81 Rabbit 5 Speed Shifter Issue

[uzzo2]

I have been having an issue with the shifter in this car. It's hard to get it into 1st and 2nd. You can bump the reverse lockout and go up with it and you're in 3rd. You have to go just a smidgen over the lockout to get it into 1st. I can shift it although sometimes I miss it and put it in reverse instead of 1st. I'm wanting to start teaching my daughter to drive with it and I know she'll never get it figured out. I've replaced all of the bushings. Only thing left is the linkage. They don't look adjustable to me. And they don't look bent other than the bends that are in one of them from the factory. Could it be something wrong with the linkage perhaps?

[bscutt]

did you replace the bushings at the actual shifter lever too? They use the same ones used elsewhere, the black "top hat" bushings. There is one on either side of the shifter pivot up inside the cylindrical housing that is right under the shifter handle. There are some other points that wear too that can be replaced with some more effort. Roger Brown's Missing Linkz site sells some nice aftermarket shifter upgrades and replacements too. http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/ForSale/ ... kage.shtml

[uzzo2]

did you replace the bushings at the actual shifter lever too? They use the same ones used elsewhere, the black "top hat" bushings. There is one on either side of the shifter pivot up inside the cylindrical housing that is right under the shifter handle. There are some other points that wear too that can be replaced with some more effort. Roger Brown's Missing Linkz site sells some nice aftermarket shifter upgrades and replacements too. http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/ForSale/ ... kage.shtml

I sure didn't Bob, I was wondering why I had a couple left over.

[bscutt]

I actually discovered those when after replacing "everything" and still having slop I had my son move the shifter while I looked underneath at all pivot points and then I found them. It's virtually impossible to find them if you don't have help unless of course you know that they are there

[uzzo2]

I actually discovered those when after replacing "everything" and still having slop I had my son move the shifter while I looked underneath at all pivot points and then I found them. It's virtually impossible to find them if you don't have help unless of course you know that they are there

I replaced them yesterday, it didn't help anything. I got the old Bentley out and read it again. It seems I stopped at the point where you adjust the length. I had to read a little further to find that you have to have 15mm clearance from the shifter to the stop. I got my dial caliper out and measured it this time and set the throw length. It now works like I assume it worked when it was brand new.

[bscutt]

nice. it's somewhere between an art and a science. glad you got it sorted out.

[uzzo2]

Oh yeah, I had another guy told me the way he set his was with an old cassette tape. He said they're just the right thickness. I laughed and said hell, I don't believe I even own a cassette tape anymore. Damn, I reckon I'm getting old Bob. It sucks, and it sure ain't for sissies

[bscutt]

ok I have to admit I have a box full of cassette tapes in the basement. However, that's a good tidbit of info to have. Yeah not getting any younger either. Just a few months from one of those decade birthdays, one you could never have convinced me I would ever see when I was in my 20s. We'll see how many more of those I'll see, not holding my breath on that.

[uzzo2]

I have to amend that Bob. He said he used the cassette tape case, not the tape itself. He said it's the perfect thickness. I suppose if you have a case laying around and a dial caliper that measures in millimeters, check it and see.

[bscutt]

yeah I figured that's what that meant. Now if I can just find a use for those old 8-tracks.