Tricks to smooth shifting???

[malcolm2]

Finally have mated my rebuilt engine and rebuilt Tranz. Very close to starting the engine. Been putzing with the shifter. Man is it out of wack. Everything is new... and I mean everything. Are there any tricks to getting the stick to FEEL right? I am guessing that since nothing is spinning, It might shift alittle tight. Am i right?? Flat bed shot below is 59 months ago....

 

[malcolm2]

Not long ago....

 

[sparkywig]

Have you ever driven a bus before? The gearshift never feels right.

 

[YellowBay69]

Best quote I’ve seen for ages !

 

[naskeet]

Have you ever driven a bus before? The gearshift never feels right.

Maybe I have a superior build-quality 1973 VW 1600 Type 2, but since I first starting driving it in early-1975, gear changing has always been easy, quick and precise for all forward & reverse gears; merely requiring one to guide the gear lever with an open palm, biasing the direction of force accordingly.

This proved invaluable on my way to Hungary in 1985, when driving over the Arleberg Pass in Austria, which featured a succession of multiple, sharp & steep hairpin bends, that necessitated using both sides of the road.

https://www.dangerousroads.org/europe/austria/4509-arlberg-pass.html

 

[Clem]

NAS - Maybe the bus only being 12 years old had some help in that too?

If the gearbox is ok, all you can do is check and replace the consumable parts such as the rear coupler and the bushes, make sure the ball socket is greased and maybe fit a quick shift kit. Some adjustment is always required, its not a straight fit and forget.

 

[mike202]

Finally have mated my rebuilt engine and rebuilt Tranz. Very close to starting the engine. Been putzing with the shifter. Man is it out of wack. Everything is new... and I mean everything. Are there any tricks to getting the stick to FEEL right? I am guessing that since nothing is spinning, It might shift alittle tight. Am i right?? Flat bed shot below is 59 months ago....

I had the gearbox refurbed in 2019, and replaced just about everything apart from the rear shift rod on my 1970 bus. I couldn’t get the shifting right, but eventually it was just a matter of the gear shifter plate being adjusted just right.
I still have to allow time for the gearbox to catch up when I change down from 3rd to 2nd, but it does go in after a few seconds!

 

[naskeet]

NAS - Maybe the bus only being 12 years old had some help in that too?

If the gearbox is ok, all you can do is check and replace the consumable parts such as the rear coupler and the bushes, make sure the ball socket is greased and maybe fit a quick shift kit. Some adjustment is always required, its not a straight fit and forget.

The gear change was equally good the last time I drove it!

 

[chad]

Maybe it depends on an individuals expectations or you have one of the very few or even the only one like that?

 

[ozziedog]

Just chucking my ten pence in, mine shifts great unless you try and hurry things along like when you is in the middle of a ten point turn and there’s a queue waiting to get past. Box ain’t in the very best condition but changes great. I reckon there’s serious mischief afoot when you’re struggling or stirring porridge. The routine seems to be,,,,,think about shifting,,,, tell the bus what you’re thinking about,,,,, plop it gently into neutral,,,, tell the bus again which one you’d like,,,, then stroke it generally in that direction,,,, then hopefully your bus was listening and all will be peace and love in the gear shift department.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,and that’s how you doooos it

 

[naskeet]

Maybe it depends on an individuals expectations or you have one of the very few or even the only one like that?

We also briefly had a 1974 VW 1800 Type 2 panel-van for a couple of years, during the early-1990s, from April 1991 onward, which had probably been around the clock a few times. Selecting the gears on that vehicle, seemed no more difficult than with the 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan.

Hence, the ease of gear-selection might be attributable to either the design / build-quality of the 1973~79 VW Type 2s or to my driving technique; given that my father seemed to find gear-selection less easy than me!

Because it had a much narrower H-gate, gear-selection on the VW Type 2 (which was the first vehicle I drove solo, in August 1975 at the age of 19½), was in some ways easier to master, than the 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 "HL Special" or my father's 1986 Ford Sierra XR4x4.

 

[V.R.M.]

Despite having driven a fair few aircooled VW's the first time I drove a friends bay i could not get through the gears no matter what I did. I actually gave up and my friend took over and had no problem due to his familiarity. Later when I was lucky enough to find my crossover bay with 76K miles on it, it shifted gears beautifully and was never a problem. That is until I parked it up for restoration for nearly 10 years and it was never the same again. I presume all the bushes etc shrunk during that time or simply aged but It's never been as good as it was in the late 90's when I first got it. Nothing has been adjusted or changed in that time, the gearbox hasn't been out - i just put it down to age and wear. I will have to sort it out one of these days...

 

[mike202]

I don’t think VW thought they would still be around 50 years plus later.

 

[ozziedog]

Despite having driven a fair few aircooled VW's the first time I drove a friends bay i could not get through the gears no matter what I did. I actually gave up and my friend took over and had no problem due to his familiarity. Later when I was lucky enough to find my crossover bay with 76K miles on it, it shifted gears beautifully and was never a problem. That is until I parked it up for restoration for nearly 10 years and it was never the same again. I presume all the bushes etc shrunk during that time or simply aged but It's never been as good as it was in the late 90's when I first got it. Nothing has been adjusted or changed in that time, the gearbox hasn't been out - i just put it down to age and wear. I will have to sort it out one of these days...

I had a similar scenario trying to get first gear in an ancient early sixties mini with extra long gearstick, my mate used to just Chuck it in there and could not understand why I ended up in third time after time after time.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,, but we likes em a bit old dunt us

 

[malcolm2]

Have you ever driven a bus before? The gearshift never feels right.

certainly not this one.... but yes. Not too long after I bought this one, I started checking local ads and my wife and I went to test drive any that we understood to be drive-able. Sorry for the trickery. Of course it was not much of a drive to even remember.

 

[malcolm2]

NAS - Maybe the bus only being 12 years old had some help in that too?

If the gearbox is ok, all you can do is check and replace the consumable parts such as the rear coupler and the bushes, make sure the ball socket is greased and maybe fit a quick shift kit. Some adjustment is always required, its not a straight fit and forget.

so tell me more about a quick shift kit? I thought there had to be some aftermarket stuff. I removed all the shafts, cleaned 'em up and painted them, Added all fresh bushings etc.... course i understand new bushings can be crap....

 

[malcolm2]

I got the engine installed and started. Rear wheels are jacked up, so I shifted around to gears. One thing that I know is not right is the stick actually rotates. That is not part of the action. Stick should go forward and backwards. Side to side action twists the long shaft. The twisting action kinda does the same thing. The cup at the bottom of the stick has a slot in it. The stick has a half round ball on the end with a hole in it. A spring loaded pin goes thru the hole and into the slot. I think that is supposed to keep the stick from twisting.

 

[malcolm2]

https://store.vintagespeed.com.tw/2...OW-BUS-CLASSIC-SPORT-QUICK-SHIFTER-p132902309

I found the shifter. Video of the dude in a bug is damn good. Gotta find a vid of a BUS.

 

[K@rlos]

Maybe I have a superior build-quality 1973 VW 1600 Type 2, but since I first starting driving it in early-1975, gear changing has always been easy, quick and precise for all forward & reverse gears; merely requiring one to guide the gear lever with an open palm, biasing the direction of force accordingly.

This proved invaluable on my way to Hungary in 1985, when driving over the Arleberg Pass in Austria, which featured a succession of multiple, sharp & steep hairpin bends, that necessitated using both sides of the road.

https://www.dangerousroads.org/europe/austria/4509-arlberg-pass.html

 

[sparkywig]

I got the engine installed and started. Rear wheels are jacked up, so I shifted around to gears. One thing that I know is not right is the stick actually rotates. That is not part of the action. Stick should go forward and backwards. Side to side action twists the long shaft. The twisting action kinda does the same thing. The cup at the bottom of the stick has a slot in it. The stick has a half round ball on the end with a hole in it. A spring loaded pin goes thru the hole and into the slot. I think that is supposed to keep the stick from twisting.

This is what you should have