wondering if there is any adjustment that can be made to make it easier to shift gears on the big bear?
especially from reverse to 1st, or any other. seems the higher gears are fine, the lowers are quite hard to shift between.

 

The first to reverse shift on my '03 BearTracker is a external lever with a rod. It was ridiculously hard to get into and out of reverse and jumped out of gear sometimes until I adjusted the rod. This may be a different problem then you are having.

It might be that lubrication is required on the shift shaft.

 

My Big Bear was notchy to shift,I chaned the oil to a Full synthetic and the ATV shifted MUCH smoother.