David,
I think you're stuck with a broken 3rd/4th gear slider. They break and your
symptom is the description of what happens when they do. They have a
"square" design flaw that sets them up to fail at some point. The "new"
replacements have a slightly rounded and reinforced section and tends to
resist that break better.

Don't know how far you are from home but I think you have a tow in store to
get there unless you can do the "30-40 mph" thing all the way home.

Sorry to hear about this breakdown .... on a holiday no less.

my best,

bob

On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 2:33 PM, David Wilhite <dlwilhite@comcast.net>wrote:

> I've finally had a mechanical difficulty after many years of driving my
> Vanagon and it happened just 20 miles from where we were trying to get to
> for the day.  I drove the last bit at 30-40 mph because I am not able to
> shift into 3rd or 4th gear.
>
>
>
> While checking things out, I took the shifter coupling off at the tranny
> and I am not able to get the plunger shaft to move back and forth for the
> 3rd and 4th gear positions.  It does move side to side like it's supposed
> to, but won't rotate forward or backwards.  So evidently, something has
> happened in the shifter area.
>
>
>
> Does anybody have some experience with this occurrence?  Is there something
> I can pull a part and repair?  Anybody in the Lewisburg, Columbia, Mt.
> Pleasant,TN area that happens to have an extra tranny around?  Thanks for
> any input/help.
>
>
>
> David Wilhite
>
> 84' Westy
>
> Middle TN
>