I concur, I bet the pilot bearing has gone bad.  I just finished
re-installing my transmission yesterday.  The exact same symptoms were
noticed as described below.  While sitting at a red light with the clutch
in, the van seemed like it wanted to go.  I suspect the tranny input shaft
is "catching" on the bad pilot bearing.  It is a shame.  A $3 part takes so
much work to replace.  I replaced the throw out bearing, oil seal in crank,
o-ring in flywheel and oil seal for the tranny input shaft.  My disk and
pressure plate looked good, and had been replaced several years back.  I
also put new CV joint boots on and regreased the joints.  Nice messy job.

Kerry
'86 syncro 165k
kstanley@cas.org

> ----------
> From:         Ron Lussier[SMTP:coyote@LIKEMINDS.COM]
> Reply To:     Ron Lussier
> Sent:         Wednesday, October 14, 1998 3:12 PM
> To:   vanagon@VANAGON.COM
> Subject:      Clutch problems...
>
> Please reply to braver03@matrix.newpaltz.edu, thanks!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: steven braverman [mailto:braver03@matrix.newpaltz.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 1998 6:36 AM
> To: coyote@vanagon.com
> Subject: problems
>
> I own a 1982 Vanagon diesel that I enjoy tremendously.  A while back it
> developed a clutch problem.  I started to notice it getting hard to shift.
> Gradually the problem worsened until it would always grind into reverse
> and
> creep from a stand still with the clutch pedal all the way to the floor.
> I
> checked the hydraulic system and noticed that the clutch master was kind
> of
> leaky, so I replaced it.  I bled the system every way I could think of but
> the problem still persists.  Is there a way to measure the travel at the
> slave cylinder?  It seems to have quite a bit of travel, but maybe it's
> not
> enough.  Bob Donalds suggested that it could posibly be a bad pilot
> bearing.
> I want to collect more opinions before I remove the transmission.  What do
> you think?
> Steve
>