Crunch once when reversing

[The Keszthely Kid]

Hola Amigos,

On Sunday morning I started up my '73 KG Coupe for her first road trip of 2023. When I tried to select Reverse the gearbox 'crunched' as if it were a manual 3 pedal car and I was not using the clutch
I pushed my KG out of the garage, started her up again, selected 'L' and drove back into the garage
Then I tried selecting Reverse again and all was fine
Even the shakedown run around beautiful downtown Batley went well!

Does anyone know why this should happen? She has never done this before in 5 years of ownership. During every winter month I start her up, reverse out of the garage along my driveway then drive her back into the garage with no problems.

Any answers much appreciated.
Rick H   

[Tom K.]

It takes a few seconds to build up vacuum? I have found the threshold for disengaging the clutch for shifting differs for each gear. Reverse us the must sensitive. So if you have a small vacuum leak somewhere, then you will notice it first when shifting into reverse. Jeep an eye in things. If it gets worse, then inspect your vacuum lines and servo membrane.

[68autobug]

It seems You have a small vacuum leak from an old original hose, as usually there is always vacuum in the tank on My 1968 Beetle.  I replaced all those old original cotton covered hoses with air hose used on Tractor/Trucks & trailers.  You cannot tell if the hose is cracked on those cotton covered hoses.  The crunching will get worst, as more cracks appear in the vacuum hoses.

Lee in Australia  WINTER is here -  68autobug