Shoptalkforums.com

If your Thing can't seem to find the gear, a lot of us would bet you need a new shift rod bushing....a $4.00 item and worth every penny. Most parts people have them, but installing is frustrating. It took me four hours to put mine in alone...would have been half or less with some help. If you think this fix is what you need to shift smoothly, contact me and I'll give you some advice. Bill bblide@sc.rr.com

http://www.glenn-ring.com/tech/bushing_replace.htm



Takes about 45 minutes on a late model Beetle.

Glenn its funny that you responded to this post. When Bill first contacted me about this problem it was by pmail. I sent him your link and that was what he used to do the swap. As they say, small world. Best wishes. Bob Ingman

The Germans did such cool things and engineering but then skimped on something like this.

I'm impressed by little stuff like the holes in the passenger side doors of a Thing, the gate latches on the Single Cab and Dual Cab trucks, the spare tire mounted under the front of my Vanagon.

I'll step down off my soap box now.

Gary

Glenn: I must be really slow. It took me 30 minutes to remove the back seat, the spring mounts, the cover plate, undo the coupling, pull off the coupling, undo the gearshift, remove the gerashift plate, undo the front frame access, remove the gearshift lever and begin to remove the shift rod which hung up several times on the Thing gas line in the tunnel. I should have had you do it! Bill

Bill just so you don`t feel so bad its about a rule of thumb that any job taking 4 hours the first attempt will take about an hour the second or third time. Best of luck. Bob Ingman