Hi Matthew,
    I had the same problem on an 86, 250 k miles. The rivet was loose on the
ball socket.  I drilled the ball socket rivet hole out to fit a cv bolt, use
a cv bolt with a nut on it, works well.  Behind the gas tank there is a
collar on the shift linkage that you can loosen and  tweak the shift tubes
a notch one way or the other to synchronize the ball socket with the shifter
in the cockpit. Adjust it while in low or 2nd seems to work best for me.
Setting up a van to shift smoothly is a piece of cake compared to a bus.
Darrell

----- Original Message -----
From: Pollard, Matthew <Matthew.Pollard@OREADCA.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, June 14, 1999 10:20 AM
Subject: poor shifting; Help

> My bus is getting harder and harder to shift.  This morning I was not able
> to find first, but had to settle for second :-(  When I got into the first
> position, it was third!  ugh.  I know that my bus is not drivable as it
is.
> I think the problem is with the linkage, specifically the rear end of the
> linkage where the final ball and socket assemble is.  Has anybody replaced
> the pin that holds the socket to the end of the rod, and will this help
fix
> the problem?  Will the pin-hole be out-of-around? Can I drill the hole
> bigger and put a 1/4" bolt through it?  Or will just replacing the pin do
> the trick?
>
> Recent work that may be relevant: replaced all of the parts where the
shift
> lever goes through the floor.
>
> Thanks for the help.
> Matthew
> 84 weekender
>