I have a 04 Sportsman 700 EFI i bought it a month ago. Runs good everything works like new on it besides it been kinda hard to shift through gears. Well last night we had a big rain. So this afternoone was going to go play in the mud after i got out in the feild everything was fine until i stoped and shift it into REV. it seems like it was to easy. When i look at the cluster the R blink a couple times when i went to shift it back into high gear the shifter moved up but it never click the tranny it was like the shifter rod was not hook up to anything but everything is hook up and my 700 is stuck in REV is it anything i can do to fix this problem with out taking it to a shop

 

sounds like a stripped out spline that the shifter connects to

 

sounds like soemthing let go for sure. theres got to be a reason that it is shifting so hard as well. did it shift like this while the bike was off, did the bike seem like it wanted to creep ahead while in gear? bike idled to high? just a couple of questions. check the linkage to see if the issue of not moving is there, if not most likely have to pull the side cover for a further look.

 

05 sportsman 800 with similar problem, Bike does creep forward and seems to be idling to high. impossible to change gears while it is running. They all work perfect when it is off. How can I idle the engine down. It runs great other than this.

 

It has shift hard since i bought it but when the bike is not running it shift with no trouble at all. No it never wanted to creep ahead in gear. Yes it ideld kinded high.
but it pulls with no trouble in REV i had to drive it back home in REV it's like the shifter is not hook up to anything when you push up it move with easy but it not grabbing the gears in the tranny to switch them same time on the gauge cluster it just stay in REV also and thanks to everyone for the help so far i'm going to check the spline then if that don't work i will take the cover off

 

I had the same exact thing happen to me on my 04 700 efi. the splines on the shaft that the shift rod bolts to are stripped. the gear it goes into was perfectly fine, the shaft is just softer metal. after i changed the shaft it shifts just fine.
the shaft is easy to change, just take the cover off and replace.

 

Mine is hard to shift when running. Is not idled too high. Shifts perfect when off. It wants to creep ahead when. Any ideas??
Thanks

 

I have the same problem...Friend broke the shift cable this weekend (I failed to tell him the engine must be OFF before it can be shifted from REV to High or LOW). Just replaced the cable...but problem still exists.

Will shift TO REV fine, but will not shift back until the engine is shut off...It is sometimes still difficult but will eventually shift back to HIGH. If it has been sitting a while (not running) shifts smoothly from H-L-N-R and back no problem.

ANY SUGGESTIONS...(Also has new drive belt on it, and removed clutch for a thorough cleaning)

 

If it shifts ok with engine off then I still think it's a drive clutch one way bearing problem that's causing a load on the driven clutch which in turn puts a load on the gear case causing hard shifting. At an idle the driven clutch should not turn or barely try to turn. To solve this usually involves separating the front clutch and replacing the fiber washer and metal washer in front and behind the one way bearing. Plus in many cases the rear clutch may need to be realigned with the front clutch with shims behind the clutch. Here's similar problem on the Sportsman 500(same style clutch) and what some members have done. https://atvconnection.com/forums/pol...-creeping.html