Dare I? 72 Beetle

Dec 15, 2004 7 Replies

A local fellow who works with my wife is selling his clean 72 beetle for $1500. It's his daily driver. I have not yet seen it in person. There is one mechanical issue he is aware of: it does not go into third gear. He writes, "There is no 3rd gear, it acts as if it is in neutral. I spoke to a couple of different people and I was told that it's the linkage, not the whole transmission, but I don't know for sure."



Is this a red flag -- or just light pink?


------------------------------------ Today's Deep Thought:



The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it.



--Franklin P. Jones



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I had the tranny in my 69 buggy do the same thing in second, got a replacement ( no core charge ) from MOFOCO for $350.00 with shipping. Haven't had a problem with it yet. That was approximatly

2.5 years ago, its only a weekend driver. When mine went i asked the group was told it was most likely the tranny. David

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Red.

Even if it's just the shifter fork (it isn't, but dream on...) to do the adjustment you must remove the tranny and you'll need a fixture to align the forks. If you have to open up a tranny for any reason the wiser course is to go ahead and rebuild the thing.

Trannys are actually easier than engines; fewer parts and fewer critical adjustments... assuming you've got the tools & fixtures and have done a couple.

Or to say it another way, run up to Rancho, pick up an overhauled replacement, four kits for the CV's and swap the sucker out.

-Bob Hoover

Deep red ...verging on purple.

Linkage problems would be an over optimistic thought. More likely to be more serious tranny problem. Tim

....not sure if I'd go all that far.. Rebuilt trannies are relatively inexpensive for a beetle. The plucky squirrel has more than enough experience now to handle swapping one out in a day. If the car is truly in very nice shape, it might be worth running it by one of the "free estimeate" tranny shops, and using the resulting physical estimate as a negotiating item to drive the price even lower. It just may make for a very good deal on a nice car. Just be sure to estimate in the incidentals such as mounts, etc.

....Gareth

Thanks, all. I reckon I do have enough experience to tackle a tranny swap at this point. But I think I'll take a pass on this car: it's not tools or knowhow or courage or optimism that I lack, it's time. Now that the Wonderbus is up and running, little things like remodeling the bathroom, installing a kitchenette downstairs so we can rent out a room, and doing the stuff that I need to do to keep Mrs Squirrel comfortable and happy must take precedence.

I meant tranny was kaaappuutt.....not tranny swap was beyond his ability.......tranny swap is a walk in the park..

heater channels.. now they are , deep red to black...he,he, for the novice.. ;-) Tim

"Mike Rocket J. Squirrel Elliott" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@adelphia.com:

I did a tranny r/r in a February in the waning sunlight. Except for the biting cold, the only tough part was the axle nuts, which I had to file down and then find the right size socket.

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