Gear linkage adjustment tips?

Post by **Adventureman** » 11 Jul 2006, 19:42

Hi all,

I checked the gear linkage Wiki, but didn't find anything specific, so was hoping somebody might have an inspiration to save me hours of fiddling.

I took the bus (1987 T25) to have the front wheels aligned and when I picked it up the gear linkage was all to pot. At that point they'd stuffed it up to the point where R, 2, and 4 were impossible to get due to the stick bashing the dashboard. I took it back and they did some (pretty crude) adjustments to the linkage using the adjuster in the main linkage (the one in the centre behind the level of the front wheels).

This sort of fixed the problem, but third gear has never been the same since. All the the gears were available, but third was impossible to engage without either a lot grinding or a lot of finesse. Since then I had it up on ramps again and with a lot more fiddling got third to halfway decent again, but it still grinds if youÃ‚Â´re not careful.

Thing I can't work out is how a wheel alignment job could mess up the gear linkage like this. Any bright ideas what they might have done?

Cheers muchly in advance,

Stephen

Post by **Aidan** » 12 Jul 2006, 10:58

? jacked it up or dropped it on something they shouldn't have and bent the shift rod ?
To set it up do it as per the bentley manual procedure, you'll need a mate to hold the gearstick while you adjust underneath

Post by **Simon Baxter** » 12 Jul 2006, 11:06

They are a bit of a sod to get right, and it doesn't help if the stick is bent, which it sounds like yours is.
The key to a good linkage is regular maintainance as if they get stiff people start to rag them about, and the gearstick gets a healthy bend on towards the dashboard.
Now it's too close to the dash people try to adjust it away from the dash and you simply cant do that.

My advice is if you want a good gearshift is to...

Buy a new stick, about £70 from VW.
Replace the top hat bushes at the bottom of the stick, they cost about a quid.
remove any quick shift kit fitted and get it aligned without it first.
replace the crucifix, the pins and if needed the shift rod either front or rear, or bothif the holes are worn.

You align the front shift plate by aligning the holes with pop rivets, or drill bits etc, loosen the nuts/bolts and drop the pins in to hold it in place, then tighten the nuts, thats the front part set, although not all models have this facility.
Then, with the aid of a mate sat inside adjust the crucifix (Universal joint)

All parts are still available from VW, why go to JK when you can get them from a dealer in your own town? Where do you think JK actually get them from?

Post by **Adventureman** » 12 Jul 2006, 11:07

Cheers, I'll check out the shift rod for damage and try and get hold of the manual.