Shifter rebuild?

[82vdub]

I'm beginning to see an issue that's starting to form. Last year while on the way to a meeting, I had a shifter rod pop off which left me with only 4th gear. I popped the rod back on the ball (don't recollect which one but it was accessible under the hood) and off I went. Yesterday while driving through Milwaukee in heavy traffic and pouring rain, I had another shifter rod pop off. This one controlled the linkage that left me with either 3rd or 4th gear. Since ole 82 is closing in on 400k miles, I think it's time for some replacement shifter parts.

Since I've never really messed with the shifter linkage on these except to replace the rubber boot under the shifter and disconnecting when pulling the engine/trans, I'm looking for some input. We're heading back to Colorado in 4 weeks and I'd like to have this resolved before the trip. What are thoughts from people about just purchasing a couple replacement rod/parts that have the nylon on them that wears, or should I also purchase a bushing kit and rebuild all the bushings? I've never liked having to face an unknown repair project before a trip (I know there's 4 weeks to go, but I'm very busy) and don't want to have the shifter all torn apart for 3 weeks right before a major road trip.

Thoughts/recommendations?

[VWCaddy]

I run an all-steel shift linkage:



Not prone to wearing out and breaking like the plastic ends on the factory setup.

[TylerDurden]

I just did the 5spd linkage on my 86. Grimy, but not difficult.

I replaced:

• selector-rod (horizontal, has slight bends and plastic sockets on ends)
  relay-shaft (vertical, has ball on arm)
  bushings for relay-shaft (two grommets that hold the shaft in the vertical orientation)
  bushings for the other link that has the cotterpins (horizontal, has ~80 degree bends at ends)

I did not replace the bits on the shaft running fore-aft under the car (lazy). Still, it shifts tighter than a bull's butt in fly season.

That relay-shaft with the ball may look good but still need replacing. The grime and dirt were holding mine together... I could pick it apart with a fingernail.

You gotta get under the crossmember to undo a fancy c-clip on the bottom of the relay shaft. Ramps my be sufficient, but tall jackstands should work. I can't remember which I used.

Replacing those bits took about an hour.

[82vdub]

Vwcaddy, I actually did start at your website this am. My main concern with the metal end shift rods are: wear and adjustment. With the stock setup, the wear should always occur on the nylon end, thus allowing all the metal components to remain in good condition. What wears with the metal end shif rods with your pieces?

The adjustment part, I'm not sure how much adjustment to get the system to shift correctly would be required. VW's shifter mechanism is (from my limited review of it while pulling engines) is a very fine tuned, magical, mystical setup of some means to shift a transmission. The twisting motion to go from the 1/2 to 3/4 setup is baffling to me and does not involve much movement at all to misalign the shifting mechanism. Any idea on what amount of tweaking would be required with the metal end rods?

[VWCaddy]

Vwcaddy, I actually did start at your website this am. My main concern with the metal end shift rods are: wear and adjustment. With the stock setup, the wear should always occur on the nylon end, thus allowing all the metal components to remain in good condition. What wears with the metal end shif rods with your pieces?

Like any metal-metal part, grease works well:
- http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/ForSale/ ... aintenance

I have never added any grease to mine in 10+ years as my engine seems to "self-lubricate" everything under the hood quite well

And the rod ends are held on mechanically with spring steel clips instead of just with the friction fit of the factory plastic parts. So even if there were to be significant wear, you would need to have probably half the diameter of the 13mm ball stud worn away to slip it off past the clip. Not really a high load/high speed type of linkage, so there is not a great deal of wear there. I can't see any wear signs on my 10_ year old ball studs when I had them out a while back when I swapped transaxles.

The adjustment part, I'm not sure how much adjustment to get the system to shift correctly would be required. VW's shifter mechanism is (from my limited review of it while pulling engines) is a very fine tuned, magical, mystical setup of some means to shift a transmission. The twisting motion to go from the 1/2 to 3/4 setup is baffling to me and does not involve much movement at all to misalign the shifting mechanism. Any idea on what amount of tweaking would be required with the metal end rods?

Usually a turn or two on the rod ends from the initial setting is all you need:
- http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/ForSale/ ... Adjustment

Basically set everything up to match the existing parts, install and align per Bentley instructions:
- http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/ForSale/ ... html#FAQ10

Then if not what you want, figure out which way things are off. For example if 1st/2nd gear is hard to access, lengthen rear selector rod, letting it push farther on the relay lever and selector shaft. 5th gear issues, shorten the rod. And if you make a change and things get worse, adjust the other way. If things get better but not good enough, adjust farther in the same direction.

[air-cooled or diesel]

i just did my 2 86's and can give some advice
i did the outside components. you also can get a shaft from a place you will personally delete the company most likely. (yes, I had to delete it, not sure why you wrote it) sells a full kit(s) for a good price so check with them. dont recall all the parts they sell in that kit. -think its though-. came with the vertical setup w/ball that bolts on in 3 places under car. you'll need to get some stands under and a 13mm wrench. if i remember the 1 bolt you need to use the open-end because of the exaust. you need 7-9? total bushings, +some dust covers. 1 is large and goes over the shift rod, the retainer for the big bushing is riveted, so i got some small fasteners for it. the big bushing assembly may come in the kit too. there are 2 larger bushings that are difficult to get in the 1 is harder. used screwdriver and pliers to work in. 2 smaller bushings for reverse, i think, which are on a pivot shaft. and a couple (4?) dust covers. a pain to push on. grease everything and your done w/the outside. may be some more as its been a few months..

[air-cooled or diesel]

[quote="82vdub"]Vwcaddy, I actually did start at your website this am. My main concern with the metal end shift rods are: wear and adjustment. With the stock setup, the wear should always occur on the nylon end, thus allowing all the metal components to remain in good condition. What wears with the metal end shif rods with your pieces?

1st thing (from me) -correct! on the wear factor whats cheaper? a new trans and other assorted parts? or just 'nylon type' rods, (or just nylon ends)?
and that can happen !just! from using a non-'nylon' set-up.
arent the balls a couple of the rods go on for reverse THE trans? not to mention the other linkages.

[VWCaddy]

It would be nice if VW designed the linkage to allow the nylon rod ends to be easily (screwed off and on) replaced, but there did not, so when they wear out, you need to replace the whole thing. Not a big deal, but when those start to go, your first sign may be that your linkage pops apart on some dark rainy night. As far as the transaxle goes, there is no difference in how it is shifted with nylon rod ends or with steel rod ends. Unless you are forcing the selector shaft beyond where it can shift, you can only push as hard as the selector shaft and internal shift mechanisms push back against the linkage.

And the ball studs can be replaced if needed (parts cost is $5):







And note that the ball stud shown above was worn out/rusted with the nylon rod end/OEM linkage installed. So lack of maintenance with any type of setup will lead to premature wear and need for replacement.

My guess is that when these vehicles were first designed, the VW engineers probably used an all-metal, full adjustable linkage setup, knowing the way German engineers like to fine tune things. Then once that design was handed over for production, the bean counters got in there and trimmed the cost by making molded plastic linkage parts, eliminating the ball studs on the forward shift rod, etc. They probably figured that was good enough given a typical vehicle being used maybe 7-10 years and 100-150K miles.

[Fatmobile]

Really, one of the most difficult adjustments on the A1 shift linkage is trying to get 1st to sit right at the left stop edge.

A little too far one way and you have to push down and over to get 1st,
a little too far the other way and it'll hit the left ridge and you might not get to use 5th.

The threaded rod should make it much easier to adjust than riding it up on ramps and marking setting the pinch bolt,
test drive and ride it up the ramps again to adjust.

I've been wrapping the little blac "tophat" bushings with teflon tape before inserting them in the pivot.
It makes them sit tighter when the shaft/bolt is tightened down.

[VWCaddy]

Really, one of the most difficult adjustments on the A1 shift linkage is trying to get 1st to sit right at the left stop edge.

A little too far one way and you have to push down and over to get 1st,
a little too far the other way and it'll hit the left ridge and you might not get to use 5th.

The threaded rod should make it much easier to adjust than riding it up on ramps and marking setting the pinch bolt,
test drive and ride it up the ramps again to adjust.

I've been wrapping the little blac "tophat" bushings with teflon tape before inserting them in the pivot.
It makes them sit tighter when the shaft/bolt is tightened down.

Yes, the threaded rod ends make all the difference in adjusting the shift linkage. The factory way is all in that splined clamp. With that, you put it together and see where things are lined up. If you hit it perfect all is fine, but if you are off (a little or a lot), you basically have to knock it all apart and then put it together in a different alignment. So no easy way to make a small change. I liken it to tuning a grand piano with a sledge hammer. If you happen to hit just the right spot, you are golden, but miss and you have nothing. With the threaded rods, you just need to get the adjustment close then you can make ~1mm adjustments with the rod ends just by turning them in and out. And because there are threaded rods off the side-side and the front-back parts of the linkage, you can adjust either direction completely independently of the other. With the factory adjustment, only, you adjust the side-side by rotating the clamp on the shaft and adjust the front-back by how deep the clamp seats on the shaft.

And that relay lever, I think this is a case where VW engineering just plain screwed up. If you add up the heights of the lips of the two little bushings and the height of the tube in the relay lever, it comes out about 1 mm shorter than the length of the shouldered bolt that goes through it. That is why tightening the bolt more does not take out the slop, the nut bottoms out on the bolt's shoulder and there is still a gap. Could be some bean counter who replaced some custom sized bushing with a more common one (turns out to be the same bushings as used at the bottom of the shifter to attach the main rod) and forgot to tell engineering of the change. I suppose the teflon tape might prevent the bushings from seating into the relay lever quite as far. I find a thin shim/washer on top does the trick just fine. We source a special shimming washer for exactly the thickness needed.

[Fatmobile]

Right, that's exactly what it does,
bunches up under the brim and pushes the bushing outward.

It takes a few times to get it right,.. a washer sounds like a solid cure.

[82vdub]

I ordered a kit from VWcaddy and plan on working on it tomorrow. This am on the way to work, the shifter rod came off again. It's time.

[82vdub]

I did the repair work Friday night. 5 hours from start to finish including moving cars around to get access to the garage. Shifted well on Sat except a couple times had issues getting into first gear. This am, wouldn't go into first gear unless I started to go to reverse. I got home and adjusted the linkage a bit and it shifts like a new trans/car.

[the man 53]

same trouble I had with his kit. Nothing he did, I took the stock arms up and matched the lengths. It was a bit hard to get into first with the lengths matched up to stock pieces. I lengthed the one and haven't made any more adjustments to it. My friend Brenden did the same with his too. Stock piece must need to have been a bit longer???

[VWCaddy]

same trouble I had with his kit. Nothing he did, I took the stock arms up and matched the lengths. It was a bit hard to get into first with the lengths matched up to stock pieces. I lengthed the one and haven't made any more adjustments to it. My friend Brenden did the same with his too. Stock piece must need to have been a bit longer???

Likely this just means your existing linkage adjustment was off a little bit and I think folks tend to under-set the length on the rods compared to the OEM style fixed rods. If the selector lever was rotated just a tiny bit towards the driver's side, that has the same effect as lengthening the rear (or front) selector rod. But the nice thing with the adjustable linkage is just that, it is adjustable. You can fine tune the side-side or front-back adjustment in small increments and without affecting the other direction. It is worse with a 5 speed trans axle as the shift pattern is wider and you are pretty much using all the available motion of the linkage to reach all the gears. So if you are off just a tiny bit one way or the other, you might be missing some gears.