Attention: Manual transmission alignment pin is plastic!

[BravoMike]

I wanted to make a quick post to inform others and let people learn from my mistake. The Alignment pin on the manual transmissions to align the cable end links is made of PLASTIC and easily breaks.

I installed the OEM Euro short shifter today and while trying to remove the original gear selector, I sheared off the alignment pin. The original gear selector was on really tight and I was having trouble getting it to come off. I thought that if I locked the transmission with the pin (at the time thinking it was metal) maybe that would help? After a few good tugs and pulls, if felt like I had succeeded in removing the gear selector but quickly realized the error of my ways. I now have the inside portion of that plastic alignment pin somewhere in my transmission. I was surprised at how easy it was to break off, but it was never intended for that piece to have any force applied to it.

Fortunately, I found a very helpful YouTube video from the guys at DieselGeek explaining how to align the shifter with this piece broken. Now I am curious how serviceable the pin is and if it is worth repairing.

Below is the video if anyone makes the same mistake that I did.

 

[LeGti]

Yeah that pin is pretty flimsy / fragile...

 

[BravoMike]

It looks like I may be able to replace the old one by simply pulling it out and pressing a new one in. I'm looking for one online and once I have it replaced, I'll post how to replace it because it looks like I'm not the first one to do this. I think it should be pretty simple, but I've been wrong about these kinds of things before.

 

[vwinva]

That pin has been plastic in pretty much every VW. Mk6, mk5, mk4 all have it as plastic.

You should search the vortex to see how owners of those fixed it