Itinerant Air-Cooled

Bummer. At least it waited till you got home from Maupin. If you're looking for an excellent tranny rebuilder Daryl at AA Transaxle is one of the best out there. Customer service is outstanding also.

http://www.aatransaxle.com/

no kidding, I can't believe it made it all the way to Maupin and back (loaded to the gills with weight) when it was that close to letting go.

I have heard a lot of great things about AA before. Ive used German Transaxle out of Bend once before and they were extremely easy to work with as well. I'll likely end up going with one of those two based on experiences...

yep, I can vouch for him too although I don't think he is "hands on" that much anymore due to his illness so his son has taken over.

I had Daryl rebuild my bug tranny a year ago. He's doing great and yes, his son is doing a lot of the hands-on, but Daryl's watchful eye isn't right next to him. X3 on the vouch.

airkooledchris wrote:Colin has the picture

airkooledchris wrote: It was one of those days where anything that can go wrong, did (it seemed).

Yeah, it was *sunny in Eureka*.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

airkooledchris wrote:Colin has the picture

airkooledchris wrote: It was one of those days where anything that can go wrong, did (it seemed).

Yeah, it was *sunny in Eureka*.
Colin

my god that looks worse than ive been able to describe to others. thanks for grabbing a picture in the moment.

im sunburnt all up and down my legs from that day. turns out carb cleaner just eats away any sunscreen residue quicker than you can say 'owch'


in better news - I finally finished buttoning everything back up nice and snugly and I was able to get the heater system working MUCH better than it did previously, in terms of it's volume of air being moved. of course its going to feel hotter in this weather but im losing a lot less of it down by the heater box connections once it was carefully connected.

CHT's on the highway are higher than they were before, which probably means I have a vacuum leak somewhere to chase, but it's not bad bad - just higher than my expected numbers. I did a drive 30 miles north of town, then back to Eureka and 30 miles south - no problems with drivability and I can shift without any crunchy noises or anything. the fresh gear oil should be well distributed by now through the transmission.


is there any reason not to take a transmission to local shops that repair them, Vs farming it out to VW transmission specialists? there is a transmission shop that everyone local likes - but would a standard transmission place lack the tools or knowledge of these where they would mess it up or do poor work to it?

"is there any reason not to take a transmission to local shops that repair them, Vs farming it out to VW transmission specialists? there is a transmission shop that everyone local likes - but would a standard transmission place lack the tools or knowledge of these where they would mess it up or do poor work to it?"
yes, as the good german parts are drying up and you don't want the cheapo chinese shit installed. Darryl has lots of good core pieces too so if you need a gizmo shifter widget that's NLA he can install a good used one.

Bleyseng wrote:"is there any reason not to take a transmission to local shops that repair them, Vs farming it out to VW transmission specialists? there is a transmission shop that everyone local likes - but would a standard transmission place lack the tools or knowledge of these where they would mess it up or do poor work to it?"
yes, as the good german parts are drying up and you don't want the cheapo chinese shit installed. Darryl has lots of good core pieces too so if you need a gizmo shifter widget that's NLA he can install a good used one.

I strongly second Bleyseng's observations. There are many many many details that only an expert VW transaxle builder is going to catch, remember the "shift fork adjusting jig" we looked at in the VW manual?
Colin

I popped off the nose cone and this is what was hiding underneath. fixing that little ball isn't going to change the fact that the transmission is seeming dead right?

those three forks that the hockey stick work in and out - I know the middle position is Neutral, and I can push the top one both in where it clicks and out where it clicks. the one in the middle I can pull out where it clicks, but it doesn't push in. the bottom one I can push in where it clicks and pull it out where it clicks.

that's 5 positions, so is this all my gears that I was unable to find with the hockey stick?

Well it could fix it but how many miles are on the transmission? How often did the oil get changed and or keep at the right level? Low oil levels kill the upper bearings and intermediate plate. Did it growl, whine or make other noises? How about down shifting? Smooth and easy to drop down thru the gears especially second?

If its a good core than its worth it weight to rebuild it so you have a like new tranny that will last 150k if taken care of.

Well if it CAN fix it - then it can fix it right? I have no idea how many miles are on it but it wasn't making any kind of noise before it failed , it had simply become hard to shift and then I couldn't find 1st or second after coming out of third and into neutral.

no previous issues with downshifting.

I just don't want to rebuild it right now if I don't have to since this will now be going into the project bus. But if this isn't going to fix the issue I was having and it's hosed anyway then ill move on

airkooledchris wrote:Well if it CAN fix it - then it can fix it right? I have no idea how many miles are on it but it wasn't making any kind of noise before it failed , it had simply become hard to shift and then I couldn't find 1st or second after coming out of third and into neutral.

no previous issues with downshifting.

I just don't want to rebuild it right now if I don't have to since this will now be going into the project bus. But if this isn't going to fix the issue I was having and it's hosed anyway then ill move on

I wanted to get to that point while there!
Good for you for getting in there.
Read your Bentley! Each fork is identified. Each push pull of the fork should take 33-44 pounds of force. Remove the interlock after making sure you are in neutral and test each fork. Reverse will have only two positions of course. I would love to know why we had no detent action in 1/2 fork.
ColinGoodOnYouForGettingInThere
BadOnYouForNotCleaningTheFlangeBeforeDisassembly

I know, I should have cleaned it first. I was eager to see this horrible failure and didn't think much of a dirty and failed part....


While I can't say how many foot pounds of force it required to push/pull the forks into and out of gear, it wasn't difficult to do. The only issue I had was in 1st because I kept pushing it against the selector if I didn't push the selector down far enough to get out of the way of my pliers.

Here is a little video I shot showing the different gear selections:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sYLtVXb_3M

I am all for the "fix only what needs fixin" with due consideration for the tight funds sitch.

That said, I wonder if the disintegrated ball explains the porcupine magnet you pulled out? Seemed like a lot of ferrous metal.

If you have the spare just sitting around, all handy like, and you think you can fix the ball and put it back together, it may be worth the effort to give it a try. Only you know if it is worth the effort to swap it again for the experiment and perhaps then again ifn' it doesn't work.

Work as clean as you can.