Just a note, I have never seen a first gear syncro go bad, always second.
That may vary with driving style, as some clowns try to force their vehicle
into first while coasting at 20 mph to a stop.  This wears the first gear
syncro heavily, as the speed differential has to be equalized.  I don't know
exactly why, but second always wears out quicker than third or fourth.
Anybody had different experiences?

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Gibbons <dgibbons@PRESRAY.COM>
To: Vanagon@VANAGON.COM <Vanagon@VANAGON.COM>
Date: Wednesday, May 06, 1998 10:04 PM
Subject: Re: Hello! I'm new to the list and my '86 Weekender's manual

>Grinding gears is %95 of the time cause of clutch or shift linkage
problems, Not
>transmission. The parts in the trans that when bad make grinding noise are
call
>"syncros" and go bad on 1st gear before any others. If your 1st gear is
normal
>then the rest should be OK too.
>