Hello,I have a 99 polaris 400 4x4 explorer which I use around my yard snow plowing driveway ECT. After sitting through the summer It grinds when trying to put shifter into high ,reverse works fine and I usually can get it into low ,feels like something is not allowing it into gear,any ideas? Thanks Gregg

 

Welcome to the forum! Try changing trans fluid first and see if helps!PLUS if you're careful you can change oil in shift box and see if it helps,but have to be careful on the small detent spring and it really needs to be serviced off the machine in a vice(lever is under pressure!) This is a common problem on the old shifters. You can try to adjust the linkage,but if there is a lot of slack in the shift box,then its pretty hard to get a "positive" forward and reverse together. They did address the transmission shift fork issue in 95 but not the shift box! If adjusting linkage doesn't help,then best to replace the shift box(cheaper than replacing the worn individual parts and you would still have an old shifter!) First off place trans in neutral,loosen the 10mm lock nuts on the shift ball ends at the shift box,remove the 10 mm nuts holding the linkage ends to the shift box levers and lift linkage arms up out of the way.This is where you can see how much slack in neutral the shift lever has(just go a little forward and reverse on the lever and if quite a bit adjustment may not help! Next step is turn the adjuster ball ends to where they drop STRAIGHT in the shift lever arms with no resistance! Tighten the linkage lock nuts,then replace the two linkage end nuts. Try shifting through the gears and see if this helps. Also make sure the belcranks(trans shift levers) are tight and not stripped. Some will shift ok for a while,others won't and need shift box replacement. Shift problems were eliminated when they finally went to the straight line shift boxes. OPT

 

Thanks for the info ,unit shifts fine with engine off ,but when running at ideal it seems that something is not allowing it to slide into high gear ,I dont know that much about these guads,first time with Polaris, thanks Gregg

 

Just do the easy stuff first,if tranny oil dirty then change it, PLUS does machine try to creep on you while at idle in gear? If so,could be a belt/clutch problem,worn ramp buttons,etc(creeping didn't happen too much on the non ebs clutches,but wouldn't rule it out!) Yes they usually shifted better when engine was off. 9 out of 10 times its the shift box, or shift linkage related on the old ones especially if you have either a good reverse, but hard to engage forward Or just the opposite! and I worked on a bunch of em, and replaced a bunch of shifters and linkage ends. Forgot to mention check the linkage ends for excessive wear also and a high idle can cause hard shifting also! OPT

 

Thanks again I check it over thr weekend, Gregg

 

sounds like a high idle issue but should do it in low an reverse to id think...