2002 Yamaha Bear Tracker transmission problem

[Stilkikn]

This morning I was pulling a small trailer to move some dirt, (knocking off some high spots and filling in some low spots,) carrying around 200 lbs of dirt each load. I was using first gear only, and only hauling it about 100 feet. Twice the  transmission appeared to try to slip out of forward and into reverse. There was a scary amount of gear chatter and I immediately braked and let off the throttle. I pushed the forward/reverse lever back into forward and was able to continue on but on the very next load it did the exact same thing and I was again able to get it going by pushing the lever forward. After that I was able to continue hauling dirt for the next 2 hours with no problems. But the fact that it happened and the gear noise that came with it is worriesome and was hoping someone might know what happened, what caused it, and how to fix the problem and/or avoid it in the future. Thanks.

[Ajmboy]

Maybe clutch is out of adjustment? Is yours like this?

 

[Stilkikn]

Yes that looks just like the one on my Beartracker. I'll check it out this afternoon and see if it needs any adjustment. It doesn't slip at all that I can tell and other than the trouble with it trying to jump out of forward and into reverse those two times it hasn't given me any other trouble. Thanks for the reply and the video link. I'll post up my findings after I check it out later today.

[Stilkikn]

I made the adjustment but it seemed to be very close to being adjusted correctly already. I was able to tighten it just a tiny fraction before feeling the resistance but I can't really tell that it made any difference. But I learned something anyway since I didn't even know the clutch was adjustable so it's all good! Thanks again for the information Ajmboy, much appreciated.

[Stilkikn]

Well it tried to jump into reverse again this afternoon and it wasn't even under a load this time. I've been thinking about it and got to thinking it might be something as simple as the forward/reverse shifter linkage so when it acted up again today I took it straight to the shop and adjusted the linkage so as to move the actuator further into the forward position. I only adjusted it one turn on the adjustment thread since I don't really know what the heck I'm doing and don't want to go too far. Shifts into both forward and reverse with no problem but I won't really know whether that fixes the problem or not until I've rode it awhile since the problem is intermittent, but so far so good.

[Stilkikn]

Quick update on the shifter problem. After adjusting the forward/reverse linkage yesterday it hasn't tried jumping into reverse at all. I worked it pretty hard in the woods all day today, hauling small cedar logs and cart loads of brush up and down these Missouri hills without a hitch so starting to think the problem was all in a simple linkage adjustment. Will post back if anything changes.

[Ajmboy]

On 11/12/2021 at 7:54 PM, Stilkikn said:

Quick update on the shifter problem. After adjusting the forward/reverse linkage yesterday it hasn't tried jumping into reverse at all. I worked it pretty hard in the woods all day today, hauling small cedar logs and cart loads of brush up and down these Missouri hills without a hitch so starting to think the problem was all in a simple linkage adjustment. Will post back if anything changes.

That's awesome, way to go on fixing and thanks for sharing.