1961 Bug Trans.

Check the coupler under the tunnel accecc plate under your rear seat. I'll bet it's shot.

--Dan E

bob...

some hints may help some smarter people than me determine what the situation is....

is this a new installation... is it the original tranny..... did the car run before....

And can you put on a gear when the engine is not running (if the clutch is not working, you wont be able to put it on gear when engine is=20 running).

Is there any oil in the transmission?

Due to the construction of the Shift lever inside the nosecone of the tranny, I'd definitely check the shift coupling to eliminate it from being the issue.................

Remove the inspection cover iunder the back seat and watch carefully to determine if the shifter is actually moving the shift rod on both sides of the coupling, while you, or someone else, moves the shifter as you would to normally shift the car gears while driving.

If you can see both sides moving properly and at the same time, without any massive differences in one moving, to the other moving, then you could eliminate the coupling and move on to the shift lever in the nosecone of the Tranny...................They have an odd shape to them and it is not uncommon for them to break off entirely. Seemingly this will happen out of the blue, but has been coming for some time, if you do remove and disassemble the nose cone portion of the tranny..................you'll be able to tell , in the break,( provided this is the diagniosis ) that there is a portion that is not shiny like the rest of the surface broken loose, indicating it has been cracked and weakened for some time before the actually total breakage occured.

AS Far as I know, there is no good weld for the piece that I refer to, and it is most of the time replaced by a donor piece from another tranny. Much easir to talk about than do, as to verify this if it leads you there, you must pull the engine, then the tranny, and remove the nosecone and generally, the broken piece from the housing and find a replacement lever and replace it and reassemble the whole mess.

not a terrible job, but not a ten minute fix either.

Now that I've scared you to death, it could be just the coupler that the others mentioned also............either loose or worn out...........ya gotta look to see what's wrong.

Oh,............And if it is the shift lever in the nosecone of the tranny, I am not sure of what years will interchange, and or not interchange...................

Good luck and I hope this helps Somewhat

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