Somewhere down below, and I think you have to get to it from below, there is
a yoke with two nylon? bushings.  This is a possibility, too.

Mine is about as loose as yours, and if mine rattled, I probably would have
fixed it my now!

Karl Wolz

----- Original Message -----
From: Tim King <tking_ms@EMAIL.MSN.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 1999 5:15 PM
Subject: Syncro shifter rattle

> I'm just _full_ of questions lately...
>
> With my 87 syncro westy now running, I'm spending lots of time tracking
down
> small issues. The most irritating of which is shifter rattle. The linkage
is
> great -- the vehicle goes in and out of gear like _butter_. However, when
> it's in gear (4th is the worst), the shifter is able to wobble, float,
> rattle, klink, bang, and buzz around until I'm ready to gouge my eyes out
> with all the straws I've stolen from Starbucks. The sound is very metallic
> in nature. It almost sounds like the linkage is rubbing against something
as
> the vehicle vibrate. It's so loose, I can actually gently move the lever
> almost all the way over to where first should be and keep the van in 4th.
If
> I grab the linkage under the van, it wobbles with ease. My 83 had much
more
> tension in it.
>
> I've looked at the ball under the shift boot, and it _looks_ fine, but
> that's about as far as I've got.  I'm sure the whole thing is exacerbated
by
> my drivetrain vibration problems (probably drive shaft, but certainly not
> helped by the chunky Gislavad snow tires it's wearing), but I'd kind of
like
> to tackle one thing at time and the shifter rattle seems like the easier
of
> the problems.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Thanks folks.
>
> Tim King
> Seattle, WA
> 87 Syncro Westy
>