Shifting greatly improved! Why didn't I think of that?

RealtreeRTV

RealtreeRTV

Member
I was at my Kubota dealer recently to pick up trans oil and a filter kit.(my rig has 166 hrs. on it)
The guy at the counter was very helpful and I was picking his brain about a few things.

I just bought my 900 last fall (yeah, another newbie)and have been having issues with shifting especially when plowing. The knob on dash works great for getting shifting lever unstuck. Although I wish it was mounted on left side or better yet foot operated. Anybody changed release cable location?



I was really having trouble getting shifter to go into gear, especially reverse and low. (not all the time but enough to tick me off)



He told me to just give it a little throttle when shifter doesn't go right in.
What a difference that tidbit made for me. Shifter just falls into gear with a little bump on the throttle. This may help other RTV newbies like it did me!
:17875:
 
Doc

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Yep, that does help. I was going so far as to turn off the engine to shift out of gear or into a new gear (R and L were the hardest) but letting off the brake and letting it roll a little or giving a little more gas helps it slip right in without having to force the issue. I'm thinking it was BCzoom who tipped me off to this trick and I'm sure glad he did. Thanks for posting this, it will help get the word out to other new RTV owners.
 
muleman RIP

muleman RIP

Gone But Not Forgotten
Gold Site Supporter
Holding the brakes on, turning the steering wheel and blipping the throttle all work to improve shifting. With the plow it makes you wonder even more why it is not a true hydrostatic with a forward/reverse pedal.
 
Kanook

Kanook

Active member
muleman said:
Holding the brakes on, turning the steering wheel and blipping the throttle all work to improve shifting. With the plow it makes you wonder even more why it is not a true hydrostatic with a forward/reverse pedal.
Click to expand...

Muleman...Couldn't agree more...for plowing I have found that adjusting the hydro linkage for a little 'reverse creep' helps with the shifting as well.
 
Kanook

Kanook

Active member
Wild Bill said:
Please elaborate if you could
Click to expand...

With the back wheels off the ground (on jack stands) and the RTV engine running with shifter in H and 2WD, increase the engine speed to full using the link at the injector or the hand throttle if present..(not the foot pedal). If the rear wheels start to rotate slowly in the forward direction you have forward creep, if they rotate backward reverse creep is present and if neither forward or backward then zero creep is indicated. Zero creep is the ideal but I have found that a little reverse creep unloads the transmissionwhen you come to a stop while pushing snow and eases the shift to N. Likewise when shifting into R or any forward gear, a slight blip of the pedal usually allows the gear to engage smoothly. (Constant forward creep when at idle creats difficulty engaging and disengaging gears).
Adjust creep at the link on the top of the hydro xmission.

Worked wonders for me. Ain't perfect but changed the operation of my machine from being the target of swearwords I didn't know existed into a recipient of the occasional "sure wish this thing had a reverse pedal like my tractor"
 
Wild Bill

Wild Bill

Member
I've gotten better with the shifting but there are still times where I need to blip the throttle more than once to get it to engage. Last year there was a LOT of cursing going on and I was seriously thinking that I had made a mistake.

This year I am more used to it, added the wings on the plow, and made a cheapo wind screen. I am much happier but I still long for shuttle shift or like you say dedicated forward/reverse pedal system for the hydrostatic drive.

I have to do a service on my machine here soon and may look at adjusting this.

Thanks for the info!
 
Kanook

Kanook

Active member
The problem I was having was that once I came to a full stop while pushing snow the RTV was still exerting forward force due to the "creep" This made it almost impossible to shift out of gear and into reverse as the pile of snow was holding the unit back....like driving up against a wall. By inducing some reverse creep into the equation the forward force was eliminated. When pushing snow I also use the hand throttle to keep the engine rpm up. It doesn't take much adjustment to go from forward to none to reverse creep so I suspect that every unit is different and those that don't push snow are minimally affected. Its the situation of shifting F to R to F every 20 seconds when working in close quarters that enhances the cuss word vocabulary.:wink:
 
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