Kawasaki Teryx Shifting issues

[lilbird]

Wondering if anyone has had issues trying to jam the shifter into any gear (H/L/R) without success then finally breaking the cable. What is the cause?

[lilbird]

Update: New shifter cable installed last month. If it wasn't the cable then the shifting fork would have required inspection as they can be bent. If it is not that, then it is a transmission issue. Lucky it was just a cable...

[Mech]

Yeah the cables are real tough, there's no way you could snap one.. it must have been a crook cable, with broken strands snagging, till you broke the last few,

[lilbird]

Update ..I had a technician replace the cable. It snapped. I now shift only when it is ready which means moving the shifter in and out until I can select the right one. Takes a few seconds but I no longer force it into gear. However I still wonder why it's is so finicky? Sometimes it is easy, others not so much.  Send off that the gears have to be lined up perfectly to shift?

[Mech]

I don't know those vehicles at all but every shift cable I've ever seen has been a real tough thing that should last twenty years. You couldn't break one with muscles alone. I'd be looking for a problem somewhere before the new one broke.. Perhaps the cable's routed wrong so it has a sharp bend, or perhaps the engine mounts are loose or worn allowing the cable to be flexed constantly. Is it the cable that breaks, or the metal fitting on the end of the flexible cable.

The shifting problem might be caused by one of those problems I mentioned, or it might be because the engine's idling too fast, or because the belt drive system needs a bit of work/setting up. The fast idling or badly adjusted belt drive though will not break the cable, they'll just make it hard to get into or out of gear. The breaking cables problem needs fixing first probably and then see if the shifting gets better. 

When it goes into gear, does the vehicle lurch forwards or graunch he gears ? Either of those are a sign the revs are too high or the belt's playing up. If neither of those things happen, then perhaps the hard shift is because the cable's misaligned.

[lilbird]

It broke at the end after 6 years of use. In the last year, it was difficult to go between gears. I think it also stretched?? Ill have to check again whether it lurchase or not. Is been sitting in snow for a while now. I appreciate your response.!

[Mech]

The cables don't stretch, but the outer cover does get compressed and shortened, (which gives much the same effect as a stretched cable). so there's normally an adjustment for that.

What breaks them though, the cables, is if the end doesn't line up with the lever it's going onto nicely, and, line up nicely with no strain or bends right close by in the actual length of cable between mounts... then they break early. Every cable I've seen has been made to push and pull, but not bend or get flexed much at all. If the engine or gearbox mounts were worn and allowed the unit to move it could shorten the life of the cable dramatically. Or for that matter, if the cab was loose on it's mounts.. 

I'm pretty sure that six years will be a short life for that cable. I'd check the cable looked like it lay comfortably, I'd grab it mid length and move it and see it had a bit of movement in every direction, and I'd check the cab and engine/gearbox mounts.

Then.. I don't live in the snow !!  Perhaps cold really does make metal brittle.

If I did live in the snow.. I'd want my machines reliable .. I don't like cold.