Questionjust wanted to know the best way to accomplish this.I have not worked on the transmission linkage hardly at all.thanks.1989 VW Golf gl.
AnswerI'm guessing who and what the problem is...thinking it has something to do with shifting or popping out a gear.
I'll explain a little more but there are books. Open hood. Look down driverside near fire wall you will see a couple of small diameter rods going sideways(driver to passenger side). On the ends of the rods are grey and ball shaped which are squared at the end(these I will refer to as the sockets to prevent confusion). Clean the outside of the socket real good(get the grease gunk/dirt off) so you can see and get a light in there. If you look real close at the squared end, you will see that it is actuallly a flap of plastic that is hinged at one side and clips over at the other side. If the socket is still connected to what it is suppose to be connected to(the ball), this flap needs to be unclipped(fingernail or jackknife will do it), the flap will hange away and then the connector will pop off the ball with a bit of a wiggle. You can't break anything here if you are using finger strength.
If the connector is not connected to where it is suppose to be there will be a small silver ball exposed on the tranny linkage within reach of that shaft that is off.
Anyways you can't take the linkage off unless you release these flaps. ((this is very hard to describe under a 1000 words)) Hope you understand. Once you got one off you'll be on your way.
DO NOT ROTATE THE SOCKET ON THE SHAFT AS IT IS THREADED SO AS TO ADJUST THE CORRECT SHIFT LINKAGE MOVEMENT.
The sockets has within them a nylon cup that wears out. Put in new ones, a bit of graphite, and pop the rods sockets back over their balls. Make sure that you put back on the flaps as they squeeze the socket tight around the ball so it does not pop off while driving.
I hope that is as clear as mud.
