Just received my trans back from being rebuilt, mounted it to chasis only to find out it seems to be locked into gear. I am not able to find neutral position, does not seem to shift through gears.  Motor is not on buggy so i am able to push it back and forth and see the splined shaft rotating. I also notice there is about one inch end play on the shifter shaft sticking out of transmision noise. Do you suppose the hockey stick could have gotten miss aligned inside some how during shipping, any one delt with this before.

That is very possible.  You have to take the transaxle out, remove the nose cone, line up all three shift levers and re-install, after you check that it is OK.  I had this happen once, but it was locked so it was in 2 gears.  Tom

Thanks for the info.
when the trans was shipped back to me the card board it was rolled in was damaged on that end and i could see were the shift shaft had poked through, just never thought to try it by hand before putting back in. At least the body and engine are off at this time so it should hopefully be a easy fix. Do you know is the roughly one inch of travel in and out with this hockey stick normal or is this telling me it is not in the right place internally.

Yep, exactly the same thing happened with my shipped trans. I could move the stick about 3/4 of an inch; took the nosecone off and it was wedged between two gear selectors. You're going to have to take the nose off to fix it and check for any damage to the selectors.

Sounds like that is what I will do next time I get out in the shop, hopefully after easter dinner. When I take the nose off are the selectors pretty easy to understand, I do all my own work but have never done trans work.

I had a trans delivered by UPS and the trans was dropped on the gear selector shaft (hockey stick) so hard it snapped the end off the hockey stick in the shift rods.
I replaced the hockey stick and the trans still works great.

Generally. I've never gone further than taking the cone off to fix the stick. You'll need a new seal, though, so get one beforehand. You'll probably see one or two selectors 'stuck' outwards - you should be able to move them by hand. IIRC neutral is all the selectors are pushed flush with the housing. The hockey stick should be able to move between them easily.

You guys were right, I just dropped the trans from chasis and removed the nose cone to find the end of hockey stick broke off, moved selectors in and out and they seem to be ok from what I can see. I will have to order one in as there are no VW grave yards here in north east Iowa. Thanks all for the info.

"Just my uneducated observation.  With so many stories of messed up "hocky sticks" Why not ship the trans with out them and then install?"

That is exactly what I suggested to my trans builder.