I have a 02 foreman es that is very hard to get in reverse with the electric shift mainly in cold weather? Upshift and downshift works fine otherwise going through the gears. Just have a really hard time getting it to go in reverse. You have to move the lever or hit the button just right for it to go in. It is very frustrating especially for plowing my driveway with all the snow we have been getting this winter. Any help would be greatly appreciated.............

 

How long has it been since the clutch adjustment has been done?

 

I have never done anything with the clutch. Is that something I could do myself, and do you think that might be the problem? If I use the manual foot lever it works just fine, but is a real pain to do it that way since you can only do one or the other.

 

Its easy. Warm up the motor, go for a short ride. Then shut down the motor..
On the forward side of the motor, is a lock nut, on a slotted screw, pretty much in the center of the cover.. Back off the nut, a turn. Turn the slotted screw CCW, until it meets resistance. From there, go CW 1/4 turn...then hold the slotted screw in place, and snug the lock nut.

 

Yes, clutch adjustment will cause the problem. So will a high idle.
Another thing to do would be take your emergency shifter and slip it on the shift shaft. Hold the brakes, with your foot push back on the emergency shifter and hold it there without releasing it. This is the clutch position. While holding it there, give the unit some throttle. The engine should free wheel like a car with the clutch pushed in. If it doesn't, keep a steady throttle until the clutch breaks free and the engine free wheels.
When you push snow, the oil gets hot. The clutch is cooled by the oil. It is hotter than normal. What happens is when you turn off your quad after plowing, the oil will bake one or more of the fiber clutch discs to the steel discs as the unit cools quickly in the cold temps. With one disc stuck to a plate, this will make reverse hard to shift into as you are not getting complete clutch disengage.
Myself, after pushing snow or working my wheeler hard, I will let it idle for around 5 minutes to let the oil and engine components cool evenly.


Hope all goes well


----- Gimpster -----

 

ok thanks for the help guys... I will give those suggestions a try. I went out there to try it today for a while, and now that the temp has been above freezing it is working again like normal. Gimpster are you saying that if I am having trouble getting it into reverse and I do the emergency shifter thing that you suggested it should clear it up? It does make sense for I always just shut it down right away after plowing. Will see I guess. Thanks..........

 

It should also clear up how jerky your Foreman is when it shifts up in gears.

----- Gimp -----