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how many gears???


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heh, I drove a 5 speed Zcar for four years, then had a clutch master go out on me. The one I got from the store wasn't right, it didnt provide enough throw so the clutch did not disengage. However, that took us some time to conclude... and before we did so I swapped a known good 4 speed in to ensure that it wasnt a trans issue.

 

Anyhow, the last eight months or so that I drove the thing, it had the 4 speed in it.. (no time to re swap) That made me feel like I was driving an antique for the first time. I never did lose the habit of going from fourth to neutral before remembering there was nowhere else to go.. shift back into fourth! :clap:

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A friend bought an old VW rabbit pickup that had a 5 speed shifter on it. But the shift bushing were so worn (and the engine didn't run) that we never did figure out whether it was a 4 or 5 speed -- wobbled so much it felt like it might be in neutral in any gear.

 

I never did lose the habit of going from fourth to neutral before remembering there was nowhere else to go.. shift back into fourth! :clap:

 

I've had the same reaction to 5 speeds. Take it out of 5th gear, then realize I don't have a 6th gear. Funny because I've NEVER driven a 6 speed. Maybe in another life or something.

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Heh, those Volkswagen shifters are the worst! My brother got a 1990 Fox, and 1st and 2nd are where reverse is supposed to be, and reverse wandered off some time in the past. While in second, you can move the shifter through about 80% of the whole thing. It's a laugh though:lol:

 

P.S. And don't even get me started on Vanagons!

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Heh, those Volkswagen shifters are the worst! My brother got a 1990 Fox, and 1st and 2nd are where reverse is supposed to be, and reverse wandered off some time in the past. While in second, you can move the shifter through about 80% of the whole thing. It's a laugh though:lol:

 

P.S. And don't even get me started on Vanagons!

 

Yeah, he had a rabbit like that, and we were going to try to teach his girlfriend to drive stick on it.... usually learning the clutch is harder than finding the gears, but in an old VW....... I told her we could use one of my subaru's instead.

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I've had the same reaction to 5 speeds. Take it out of 5th gear, then realize I don't have a 6th gear.

 

I'm used to driving volvos which have an electric 5th gear button on the shifter, and 4 real gears. In my XT with push button 4WD I always want to go 1-2-3-4-4WD!

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Hey, the datsun transmissions shift just fine if they have good bushings in them.

 

The bushings are also ABSURDLY simple to just fabricate a good solid replacement for, anyhow. Theres no excuse to whine about a loose shifter on a datsun gearbox.

 

Then again, the OLD old ones (sixties era gearboxes, some models carried over into early 70s Zs and 510s) were the ones that earned the name "monkey-motion" gearboxes, which is one I STILL chuckle over..

*ooo*oo*AHH*AHHHH*

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-- wobbled so much it felt like it might be in neutral in any gear...

 

my 89 GL wagon has this problem - has been like that since before i bought it (5 1/2 yrs ago) - i am so used to it that it doesnt bother me - just have to tell my passengers to "watch out - it's a knee knocker!" :lol:

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Heh, those Volkswagen shifters are the worst! My brother got a 1990 Fox, and 1st and 2nd are where reverse is supposed to be, and reverse wandered off some time in the past. While in second, you can move the shifter through about 80% of the whole thing. It's a laugh though:lol:

 

P.S. And don't even get me started on Vanagons!

 

I had this 85 Golf diesel for a while, and the bushings were so bad that it wouldn't go into reverse or 5th. Ended up sticking some nylon web strap from my backpack in the main bushing, and that tightened it up enough, but getting it into 5th was still a challenge...half the time, it would end up in 3rd, causing the little diesel to rev up to about 4500 rpm if you weren't careful.

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I had this 85 Golf diesel for a while, and the bushings were so bad that it wouldn't go into reverse or 5th. Ended up sticking some nylon web strap from my backpack in the main bushing, and that tightened it up enough, but getting it into 5th was still a challenge...half the time, it would end up in 3rd, causing the little diesel to rev up to about 4500 rpm if you weren't careful.

My rabbit diesel is a little vague on the shifting, but I can easily get it in all 5 speeds. Except for when I flew over a waterbar at 20mph, wacked the oil pan into the road, and broke an engine mount. For some reason, I only had 2nd and 4th left..... I drove another mile in 2nd before stopping, and finding the engine/tranny had settled about 2 inches, making all the shift linkages out of wack. :dead: Guess I need to weld a skid plate for it huh :grin:

 

The 5 speed on my dad's 1953 allis chalmers bulldozer is has the reverse where 1st would be, 1st where 2nd would be, etc... like the military truck transmissions. And of course, none of them are marked. But top speed is only 5.6mph too.

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My friends '51 International fire truck has a weird shift pattern. It goes like this:

241

35R

And a 2 speed rear end!

 

I learned to drive in a '41 army truck (chevy). After that, I could drive and shift anything. One time I was driving my uncle's '48 Diamond T hauling potatoes and decided that I would use all of the gears. Five speed main (it had the above pattern), three speed Brownie, and two speed rear end: that gives you thirty speeds forward and six in reverse! It was too much work to do it a second time. It was also difficult to figure out if the next combination was actually a higher gear or a lower one. Part of the time you had to let go of the steering wheel and shift with both hands as one box would be going up a gear while the other box was going down a gear.

 

Oh, yea - no syncromesh either.

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I learned to drive in a '41 army truck (chevy). After that, I could drive and shift anything. One time I was driving my uncle's '48 Diamond T hauling potatoes and decided that I would use all of the gears. Five speed main (it had the above pattern), three speed Brownie, and two speed rear end: that gives you thirty speeds forward and six in reverse! It was too much work to do it a second time. It was also difficult to figure out if the next combination was actually a higher gear or a lower one. Part of the time you had to let go of the steering wheel and shift with both hands as one box would be going up a gear while the other box was going down a gear.

 

Oh, yea - no syncromesh either.

 

I drove one like that but with a 4 speed brownie.... "Deep under", "Under", "Direct", and "Over" gears. Plus the two speed rear..... many a poor hapless log truck driver has broken an arm trying to reach *through* the steering wheel to shift both boxes :rolleyes:. Nasty stuff.

 

Incidentally, newer trucks still have the brownie's - but they are all air-shifted now.

 

GD

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