Florida in the summer? Don’t you have that backwards :)

Ok here’s the longish story. Those of you who know me from my 20 or so years on the list know that I like to camp but am not super handy. I bought my 85 Westfalia in 1993 with 77k km and it now has 400k km.  I put a Boston Bob 2.1 in about 15 years ago, just before he passed. I didn’t know he was sick while he was working on it. 

The transmission had never been rebuilt and the leaks were getting worse (internal and external). It was also hesitating to shift into third when cold. In the “old days” I would drive it until it died but now that I’m 53 and responsible I thought I would be proactive and just get the whole thing rebuilt. Unfortunately it is getting to be next to impossible to get service in my city of 800,000 residents and about 15 vanagons. My usual place wouldn’t touch it, the guy who did them at the transmission shop retired, and the air cooled specialist who is taking on vanagons now hadn’t done an automatic before. So I shipped it out to British Columbia 2500km away. That was three months ago. 

I was getting to the point where I was basically resigned to never seeing my core again and thinking about a Plan B. Lo and behold I get a call this morning and it is done, and being shipped to my local guy. So hopefully everything works out. 

I swear if I am forced to sell it, it will because it is getting harder and harder to get service on these things. It seems like parts have never been easier to find. Oh the irony. 

Hopefully I will be driving my van in a few weeks. Good thing I didn’t have any plans with it this summer. School starts next week but hopefully I’ll get a weekend or two with the family before things shut down here. It’s 75 degrees or so today but winter isn’t super far away. I usually park the van mid October. 

Thanks for listening!!
Jeff

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 30, 2024, at 11:50 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Happy Friday, August 30, 2024 From
> Barefoot Bay Fl.
> 
> For the most part automatic cores are non-existent. In demand is the cast iron final drive section as these both wear out where the front pinion bearing is pressed in and they are tending to crack. The cracks usually start at the lower mounting bolts and go through the bearing carrier. Torque converters are also hard to find. I have them done locally as a custom job.
> 
> For normal rebuild of the automatic section the best, lowest cost solution is usually to have it done at a local trans shop.  Once the final drive needs the gears replaced things become complicated.
> 
> I have only have experience with Manual boxes from Rancho.
> German Transaxle is very good but they are trying to only supply stuff they are installing.
> 
> So, what happened to yours?
> 
> Dennis
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com> On Behalf Of Jeff Palmer
> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2024 10:36 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Automatic transmission supplier?
> 
> Morning everyone.  I'm in the market for a rebuilt automatic transmission.  Does anybody have any experience with Rancho Transaxles or German Transaxle?  I don't have a core - it's a long story that I will share one day!
> 
> https://ranchotransaxles.com/vanagon-territory/
> 
> https://www.germantransaxle.com/product/vw-vanagon-3-speed-auto-complete-water-cooled-83-91-090/
> 
> Thanks
> Jeff