Rebuilding a Type 1 transmission

People weld the synchro hubs to the 3rd and 4th gears because loctite doesn't hold- this is what I've been told by everyone I've ever met over the years that does transaxles. Weddle will weld on new hubs to their gears, and a lot of places can do it. Some people say that just welding the pieces ruins the heat treat/hardening of the ends, others claim it doesn't matter. The ends need to be butt-ground back to the original surface. The inner diameter needs to checked for distortion, and corrected as necessary.

Can you please be more specific and name some of the places that can do it. I've looked and not found anything. thanks

Weddle will do it. Mine were done by Trans-West(now defunct) so not needed for me.

I would definitely have it done but whoever does your rebuild should be able to do it. Rancho or Geno should be able to take care of it.

To put it simply, 3rd and 4th gears are pressed on the hubs from the factory. This was OK in the early days of very low-powered VWs. But even later higher powered stock VWs could make them slip. Welding is a VERY necessary step for any performance trans.

Thanks, Danny. That's my problem. I left home yesterday at six a.m.  and delivered my tranny to Geno in Elizabeth, Pa. around 4pm and with pressing weather I had to get out of there to get back home today around 5:30.  I left Ottawa with a low tire pressure light and filled the right front tire up from 30 to 42lbs.

Spent last night in Somerset, Pa and got up to a low tire pressure light again. Over very early to Dumbauld's Tire, pleaded my case and they pulled off both front wheels of my Ram 1500 ( with tires only one month old ).  Roofing nail in the right ( slow leak ) and a small screw with the head worn off in the left, no leak. They got me out of there in less than 20 minutes and charged $10.  Pretty nice.

But back to the transmission,  Geno seems reluctant to weld and refit the gears himself. Claims he has the wrong welder...mig , tig or  vice versa. Too much heat. I don't know enough and didn't have much time to make a case for him getting and installing them so I'm looking for info where I can buy a set and get them to him. he should know where to get a set and I'll talk to him in a day or so. Any ideas or leads in the meantime would be appreciated. I'll call Weddle tomorrow.

Weddle seems to be the only source for any good transmission parts anymore. They sell stock to full race.....

David, I've known guys that say a mig does the job just fine and others that claim only a tig will do it properly. A local guy here grooves the mating surfaces of the hub and gear where they meet so when he uses his mig he says it doesn't affect the heat treat on the end of the gear (where it contacts the slider hub?). I find it hard to believe that someone like Geno (I'm assuming he rebuilds a fair number of transaxles; he sure sells enough parts on the Samba) doesn't have someone local to weld hubs if he doesn't do them himself. 

To further what Danny said, I know that in some of the later type 1 transaxles the hubs are electron welded to the gears; I guess VW recognized that the press fit wasn't enough at some point. I'll have to ask Bruce when they started the practice.

"Some people say that just welding the pieces ruins the heat treat/hardening of the ends, others claim it doesn't matter"  

...........It's how the metal is cooled that either retains or deletes the temper

.

Geno responded quickly today and sourced a set of welded gears from Rancho. He seems to be a very personable guy and he always seems to be trying to help by keeping the price down. Maybe he's heard about the cost of us Canuks buying US dollars which is not a pretty sight.

Interestingly, Rancho says they can provide welded 3rd's and 4th's but have thicker teeth yet provide the same stock ratios 1.26 and .89 .  Others apparently will argue that with thinner teeth, more are in contact at the same time and thus provide the same amount of strength.  I also read somewhere last night that Bus transmissions ( 002)  already come with welded gears as stock. I get most of this info of the Samba and other discussion groups and while it can be frustrating wading thru some garbage from time to time, some of the info is very interesting.

Further, my vin number on the frame confirms I do have a 1967 vehicle but Geno says it is a newer transmission.

Can't be much newer though if you're running swing axles....?

We got swing axles in the Canadian (and a lot of the rest of the world) market until 1973 or '74, Ed. Also, it could be a newer irs trans with the swing axle side plates and differential swapped in. That's not unusual at all.

David- VW went to fine tooth 4th (I don't know about 3rd) gears fairly late in the game- I think about the same time as they updated a lot of the trans parts to be the same as the bus innards ('75? '76?). I've seen broken fine tooth gears, and guys looking to put a lot of hp through a trans stay away from them.