Tranny problems in my A2 - Ron n friends help

[sharpshooter33 at roadrunner.com (David Brown)]

Ok I installed a short shift kit in my 86 Jetta earlier this year.  Today I'm driving back from Columbus to Cincy when my tranny starts kicking it's self outta 5th. I end up having to hold my hand on it until I get to Cincy to keep it from kicking out....Then I discover I can't get into any other gears. S#!%!  I end up going around the outer belt of Cincy and finding a way to get close to home 5th....

Then I pull in a fire station because I've ran it as far as I can with only 5th gear...I work the tranny back and forth. Eventually forcing it into all 5 gears. I get out and move the short shift from 50% to 30%.  Worked my way back to the house.

Strange when I stopped it would only go into 5th and reverse.  When I was driving back it would upshift ok, but locked out on down shift while moving.  

I had noticed that the last couple of weeks I could hear the shifting and feel it more. It was kinda tough getting into gears sometimes and sometimes I would hear a thump like it really dropped in hard.

I don't know squat about trannies so I'm throwing it out there.  

Sounds like to me it's gonna be time for a rebuild tranny and if that's so I might as well do the engine swap I was gonna do later.

Thanks for any help
David