Bob's Bug - Transmission Giving me the Gears!!

Okay, I knew it was all going too easy. I installed new mounts on the tranny (sold with the car as a working unit), hooked up the new coupling, then (thankfully) tried turning the input shaft to check the operation of each gear.... No matter what, reverse wouldn't work! Reverse was acting as a second neutral. Then, turning the ouput collars backwards somehow started to move the input shaft backwards, a few turns and it came right out in my hand, with a small stud on the end!

So, what do I do? Buy a new tranny? After reviewing a few texts and asking some questions I surmised that the circlip (#34) had somehow worn off the input shaft (#35) allowing the reversing sleeve (#33) to slip back on the shaft. This would disengage the splines between the input shaft extension and the main transmission shaft, allowing the shaft extension to come out in my hand. So, after some encouragement from the forums on www.thesamba.com, I decided to remove the tranny, drain it, and see if my crazy theory could possibly be correct.

As you can see from the pics, I was bang on! The reversing sleeve and circlip were sitting in the bottom of the tranny case once I removed the output flanges, side cover, and differential. I quickly cleaned up the mess, slid the reversing sleeve temporarily in place, and ran through all the gears. Everything worked perfectly. So, it was off to CTC for a new circlip ($0.50) and new fluid ($14).

Tonight I fit everything backup based on the Haynes manual instructions (slide the input shaft in, slip on the circlip, slide on the reversing sleeve, slide it forward, engage the circlip, reassemble).

Now the tranny is sealed back up with RTV sealant, all bolts torqued to spec, refilled with 75-w-90 hypoid oil, and waiting to be reinstalled in the car!!