shift rod

[buggyryan]

ok another question , yea i am full of them, lol the shift coupling rod from shifter to trans is it supposed too be bowed or perfectly straight?

[CoryN]

They are not supposed to be perfectly straight.

[David Head]

Cory is right, Leave the bow in it.

[Epimetheus]

I replaced the piece of pshaw rod that was in my buggy when I bought it. Put in a new custom length rod from EMPI with an adjuster and new urethane coupling. Works much better than before for me. And the new rod is perfectly straight. Just my 2 cents.

[David O']

Uh oh, here it comes ..........quick, everybody duck! Someone said something good about EMPI parts! I know this is going to start a rant, it always has. (but for what it's worth, guy......I agree with you!)

[Jack Duncan]

I found out this afternoon that not just any shift rod for a manual trans will work on any VW with a manual shift. It seems that in the later years the shift rod is 1-1/2" shorter. I know, because I bought one to replace the one I had for an auto stick. (I changed to a manual shift.) The one I had was really the one I needed. So now, I have an extra one if someone needs one.

[Jack Duncan]

Here is another lesson I learned today about the shift rod. An autostick shift rod will work on a manual transmission, but the rod is still too short even though it will couple up. Now I learned that you have to have a special coupler, one that just a tad longer and has the set screw off center so the shift pattern won't be off center. It's just the little things that drive you crazy. JD