft had somehow gotten badly worn.  Not good.

The splines on the shaft look OK, but it's hard to see very well under there
- a dark, tight place.  I'm worried about the shaft needing to be replaced.
That would mean the trans out and apart.  Probably over my head, and also
needs special tools, right?  It looks OK, and I'm hoping it is.  I guess
I'll know more when I try to fit the new part.  Anyone know if the shaft
coming out of the trans is a harder metal than the bracket is made out of?
The bracket seems softer, kind of a goldish color.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

The lesson learned is to take care of a problem when it first rears its ugly
head.  If you wait for a more convenient time to check it out, you may get
bit.  It may fail at a more inconvenient time or place.  I was lucky this
time.  

Now I have to go convince my wife and kids that we need to move so we'll
have a garage. :)

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<<>>  Don Geiger                        <<>>
<<>>  '80 Westy in NJ                   <<>>
<<>>  dgeiger@k2nesoft.com              <<>>
<<>>  http://www.k2nesoft.com/~dgeiger  <<>>
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