81 Rabbit 5 Speed Shifter Issue

[Patrick_Henry]

Hello folks, new to the forum. I have been having an issue with the shifter in this car. It's hard to get it into 1st and 2nd. You can bump the reverse lockout and go up with it and you're in 3rd. You have to go just a smidgen over the lockout to get it into 1st. I can shift it although sometimes I miss it and put it in reverse instead of 1st. I'm wanting to start teaching my daughter to drive with it and I know she'll never get it figured out. I've replaced all of the bushings. Only thing left is the linkage. They don't look adjustable to me. And they don't look bent other than the bends that are in one of them from the factory. Could it be something wrong with the linkage perhaps?

[TimpanogosSlim]

The only adjustment is the shift rod. And the bearing under the lever, too, i guess.

There is a procedure in the bentley, which i don't have in front of me now, but i could maybe scan those pages.

But to me it sounds like the rod has slipped within the clamp where it meets the linkage.

Make sure the transmission is in neutral. Take the boot off from under the shift lever. Loosen the clamp at the end of the rod, and make sure that the thing on the bottom of the shift lever is exactly in the middle of the reverse lockout. Then tighten the clamp again.

.:Sent by pneumatic tubes

[Patrick_Henry]

The only adjustment is the shift rod. And the bearing under the lever, too, i guess.

There is a procedure in the bentley, which i don't have in front of me now, but i could maybe scan those pages.

But to me it sounds like the rod has slipped within the clamp where it meets the linkage.

Make sure the transmission is in neutral. Take the boot off from under the shift lever. Loosen the clamp at the end of the rod, and make sure that the thing on the bottom of the shift lever is exactly in the middle of the reverse lockout. Then tighten the clamp again.

.:Sent by pneumatic tubes

I have a Bentley manual and had to follow that procedure when I put the shift rod bushing on with all of the other bushings. I'll try it again but what's strange to me is that when I got the car. All of the soft bushings were completely gone. You could find all the gears pretty easily but it was real sloppy. I'll try adjusting it again though, thanks.

[TimpanogosSlim]

Yeah i am in the same situation, and have had to adjust it a few times. I am plenty new to this as well.

.:Sent by pneumatic tubes

[burn_your_money]

If you happen to have an old tape cassette case it is the perfect thickness for setting the shifter the correct distance from the stop.

Make sure you also adjust the throw length (by how far onto the shaft the clamp sits) or you can damage your transmission by not allowing the gears to fully engage. You can check this by making sure that when a gear is engaged, there is play in the shifter linkage at the transmission. Once the gear selector pops into the gear, it needs to be a bit loose.

Hopefully that makes sense, it's been a while since I worked on a MK1.

[Patrick_Henry]

If you happen to have an old tape cassette case it is the perfect thickness for setting the shifter the correct distance from the stop.

Make sure you also adjust the throw length (by how far onto the shaft the clamp sits) or you can damage your transmission by not allowing the gears to fully engage. You can check this by making sure that when a gear is engaged, there is play in the shifter linkage at the transmission. Once the gear selector pops into the gear, it needs to be a bit loose.

Hopefully that makes sense, it's been a while since I worked on a MK1.

Well, I got the old Bentley out and read it again. It seems I stopped at the point where you adjust the length. I had to read a little further to find that you have to have 15mm clearance from the shifter to the stop. I got my dial caliper out and measured it this time and set the throw length. It now works like I assume it worked when it was brand new. That's a neat trick with the cassette tape though. I don't believe I even own one anymore, makes me feel OLD.

[TimpanogosSlim]

I got tapes around here somewhere. I think i missed that step too.

[monomer]

When was the lasttime you checked your motor mounts?


I had a failed passenger side mount that messed everything up. Since it's a linkage shifter, if the motor's out of alignment, so is your linkage.


Go for the USRT kit if you can, with the short throw piece. SOOOOO much nicer!

[TimpanogosSlim]

I used a brand new 20 year blank tape. The fat part. Weather boot holds it in.

No trouble finding gears in my dash around the block.

I am using the missinglinkz products. USRT isn't getting any more of my money.

.:Sent by pneumatic tubes

[EcoTX]

I am using the missinglinkz products. USRT isn't getting any more of my money.

Just curious, what happened with your USRT experience?

I have USRT on the MK2 and all MissingLinkz on the MK1, was just wondering what happened..

[TimpanogosSlim]

I ordered a Snow watermeth kit w/ throttle body spacer and a couple other things from them, february of 2013. For my mk5 GTI. About $400 all told.

April rolls along, no stuff, no shipping notice, no nothing. Call 'em up, "Oh, we're out of stock on the throttle body spacer. It'll be back in stock soon".

Couple weeks pass, nothing. Call again, "Oh, something else in your order was out of stock, and then we sold out of spacers again, but we get more tomorrow".

A week passes, a throttle body spacer and screws, and one or two other small bits, but the Snow stuff and some other parts are clearly missing.

Call again, "You ordered what? You didn't get what? I thought we told Snow to drop-ship those in march. They didn't?" etc.

Your typical complete lack of basic business transaction responsibility found in many small enthusiast operations.

Eventually i got my parts, but my window of time to install them had passed.

A couple months later i have some time, and discover that (my bad) i have ordered the wrong progressive injection controller.

They never got back to me on how or whether i could return it to them or to snow for exchange.

I gave up. To hell with 'em.

If anybody wants a deal on a Snow WMI controller that works with any 5V MAF or with a boost tap, lemme know. Never installed. Turns out, the FSI engine has a frequency modulated MAF. I didn't feel like installing it on a boost tap.

I've seen mumblings on the 'tex that my experience with USRT is not unusual. I wanted to like them, but they didn't give me a chance.

Zero issues with my missinglinkz order, and the machining on the bushings is very good. I'm sure many people have no issues with USRT, but it's clear that many do as well. I've not seen anyone complain about the 4crawler stuff, and it turns out that I can get parts for my land cruiser there too. Probably going to order a body lift kit soon.

[TimpanogosSlim]

I'll allow that i work in software so it baffles me that anyone tries to e-tail without a good order & fulfillment tracking system in place that can be called up from a computer, but a shocking number don't. And when you have to dig through email or a filing cabinet to verify an order, you have to have a very on-the-ball staff or stuff goes wrong.

[EcoTX]

Haha wow what a bunch of crap to go through.

I got my USRT shift kit second hand already all assembled with the transmission mount and everything, so I never had to deal with ordering anything from them.

I just thought you had a big issue with their shifter kit or something.

Thanks for sharing

[TimpanogosSlim]

I know someone who said he made his own USRT-type spherical joint shift linkage by just buying joints and using the center to center measurements documented elsewhere (like on the missinglinkz page), but he never said where he got the joints, and at mcmaster prices you may as well buy it from USRT.

[TimpanogosSlim]

I've seen where someone, somewhere, sells a stainless steel spherical joint to replace the plastic bearing that the shift lever is installed through. Where it goes through the floor i mean.

Can't find it for the life of me, though.