I have a 2004 Raptor 350. Been a great, reliable ride. This past trip, the shifter became really stiff and wouldn't shift into neutral. Really tough to shift from gear to gear. Once it sat for about an hour, the shifter was fine again. What's happening here?

Any suggestions appreciated.

 

im not really up on 350 rappy but if you landed or stepped on the shift shaft you could have bent it after it warms up the heat makes metal expand so that could be your problem and do you have you checked or changed your oil resently

 

It's about time for an oil change. I'll do that and see how it goes next trip. Thanks.

 

maybe a bearing got metal shavings in it and went bad. I don't know how likely it is that the shaft actually got bent, because the rappy350 doesn't have a direct linkage, it has one of yamaha's sloppy linkages that should have broke before any damage occured inside the motor. An oil change wound't hurt, but this sounds to me like something in the transmission is broke or bent and binding up.

 

You're probably right - just hoping for the least cost solution. Thanks for your help.

 

make sure the reverse lever is all the way foward. with mine it gets tough to get the lever all the way into nuetral.