Hi,

I have Grizzly 350 Ultramatic, not sure of year but I guess at least 10 years old.

Sometime ago it wouldn’t go into reverse and an Internet search revealed the problem and how to disable the brake interlock by keeping the sensor cable taught by stretched the spring with a cable tie. This has worked fine until today and it, again, wouldn’t go into reverse. I replaced the cable tie and made sure the spring was stretched and still no go. Obviously pulling the cable activates a sensor or something. Can anyone tell me where I need to go, along the cable, to find whatever it is which is telling the electronics that the brake isn’t depressed?

TIA, Peter

 

You can try to completely remove the cable lock from the shifter. It just unscrews from the side of it. That'll disable the shift lock completely. Not the safest for the transmission or belt, just make sure you're at a stop and idle when shifting gears (don't go from forward to reverse on the fly, but that should be a given...)

Unless something is internally messed up in the transmission, disabling that shift lock cable should allow for smooth shifting through all 3 gear selections. There's an adjustment on the cable as well on the foot brake side with a pair of jamb nuts. That allows you to adjust how far the foot brake needs to be depressed to actuate the far enough to let the shifter move.

I've also noticed as well that if you adjust the foot brake too tight at the rear axle, it makes it harder to push the foot pedal down far enough to engage the shift lock. I was having issues shifting my Bruin (basically the same machine as a Grizzly 350 SRA) after adjusting the rear brake tension at the rear axle. Found that if I just step on the pedal a little harder it shifted fine. Made some adjustments to the cable on the pedal that leads over to the shifter, made it engage with less pedal throw, and all is well now.

 

I think OP assumed it was electronic, it isn't. It is a cable moving a mechanical lock-out mechanism at the bottom of the gear lever.

 

Yeah the only sensor in the brake/shift mechanism are the two brake light switches; one on the handlebar lever and one on the foot brake assembly. The shifting mechanism is all mechanical on these. Only thing electronic is the indicator lights that tell you when you're in neutral or reverse, and those are turned on via the two small switches mounted on the top of the casing, but those will not stop it from actually going into any gear.

 

Hi All,

Thanks for the prompt and informative responses, much appreciated.

I've taken a good look at the shifter and it's not really obvious how I get to the mechanism under the gear lever shroud and I don't want to damage anything by taken the wrong approach. Do I have to remove some of the surrounding plastic or does the shroud simply pull up to reveal the mechanism?

I use the Grizzly mainly as a spray bike and, in my case, I have a spray tanks front and rear (see pic). Will I need to remove the front tank?

TIA, Peter

 

I think the front fender plastic might be in the way of getting to the cable where it screws into the shifter assembly. Hard to say, as the only time I've ever really mess with it is when I already had the plastics off for another reason, and I was pulling the shifter assembly off to make more room.

It might be possible to get to to it after just removing the plastic over the tank, but I'm not 100% positive.

 

Thanks, so spray tank off and take it from there!

 

Hi,

Sorry to pester with this issue, I just don't want to break anything.

I have the spray tank off and inspected the top plastic work. It just appears as though the front fender may be a single piece of plastic rather than a left/right fitting - correct?

It looks as though the fender is lifted off in an upwards direction but the shifter mechanism is in a cup like depression in the fender itself which would stop the fender from being removed. Obviously the fender can be removed so, what's the trick to removing it?

Cheers, Peter

 

To pull the cover off the gas tank: 1) remove the seat. 2) remove the two allen head bolts on the sides just below the seat, and the two allen head bolts facing straight up just to the sides of the speedometer and indicator lights. 3) remove the gas cap. 4) left the plastic up from the rear sides; wiggling it around a little while lifting up should release it. 5) place the gas cap back on the tank to keep anything from falling in or having to deal with the fumes.

At this point, assess the shifter area and see if you can get to the threaded in cable. If you can't, you might have to move onto removing the front fender (and yes it is one solid piece for left and right that wraps all the way around the front).

To remove the front fender: 1) remove the front rack; there are two bolts coming up from the bottom in the wheel arch area, two going down attaching it to the front bumper, and two more facing down further back by the handlebar area. 2) remove the 3 nuts/bolts on either side that hold the fender to the foot wells. 3) remove the remaining 2 bolts holding the front of the fender assembly to the front bumper; they come from behind the fender just below the grill area and into the front bumper. 4) working the sides loose first (starting on the side with the shifter), work the fender loose while lifting it up. It can be a little tedious and tricky to remove with the front bumper still attached, but it's very doable.

Once all that is off, there's AMPLE room to get to the shifter. But hopefully just removing the gas tank cover will get you to where you need to get to.

I'm also basing this all on the work I've done with my Bruin 350, which is very close to being the same exact bike... But that being said, there may be slight difference...

 

Thank you for taking the time to respond in such a comprehensive manner - you're a champ!! The photo's are very encouraging to, hopefully I won't have to go that far but with the roadmap I now have I know I can manage it.

Looking forward to the weekend now to get to it.

Again, thank you for taking the time....

Cheers, Peter