[T2] 2nd gear problems

[Kevin Guarnotta]

I looked at this while someone shifted in the front seat. It looked like it was moving ok. Not sure exactly what to look for – except something obviously broken – which I didn’t see.

The shifter plate was tight – so I don’t think that was the issue, but now that I removed it, I’m having some trouble getting it aligned properly again. I ran out of steam today. I’ll be trying again tomorrow.

I probably don’t have much time to work on it – as I NEED to drive somewhere tomorrow night. I may go get my ’65 which I have neglected, and left stored in a garage. I am sure the gas has gone bad on it. But it was running well when I parked it. Hopefully I just need to drain the gas, and put some fresh gas in. Then I can drive that while I trouble shoot the shifting problems in the Westy.

My thoughts for tomorrow – try to set the stop plate again. If I can’t get that to work - recheck all the shift rod connections, for anything that looks out of the ordinary, or loose. If I can’t find anything obvious – what is next? Do I need to pull all the shift rods? I do notice that I don’t see that little wire that holds the last bolt in the shift rod. Is that just in earlier buses?

-Kevin Guarnotta
Jamaica Plain, MA

’78 Westy
'69 Singlecab
'65 Ez-camper


From: Jason Laster [mailto:jason at fasterlaster.com]
Subject: Re: [T2] 2nd gear problems

Did you happen to check the coupling just in front of the transaxle?  If that starts to go, it may be loose enough to not fully 'rotate' it for 3rd.  4th is a pull from the transaxle and my experience has usually been that movement is a bit easier in general than 3rd.  I'd be surprised if the kids had enough strength to move the shifter plate unless it's loose.

Jason