02A with sloppy shifter

I have a 98 jetta 5 speed that is getting harder to shift into 1st and other gears. It some times has a grind sound when engaging. I am looking at getting a bushing kit for it, but not sure which one I need to pick up. These are the kits I am looking at. Diesel Geek shifter bushings and super slider and/or URO Tuning Shift bushing rebuild kit. Any suggestions on which kit or all of them?

https://www.dieselgeek.com/collecti...nd-bushing-set-for-1992-1999-mk3-and-mk4-cars

https://www.dieselgeek.com/collections/vw-shifter-bushings/products/super-slider-for-1993-1999-vw

http://www.urotuning.com/Shift-Bushing-Rebuild-Kit-9-pcs-Mk3-VR6-p/shifter_rebuild_kit_mk3_vr6.htm

I think installing some of those parts will involve dropping the exhaust. Have you tried adjusting the cables?

1J0 711 256 damaged or loose? I suddenly couldn’t get reverse, and swapping that part cured it. I think it may have had a hairline crack that wasn’t allowing full movement.

Many will chime in with the 02j box and tower swap, but it’s a lot of work.

-Todd

ToddA1 said:

I think installing some of those parts will involve dropping the exhaust. Have you tried adjusting the cables?

1J0 711 256 damaged or loose? I suddenly couldn’t get reverse, and swapping that part cured it. I think it may have had a hairline crack that wasn’t allowing full movement.

Many will chime in with the 02j box and tower swap, but it’s a lot of work.

-Todd

Click to expand...

None of those parts will require you to drop the exhaust.....On the other hand,the 02J swap will.

I have bought URO's Shifter rebuild kit and was a great improvement. Also have the Billet Shifter bushing as well.

That’s good to know. You can get the cable end bushings on, inside the box?

My wagon’s shifter is stock (and tight) other than a short shift kit, but this one attaches at the tower. I have Gruvenparts’ side to side piece, but it’s been in the garage for around 1 year. I’m curious what new parts would feel like...

-Todd

99% chance its not the cables.
Things to check easily would be the shifting fork. Take off the cap for reverse light and make sure that the T shaped fork that carries the offset weight is not broken, mine was once, i welded it back together. Also the sliding selector could be and probably is completely worn down to a nub. These are easily fixable. Now on to the main cause of your issues. the shifter tower bearing probably is shot and GONE. replacing it is not difficult and is cheep but the upper cup selector is probably worn down too. There is a NUT that has a ball bearing in it and that is probably shot too. this part btw is NON EXISTENT, trust me, ive looked. Your best bet is to pull the shifting tower off and inspect. Expect LOTS of rust of that bearing is bad. aka if the tower has side play.
Your best off doing a trans swap because these parts are nearly non existent to fix the issue. Been there, done that.

ToddA1 said:

I think installing some of those parts will involve dropping the exhaust. Have you tried adjusting the cables?

1J0 711 256 damaged or loose? I suddenly couldn’t get reverse, and swapping that part cured it. I think it may have had a hairline crack that wasn’t allowing full movement.

Many will chime in with the 02j box and tower swap, but it’s a lot of work.

-Todd

Click to expand...

Yeah, I would... sounding like a broken record with it, though.

Still very happy with the conversions I've done. But I'm also fortunate to live in an area where cars don't rust so easily, so I don't have to dread separating the exhaust so much.

Mongler98 said:

99% chance its not the cables.

Your best off doing a trans swap because these parts are nearly non existent to fix the issue. Been there, done that.

Click to expand...

I’d check the easy stuff first. Not all diseases are terminal...

-Todd

Chances are all you need to do is change this part
https://www.idparts.com/shift-carrier-early-a4a3b4-p-741.html

lisab4 said:

Chances are all you need to do is change this part
https://www.idparts.com/shift-carrier-early-a4a3b4-p-741.html

Click to expand...

360K miles and im still on my stock carrier, the shifting tower takes 99% of the wear.

ToddA1 said:

1J0 711 256 damaged or loose?

Click to expand...

lisab4 said:

Chances are all you need to do is change this part
https://www.idparts.com/shift-carrier-early-a4a3b4-p-741.html

Click to expand...

Same part, with a known history of having issues. Not saying it’s definitely the issue, but that’s what I’d check, first.

Mongler98 said:

360K miles and im still on my stock carrier, the shifting tower takes 99% of the wear.

Click to expand...

Are you the original owner? If not, service history is usually spotty.

Maybe someone changed the towers on all 3 of my running cars with 02As, but they shift fine. One had a 02J tower and shift box swap, but it was fine, prior to... only changed it because I was dropping the exhaust and I heard nonstop rave reviews.

-Todd

I went ahead and bought the kits for my shift tower and the the end bushings for the cables. I also bought the Uro tuning aluminum shift bracket. I figure, I'll start with the easy stuff and take back any parts I don't intend on using. Has anyone used one of those Al shift brackets? It says it reduces the side to side by 35%. Parts should be here by end of week.

The question about being original owner, no I am not. I purchased it from a friend who kept great records and hadn't changed any of the mentioned parts. The previous owner before him (Original) kept okay records and nothing seemed to show any of this stuff. Oh well, part of dealing with a 20yr old car with 260K miles on it.

There are mixed reviews, but post up your opinion. Personally, I’m not sure I’d want to reduce side to side, without reducing front to back throw.

I have the Gruven Parts version, but haven’t installed it. I’m surprised it’s not made with another hole to make it stock throw, if desired.

-Todd

If I don't like it, you may see it up for sale on here. =)

The problem is that most of these short shift items (back / forth and side / side) end up requiring a level of tolerance that cannot be achieved with the standard shifter setup because the shifter wasn't designed with those in mind. This might be especially true with a worn shifter. They might work 75% of the time but be quite fussy for some gear changes etc.

One reason I haven't looked at doing anything at the shift tower on the Mk3.

Steve

I have one of the shifters that kharley, was selling for a bit. All he really did was to come up with a piece that replaced the golf club, added a weight to it and brought the pivot point in.... kinda how the Audi TT golf club works for the 02J tower.

It works fine and it’s way easier than dropping the shifter box.

-Todd

This is the version I was considering a while back. It's not the exact one but the design is similar and there are several out there just about like it. In fact the factory Audi version is very similar as well but it lacks the slot to change the degree of shortness.

Someone here was selling all the components to swap to the A4 shifter a while back. Is anyone still doing that? I'd like to do the swap but I'm too lazy to go to the salvage yard and grab all the parts.

Steve- to clarify, the front to back short shifter I have, is for the 02A tower.

-Todd

When mine was super sloppy and i kept missing gears it was PN 1H0711202A that was the issue.

The plastic wings had worn through so the lever would pop out of place when trying to shift in a hurry... man that sucked... and the center part was worn enough that there was considerable play before this lever moved the part it was attached to in the vertical motion.

My fix was to removethe whole tower and set it on the bench to figure out how it works... i drilled out the rivet holding the plastic to the end of the lever, making a rectangular block roughly .250X.750 (no real measurement taken, i just ground it to fit - longer than the original shape though so that the wings were not needed) and attached it through the rivet hole with a bolt(short M6?). i put a dollop of grease on it for smooth movement and never touched it again.

Basically an hour of tinkering and $0

Ketchup, that is one of the parts that I ordered to replace. I didn't get the OEM, but went with the "super slider" from Diesel Geek. Have any of you used this particular part? I'm sure the oem style would be just fine, but I fell for the snake oil of this new improved design.

Still waiting to have a day off and time to make these repairs. I'll let anyone know what parts I used to fix my issues.

I've been having the same issue's with difficulty in selecting gears and often the wrong gear ! so yesterday I did the 02J swap using the VW Polo Tdi shift box, very pleased with the outcome. Changed the gear lever gaiter at the same time as when i bought the car it was missing. having issues with that, looks like I have to shorten the stick because when i pull the lever back into 2nd and forth the gaiter pop's off ! I'm also buying the Audi TT shorter shifter piece to reduce the throw as well. Hope it helps too.

ToddA1 said:

Steve- to clarify, the front to back short shifter I have, is for the 02A tower.

-Todd

Click to expand...

My mistake, I always referred to the assembly at the trans as the tower.

Some of these shifter failings occur because the attachments at the trans are failing or have completely failed.

In fact someone a couple hundred miles from me had a New Beetle 2.0 MT on CL for sale for $200 because they were told by a service facility that the trans was shot. My first thought was that the linkage was faulty and based on the posts back by the seller (who sold the car to someone who fixed it and drove off) it was the trans linkage and not the trans. The seller seemed pretty angry about it...

Steve

I replaced the shifter bracket with the short shifter from Urotuning, put the super slider on, and replaced the end bushings on the shifter cables. The only part that looked like it had any real wear issues was the shifter bracket. Doing all this did tighten up the shifter a little and obviously reduced the side to side. I made a little adjustment on the side to side cable end (at shifter bracket), and it seems to help a some on getting into first (I did this today). I'll see how it does driving home with a lot of shifting. When I get more time, I am going to do the bushing replacements in the tower. Hopefully after all is said and done, the shifter will feel much smoother and easier to shift.

I had the 02J conversion done and I now have nicely tight shifting but with occasional grinding ?

What should I look for?

Matt-98AHU said:

Yeah, I would... sounding like a broken record with it, though.

Still very happy with the conversions I've done. But I'm also fortunate to live in an area where cars don't rust so easily, so I don't have to dread separating the exhaust so much.

Click to expand...

I would start by asking what gear oil was last put in there? Certain gear oils are most definitely more prone to grinding than others.

And there are some gear oil combos that can completely reverse gear grinding...

CasaEd said:

I've been having the same issue's with difficulty in selecting gears and often the wrong gear ! so yesterday I did the 02J swap using the VW Polo Tdi shift box, very pleased with the outcome. Changed the gear lever gaiter at the same time as when i bought the car it was missing. having issues with that, looks like I have to shorten the stick because when i pull the lever back into 2nd and forth the gaiter pop's off ! I'm also buying the Audi TT shorter shifter piece to reduce the throw as well. Hope it helps too.

Click to expand...

I shortened the 02J stick and threaded it to accept the B4 shifter knob. My GLX B4 OEM leather gaiter fits and no issues with gaiter coming off.

Going from memory, I think Windex did this to the 02J shifter on Abacus B4??


How did you get the VW Polo TDI box installed? We ended up drilling one hole and using washers for leveling and bolting in place. Otherwise everything fit and bolted in place.

The B4 boot works fine on the 02j lever, even if not shortened. I threaded mine, but didn’t cut it down.

-Todd

at least some of my shifter bushings are totally broken, and I bought the UnoTuning bushing kit. It arrived yesterday and I will be looking more closely and installing it this morning.
Here's a .gif of the shifter slop showing the failed bushings on the main shift shaft..
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and here is a link to the write up I did of replacing the shift bushings at the shifter. My cable ends and the transmission tower and its bushings all seem to be in good condition on my B4V.
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=501051
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