Auto tranny,  no problem. Manual tranny  - thats a whole 'nother bear. Had
my '85 done a long time ago by a friend how worked for the VW dealer in
Anchorage. He did it at home, but he had a variety of special tools he
used, some of which were jigs made from other transmssion parts. A manual
tranny is something I think I would bite the bullet on and hire done,
difficult though that may be.

John
On Apr 29, 2015 8:57 AM, "Jim Felder" <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have done a number of transmissions over the years, mostly British cars
> and VW Beetles. They are pretty simple if you have some guidance as what
> assembly to take out first and through what hole, etc.
>
> I did some research into doing my Vanagon 5-speed when the 3-4 slider broke
> and I decided that it would be way over my head, as it needed a number of
> special jigs. Even my local VW shop, which routinely goes through Vanagon
> 4-speeds, would not touch it. I had Bus Depot handle it.
>
> The trouble is that you can't always trust the Bentley to give you a really
> good example of what you are going to need as they may have a special tool
> listed that is really only a convenience or that is easily worked around
> with ordinary shop tools. That might cut you some slack on a 4-speed
> rebuild, but I am pretty sure the need for special jigs on the 5-speed
> would keep the home mechanic from doing one.
>
> Jim
>
> On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 8:46 AM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >    ...I know, a subjective question, but is it possible for a home
> > mechanic to rebuild a manual Vanagon transmission with only the normal
> > tools in the average home shop?...       Is there anything in the rebuild
> > process that takes huge expensive machines or VW Special tools that one
> > couldn't 'make' at home?
> >
> >      My poor old 84 with it's inline Jetta motor and 5speed trans, it's
> in
> > need of some rather pricey maintenance on things that are being
> > 'used-up'....While there are no operational problems,  it is whining a
> > little louder as the years pass and the miles accumulate...it's coming on
> > time that I can no longer defer taking action, but I simply do not have a
> > few grand to spare to send this work out right now.   I'm trying to get
> an
> > idea if I can do some study and then tackle the job on my own...
> >
>