Transmission

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chachi
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Re: Transmission

Post by chachi » Wed May 17, 2017 7:54 am

can you speak more about balancing the pressure plate? is there a tutorial somewhere?
1974 transporter panel, 2.0 dual solex
1991 vanagon NAHT, RJE 2.3

appetite
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Re: Transmission

Post by appetite » Wed May 17, 2017 9:45 am

i received my pricey clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing today from Wolfsburg West. I bought the "German OEM" versions, but they are labeled SACHS.

Are the Brazilian versions labeled as such?

Looking forward to this crazy swap...

James

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Amskeptic
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Re: Transmission

Post by Amskeptic » Wed May 17, 2017 3:48 pm

appetite wrote:
Wed May 17, 2017 9:45 am
i received my pricey clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing today from Wolfsburg West. I bought the "German OEM" versions, but they are labeled SACHS.

Are the Brazilian versions labeled as such?

Looking forward to this crazy swap...

James



Look at the boxes for country-of-origin and any stampings on the parts themselves like industriadebrazilia.
"Oh, well, you see, Sachs makes parts all around the world."
"But your website said 'German'."
"Yeah, well Sachs is a German company, the quality control is just like they came from Germany.'
"Yeah . . . . . . . right . . . . "
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: Transmission

Post by appetite » Wed May 17, 2017 6:52 pm

As per the box:

Clutch and Pressure Plate - Made in the Slovak Republic
Throw Out Bearing - Made in Germany

So, OK, the correct continent, at least...

James

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Re: Transmission

Post by appetite » Mon May 29, 2017 9:10 am

To follow up on the Wright Gearbox transmission:

The installation went smoothly. There were a few bumps and anomalies, but nothing that prevented a relatively pain-free installation. We included a new sprung clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing in the process.

Shifting was tight and unforgiving for the first test drive. But the gears found their home after 10 miles or so of neighborhood driving. My old transmission was sloppy and familiar; the rebuild feels strong and sounds so quiet in comparison. There's a bit of a whine in 4th gear when coming off acceleration, but Colin was not overly concerned.

Overall, I'm pleased with the rebuild, lukewarm on the shipping. I admittedly have no point of comparison.

I will follow-up again after 500 miles.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Transmission

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Jun 11, 2017 6:07 pm

appetite wrote:
Mon May 29, 2017 9:10 am
To follow up on the Wright Gearbox transmission:

The installation went smoothly. There were a few bumps and anomalies, but nothing that prevented a relatively pain-free installation. We included a new sprung clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing in the process.

Shifting was tight and unforgiving for the first test drive. But the gears found their home after 10 miles or so of neighborhood driving. My old transmission was sloppy and familiar; the rebuild feels strong and sounds so quiet in comparison. There's a bit of a whine in 4th gear when coming off acceleration, but Colin was not overly concerned.

Overall, I'm pleased with the rebuild, lukewarm on the shipping. I admittedly have no point of comparison.

I will follow-up again after 500 miles.
Image


I sure as heck have another 500 miles, 1,000 actually, since we did the job. Your old pressure plate, the Appetite Commemorative Original Fitchel&Sachs 1600 Bus Pressure Plate was installed 8 hours ago here in Littleton Massachusetts behind the dentist's office. Thank-you, James, this pressure plate that braved the wilds of Montclair NJ shall now see the country and rack up more miles than it could possibly have imagined, not that it was imagining anything, I imagine.
Colin

In New Jersey in a 1969 Westy

Image


Now in Massachusetts in a 1970 Deluxe

Image
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

appetite
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Re: Transmission

Post by appetite » Wed Jul 05, 2017 2:13 pm

An update on the transmission and searching for some info and help on some issues.

It has been just under 500 miles since installation, and I am having some problems shifting that I need to solve. I'm hoping the wisdom of the forum can give me some insight.

First, the good:

Reverse, 3rd and 4th gear are all fine.
No popping out of any of the gears at any time.
No whine from the transmission, pulls on hills, etc.

The bad:

It is often very difficult, if not impossible, to shift into 1st or 2nd without considerable wrangling.

Some typical scenarios to explain the issue:

Scenario #1 - Reverse out of driveway. Get into 1st without an issue. Into 2nd without an issue. Full stop. Try to go into 1st. Instead, the transmission goes into 3rd. (Colin: this happened to us on our test drives and continues, sometimes). Full stop. Get into 3rd gear, clutch still engaged. Rev engine. Put in neutral, disengage clutch. Try to get into 1st. No dice. Go into 2nd, and with clutch still engaged, get into 1st.

Scenario #2 - Full stop. Try to get into 1st. No dice. Try to get into 2nd. No dice. Get into 3rd, clutch still engaged. Rev engine. Put in neutral. Get into 1st, with difficulty. No crunching, but it is not smooth.

Scenario #3 - Full stop. Try to get into 1st. No dice. Get into 2nd, clutch still engaged, get into 1st, easily.

Scenario #4 - Need to downshift from 3rd to 2nd in anticipation of a turn. Slow to under 20mph. Attempt to get into 2nd. No dice. Full stop. Put in neutral. Attempt to get into 1st. No dice. Go into 2nd, and with clutch still engaged, get into 1st.

The most frustrating part is these scenarios happen 75% of the time, but not always. So I don't know where to begin. Are there adjustments I can make? To the clutch?

Thanks ahead of time.

James

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asiab3
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Re: Transmission

Post by asiab3 » Wed Jul 05, 2017 10:58 pm

Hi James, the first thing I would check is your shift coupler. I have seen quite a few go bad where the round part that goes on the transaxle input stick breaks free from the square part that captures the shift rod. Check the video below to see what I mean. Your path to check this involves grabbing a helper that can take the shifter through the gears with the engine off, while you watch for movement underneath. Every millimeter of movement from the shift rod should translate through the coupler and out into the transaxle input stick.

This is how most of the failures I see look, but maybe not so dramatic. :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0g8Fweus6k


Good luck,
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Transmission

Post by appetite » Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:24 am

OK, I will check it out today. Thanks Robbie.

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Re: Transmission

Post by appetite » Thu Jul 06, 2017 9:02 am

Here's what it looks like underneath:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KmD22P2-yY

Forgive my wife; this was her first time shifting the bus.

Thoughts?

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asiab3
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Re: Transmission

Post by asiab3 » Thu Jul 06, 2017 4:01 pm

I didn't see enough "left to right" action of the shifter to really make a good call… But a few things to clear up:

Do the shifting issues persist when the engine is off? You can do this by feel yourself from the driver's seat. Clutch in for fun, though after a few shifts the clutch pedal won't be necessary with the engine off.

I should have specified this when asking in my above post, but can you do entirely left-to-right motions with the shift lever in neutral, slowly, while you watch underneath for motion like what I posted in my video? No need for a video response unless you have more questions.

Also, ensure the grub screw is tight and the grub screw divot on the shift rod is CLEAN. Once it is confirmed, safety wire the screw in so that if the screw tries to back out, the safety wire will only tighten itself. That way you'll never lose it. Also check the grub screw on the front shift rod, just before the shift rod assembly goes into the chassis tunnel. This is in the center of the bus, about three feet behind where the shifter goes through the cabin floor.

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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hambone
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Re: Transmission

Post by hambone » Thu Jul 06, 2017 7:35 pm

It is probably a shifter plate adjustment. Mine is doing the same exact thing but I'm too lazy to pull off the carpet. Try shifting into 1st by holding the shift rod to the left, that seems to help.
Bentley has a good procedure, I think 90 deg. from the floor in 2nd, then push the plate towards the left until it just touches the shifter.
I have also been told this is normal for new transmissions. Is it?
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appetite
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Re: Transmission

Post by appetite » Mon Jul 10, 2017 7:38 am

Thanks Robbie and Hambone. I will check out those items this week.

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sgkent
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Re: Transmission

Post by sgkent » Mon Jul 10, 2017 2:33 pm

when you pull the floormat off clean around the shift housing and stop plate with something like a wisk broom etc. Then use a good pencil or fine sharpie to draw an outline of the shift housing. This will help you see any changes you make. Depending on the year there are different style bushings in the front of the shift rod. They wear out, and the stop plates also break. If you plan on doing all the work the same day, find a new stop plate with tabs if yours has tabs, and a new bushing the style you have so you can replace those before you adjust it, otherwise you may spend a week looking for the parts while the bus sits.
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Re: Transmission

Post by appetite » Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:29 pm

Robbie asked:

"Do the shifting issues persist when the engine is off?"

So the answer is... sometimes. Very frustrating. Does that rule something out? With the engine off, see below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlQ3_unSWZU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rIvDLyFe7Q

Robbie said:

"Also check the grub screw on the front shift rod, just before the shift rod assembly goes into the chassis tunnel."

Grub screw is tight. But there's an enormous glob of beige grease (?) between the boot and the heater tube. I was aghast. See:
IMG_2300.JPG
Crazy, right? I'm going to clean out all that grease. But I don't think that's the culprit. It didn't impede shifting on the previous transmission.

I don't think it is the shifter coupling. It doesn't appear to be faulty based on Robbie's example.

sgkent and hambone: I'm going to check out the stop plate next. What should I be looking for?

Thanks,

James

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