First of all, I want to say that I am new here my name is Kenny, Hello to all.
Hopefully someone can help me with my problem. I have a 96 Polaris Sport 400 When I shift the lever into drive I can hear it "appear" to click into gear but, as I give it gas.....I see the shifter pop back up towards neutral a little and the gears start grinding. When I go into reverse its the same thing...I hear it pop into gear and the reverse light comes on....but it just revs....wont move. I have adjusted the idle so low that it barely runs.....I tried to adjust the linkage to hold it into drive further....same problem. Please help me before I really screw this bike up. Thanks in advance And its nice to meet all of you.
Kenny

 

First off welcome to the forum!And for your problem check the bell cranks that the shift rods hook up to.They get stripped and dont let it shift all the way into gear.

 

ftwflh,
First, thanks for the welcome and the reply.
I looked up the parts to see what the bellcranks were. What do you mean by stripped? What should I look for?
Thanks again,
Kenny

 

Its the little aluminum pice that the linkage bolts to, on top of the tranny. It moves the shift shaft.
sometimes they split.
Welcome aboard. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

Watch them when you shift and see if there is any play in the splines.Or take the shift rod off and see if there is play that way.

 

hey guys....checked the bell cranks....there was no play in them at all......slightest movement of the shifter moved the bracket on top of the gear box. with the seat off I can watch it as it still seems to lock into forward and reversefrom the outside it acts fine...Im guessing thats not good. Any other suggestions? Im currently looking for a manual.

 

Sounds more like a wore shift fork after you get a manual it isnt that bad to tear into.

 

Are you sure you arent thinking of the "tie rod ends" on the shift rod? The bell crank is the flat alum pice on top of the tranny. Take the nut off the shift shaft, and pull it up and off. then you can put a 1/2- or 12mm (cant remember) box end wrench on it and shift it that way. (maybe)
Wont hurt to try it before you have to tear it down.
And the manual is a great idea regardless

 

whitedog, you are right I was checking the rod ends. I just went out with a flash light to check the bell crank...It seems tight...I did notice that after it pops in gear it will still move more like there is play in it or like it could go in to gear further.....I did notice that Some times If I keep alot of pressure forward on the shifter the quad will start to move then "pop" out and gears start grinding. Whats odd is that I dont know what caused this. My wife ran it out of gas up on a hill behind the house she coasted it down the hill. After fueling it was missing bad. I took the carb off, cleaned it up, installed a new plug and it started and sounded good....then it would not move.....Hope the history helps....I gotta get this thing running.

 

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