Friday, August 19, 2011

Shifty Gears

Since our last mechanic visit, our gears are still giving us troubles. It is increasingly difficult to get into 2nd from 3rd or 4th. Its very easy to slide into reverse, or grind it. We think part of the problem may be the clutch wearing down. With only a few more months of camping weather left and only 2 camp outs under our belt, I am going to make it my top priority getting Lenny back into a better driving condition. I really wish I never let a stranger put their hands on my Bus, but I am learning from my mistakes.
One month from now is Fire on the Mountain~ a VW Bus camp out in North Eastern Georgia. Another 5 day event~ I plan to bring the Pindo Palm jelly I have been obsessing about this month. What's pindo palm jelly? I explain it a lot in my other blog this month. :) Check It!

6 comments:

  1. You should check the shifter joint between the transmission and the body of the bus. It maybe loose or twisted or something. Not sure if you have a bentley book, but it would be a help when making sure this is right.

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  2. Did u try tightening the wing nut on your clutch cable?

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  3. Thanks Volkster~ i believe it is the shifter joint. I do have my bently~ will look more into it this weekend.
    Anonymous person~ i will check into that too, although we had our clutch tightened a few months ago... I shall check on that too! thanks for the help

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  4. Even if you tightened clutch cable a couple months ago it still may be something with cable. I was having similar problems with my 78 westy it ended up being a worn out clutch cable sleeve which was adding tension to cable thus slowly grinding away clutch cable pin (where cable connects to pedal) causing frequent adjustment of wing nut/clutch. Btw this is Jeff with green westy from buses by the bridge. You guys gonna try to make it out again this year?

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  5. Thanks Jeff, we've been slacking severely on checking it out, things just keep coming up. I don't think we will make it to BBB this year~ unless something crazy happens and we can! thats a looooong drive for us now!

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  6. I forgot about the boden tube(the tube that the clutch cable runs through just before the end of the cable at the transmission). When was the last time it was changed? If it flexes ( it should be curved when installed), that could make it hard to shift also. If it straightens at all when pushing in the clutch, it is worn out and needs replacing. Not real hard to replace. Check your bently for how it is supposed to work.

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