Club 80-90 Forums

Hello! My 1989 4-speed WBX camper has developed a clunkiness changing from 3rd to 4th (although not from neutral to 4th it seems) and really needs a yank to get it into 4th from 3rd.

Photos here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

I've done some investigating and have found the remains of what looks like a plastic thing that had disintegrated and fallen to the bottom of the housing underneath the gear lever. Could this be the culprit?!

Also, down at the gear box end the boots have all crumbled to pieces (see pics) - not sure if that's an issue or red herring here?

TIA!

yes the guides on the bottom of the gear stick fitted to the linkage are important to overall shift
the split rear boots and partially missing boots will also contribute to overall "pooh"
Our very own Ian Silverbullet makes a top quality repair kit for the guides; unfortunately it was ripped off by others who had no shame getting cheap stuff made in far east
You can buy both qualities from brickwerks who also have a choice of the boots
251 711 167 E and 251 711 167 F; I'd be replacing the rear bush whilst doing the boots 251 711 207 E, and I'd probably do the front one too 251 711 207 D. Brickwerks do a whole refurb your linkage kit which could be the way to go....

Nothing like keeping in top of maintenance OP.

If i was you. get a full refurb kit from BW. Plenty of vids on YT and guides here.

Would love to see the condition of the ally blocks and the plastic guides at the front end.

The refurb is easy and a nice days work.

It will be like a whole new experience shifting gears when done. iirc it was one of the first things i done moons ago when finding gear was like stirring a huge pot.

mioba wrote: ↑17 Oct 2026, 15:59

Would love to see the condition of the ally blocks and the plastic guides at the front end.

It's a 4 speed, different gearstick and box under, the pics show the guide on the end of the front linkage is back to bare steel so running along the 'gate' it is a couple of mm out of position hence some of the poor selection

If the 4-speed box has decided to get snaggy when shifting from 3 to 4 doesn't that point to a linear bearing failure on the 3-4 shift rod/fork?

Aidan wrote: ↑18 Oct 2026, 07:59

mioba wrote: ↑17 Oct 2026, 15:59

Would love to see the condition of the ally blocks and the plastic guides at the front end.

It's a 4 speed, different gearstick and box under, the pics show the guide on the end of the front linkage is back to bare steel so running along the 'gate' it is a couple of mm out of position hence some of the poor selection

Thanks. These guides - is it these we're talking about?

https://brickwerks.co.uk/product/gear-s ... ternative/

Seems like such a weird design!

yep those are they

originally the nylon was molded onto the linkage rod, but as you have seen over time, with the application of unsuitable lubricants, rust, road dirt and heavy handed drivers they can wear and or break up like yours have done. The only solution was to buy a new linkage rod for over £100 (when they were still available from VW)
I bought a new one from VW, sent it to Ian so he could measure accurately and he designed, bought the necessary raw material and tools and made the repair kit, using deformable aluminium rivets to hold the machined plastic pieces in place. He supplied a US retailer as well as Brickwerks, and some smart alec in the US had a chinese rip off quickly on the shelf for 20% of the cost of Ian's hand machined, supplied with instructions, superior material, set.
JP then also ripped the design off I assume when they made the repro linkage rods) - the cheap ones are a little bit brittle and more likely to break up but are slightly easier to fit

silverbullet wrote: ↑18 Oct 2026, 08:54 If the 4-speed box has decided to get snaggy when shifting from 3 to 4 doesn't that point to a linear bearing failure on the 3-4 shift rod/fork?

or a broken 3rd4th synchro hub, but lets repair the linkage first to rule out external issues

Cool thanks. I will order some of those as clearly mine have broken off, but sceptical as to whether this will fix the 3-4 problem!

Drop the oil, to view the magnet on the drain plug, though unless synchroniser has broken up a lot there often isn't any identifiable debris to identify smoking gun, 3mm ball bearings and inch long piece of spring steel are broken slider bearing though

How can I get the remains of the original shift guides off? Are they glued on or will they just pull off?

They are molded on nylon, best to remove the entire rod and squeeze them in a vise to fracture them and/or cut them off.
Degrease and clean very thoroughly, fix the new tips with epoxy (Araldite) and leave to cure for 24hrs.

IIRC.

You take the stuck out and you break away the plastic on the selector.

Scrape it well and clean it well and degrease.

When I done mine I am sure there was a pin that went through the plastic aided by a good glop of araldite.

Thanks. The parts arrived today. One is bigger than the other. Is it obvious which is which side? 

Should have bought the better quality set that has instructions included
Only saying, to save Ian from saying it
The one that has broken up on yours is the angled top one