Stuck in 2W drive

Have a 2004 RTV900 that we have had almost no problems with. A year or two ago the cable broke with the machine stuck in 2W drive. At the time I just thought it was a broken cable. Fast forward to now, I finally decide to take machine in to get it serviced, asked the Kubota service guy to fix the cable while they have it in the shop.

Kubota tells me that yes the cable needs to be replaced, but that whatever rock we hit to break the cable stuck the transmission in 2W drive. Kubota quoted me $900+parts to take apart the transmission to figure out what the problem is and fix it. Kubota tells me that the transmission needs to be dropped and split open to determine the problem.

Does this sound right? I have tried to make the machine shift out of 2W drive into 4W drive with a rubber mallet, and I agree that bad boy is stuck.

Any other suggestions?

Ouch, that would hurt.
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Welcome to the Forum !!!!

I have never been into the transmission. BUT, there is some here who has gone as far as the shifting yolks and fixed them. From listening to the ones who done this, don't sound like it that much of a big deal to get that far.

Only can speak for myself, but I would at lease go as far to make sure the shifting yolks is not out of place or broken. Then, if that was not the deal, maybe then think about going further.
But I would not take just one dealers opinion, go to several before I threw out that much $$$
on the machine.

Hi and welcome! trying get a little more information-I've never done anything to my transmission but am hoping something minor was bent. At what place did the cable break? That sounds expensive to me -I agree, a second opinion may be in order . bordercollie

hi TXDego, welcome to the forum. Unfortunately the dealer is right. Like twoguns said the shifting forks could be a problem. They are aluminum so they can break off. The trans. doesn't have pans to drop, rather sections that you have to split. You have to pull the motor and trans. as a unit and then split them. Then split the trans. We have one in the shop here now that broke the forks for the H/M ranges. Unfortunately we have to do this same procedure to repair the broken forks. You may be able to shop around for cheaper prices, but they're most likely gonna have to "go in".

If the fork isn't broken but has slipped, do you still need to do a tear down?

I'll have to look at our manuals, but I'm pretty sure you do. The problem is that you can't see it due to the few openings in the case. If you cant see it when you pull the shift shaft assembly, your pretty much out of luck. I'll look and try to get back about this later after work.

The trans. case is put together in sections. Two main sections and the valve body (hydro pumps and swashplates) in the rear. The gears to shift from M/H and L/R slide along rods controlled by the forks. I didn't get to see the fork setup for the 4x4 (boss had me redirected), but I do believe it's there. Anyhow, to manipulate any movement on the rods you have to split the trans. to enable you access to them. There is an idler shaft then the actual front axle drive shaft, but these are located more to the drivers side of the trans. There isn't any access point on that side of the trans. to be able to see these shafts or gain access to them. Sorry to bear the bad news.

Sorry yall, was away for a few days. Thanks for getting back with me.

The cable broke right at the little arm/lever thingy right on the transmission. The arm/lever thingy is not bent or broken that I can tell. I think if it was the Kubota dealer would have said so.

The dealer told me that in order to fix it, they would have to drop the transmission and split the case open.

I told him I would have someone else fix, no freaking way I was going to pay that much. At that point, I don't think the guy really had any reason to lie or BS me, the machine was already loaded up on my trailer.

This machine really has been good to me, I bought it in 2004 and so far only have about 175 hours on it. The kids run the hell out of it around the house, so god only knows what kind of rock they hit.

Just to clarify , your machine shifts into L,M,H, and reverse ok it is just the 4wd that wont work correctly- is that right? Thanks bordercollie

That gonna be expensive then. I would have to open a can of WA if somebody did that to my machine. I sold my '05 with over 4025 hrs and never had such a problem . Of coarse I treated it like I had to pay for it - which I did. You might check with somebody that works on tractors but if somebody gets in there that doesn't know what their doing then it could be a another can of worms. good luck . bordercollie

Here is what I would try. Raise the bed and install the prop and let it down gently on it. now have someone rock the rtv fwd/rev while you apply movement to the lever the cable goes to. A lot of times I have back mine up and pull forward a little to take it in and out of 4wd. This may be all it takes to let it engage.

Good idea Muleman. It TexDiego has no help , he could also jack it up after doing what you said with the bed and rotate the wheels while trying to move the piece where the cable should go.I am just wondering where a rock could have hit to do that? I had a big limb pop up yesterday and come in the cab on me. bordercollie

Alot of the mishaps we see like this are usually due to people trying to force the trans. in and out of gear, 2wd or 4wd. I've seen one come in before that had the shaft broke clean off that rides in the saddle to shift the gears. One thing for sure they don't like it when you force them.

Sorry again for being tardy in my responses.

Yes, machine shifts from L-M-H no problem, just will not shift from 2W to 4W.

Problem is not really sure how it got stuck in 2W, my guess is that it was forced. Between my 8 & 11 year old sons who drive it like they stole it, and the Mexican laborers, have no idea how it broke.

Guess its back to the Kubota dealer, ouch.

All this talk about forced shifting brought to mind a couple of observations I've made in operating my RTV as a newbie. The owners manual directs you to never force the RTV into or out of any gear-L,M,H,R and 2W and 4W. Also to never shift into or out of any gear on the fly. At least, thats my interpretation of it. It also states if you are unable to shift into any gear easily, you should tap the throttle to rev the engine a little, return to idle, and then try again.

In my limited experience, it has taken as many as three taps and on the throttle and subsequent revs to get my RTV to easily shift into reverse without any force. I rev, allow engine to return to idle, and then attempt the shift again. If shifting is not force free, I repeat until it is. I have very thoroughly instructed anyone else who drives the machine on this technique. Another observaton is any other driver I have observed attempting to shift the machine will first, if allowed to do so, resort to force in attempt to get the machine in or out of gear. The technique of revving and returning to idle and then attempting to shift the machine again must be taught as a technique particular to operating the RTV.

Another observaton I made the other day was this. I had hooked the RTV up to a relatively heavy 20 foot tandem axle trailer to move from one location to another. I backed the trailer up to a brick wall just barely tapping the brick wall as a stopping point. When I attempted to shift from reverse to M, the shift lever was "stuck" in R and would have required force to get out of R. So, I employed the throttle tap and rev in attempt to remove the force prohibiting the shift, but was unsuccessfull after three attempts. I suspect the problem was the machine was in reverse, but was not able to move in reverse because of the brick wall prohibiting movement. So I scratched my head for a minute trying to figure out how I was going to get the machine out of reverse. Finally I decided to try torquing the machine in reverse against the brick wall, and then applying the brake before detorquing. With the brake held, and the transmission detorqued (engine allowed to return to idle), I was easily able to shift the machine out of reverse.

One of the mechanics on the forum can probably explain in technical details why the machine needs to be handled in this way to shift freely without force, but it is obvious in these posts force in shifting is not a good thing. It is also apparent proper shifting for new users of the machine is not intuitive and must be taught.

Applying the parking brake will normally do what you want. Especially in the cases (e.g. the brick) where the tranny has something straining on it. Apply the emer brake, wait about 3 seconds and then you can normally shift.

BTW, it gets looser as the machine gets some hours on it.

There is also a label on the dash describing the process to relieve pressure so it can shift. This always worked on my '05 and I also use it on the 2011. Just turn the steering wheel hard left or right and or pump the brakes. bordercollie

If and when possible you can kill the motor, wait 5 to 10 sec. then shift to neutral. There is a pull cable that opens a relief valve to help with this issue, but I have found that it doesn't always work.
The fluid pressure that builds inside the trans. drives different hydro. pumps (1 to 2 for forward and 1 for reverse). Once motors are engaged, if the rtv is in a bind and can't move then the pressure stays. Once you've relieved the pressure (through these different methods) then you can shift out.

bump