[TRW]

Sometimes it is very hard, sometimes it is easy, anyone got any tricks to solve the issue of hard shifting. Do you all have hard shifting at times, or all the time?

 

[Cajun]

Just tap the throttle when its hard to shift.

 

[Rollin]

Sometimes it is very hard, sometimes it is easy, anyone got any tricks to solve the issue of hard shifting. Do you all have hard shifting at times, or all the time?

Is it only when shifting out of Park? That may be because you're parked on an incline. to solve that just rock your bike back and forth a little.

What model year is your bike? There is a shifter interlock cable that can be out of adjustment - check your owners manual- you need to engage the rear brake to shift. I understand that Yamaha took that out for 2018 , maybe even 2017 models?
Check your shifter linkages for loose components.

 

[Primethious]

The cable was removed for 2018.

With the cable you are suppose to apply the brakes before shifting. What a pain that would be.

If you have the interlock cable I'd look into removing it all together.

 

[Rollin]

Just tap the throttle when its hard to shift.

I respectfully disagree :|
If you do that you will damage your transmission and possible the clutch components. Only shift with engine at idle speed!

 

[Cajun]

I respectfully disagree :|
If you do that you will damage your transmission and possible the clutch components. Only shift with engine at idle speed!

If you are referring to shifting from park to H, L or R, tapping the throttle and then letting it rev back down before shifting will loosen it up. I guess I should have been more clear that you let it rev back to normal before shifting. I have owned a grizzly, rhino, Viking and now a Kodiak and they all do this. Very normal .

 

[TRW]

Thanks for all the info, it seems to have improved some and it is not bad, I was just hoping for a bit smoother. Thanks to all of you for our input, you are a great resource!

 

[Chea9890]

I have a 2016 kodiak 700 and i had the same issue with the hard shifting between any gear. So i started to investigate. I took the plastics off on the left side and located what seems to be a shift fork. In order to shift between each gear you need to hold the brake. Well sometimes that safety switch/pin does not always go all the way in and it is really difficult to shift gears. So i cut the fork and i do not have to hold any brake to shift gears. I love it

 

[TRW]

Thanks for the input, I will look at that when I have time.

 

[WesTex]

I've found on my 2016 700 that the foot brake also kinda works as a clutch. When you are coming to a stop instead of just letting the rig idle down to a stop, use the foot brake. It makes shifting so much easier.

 

[TRW]

Wow, this is interesting, anyone got any thoughts on this? I will try this and see what I think.

 

[TRW]

I think I have determined that always going to neutral before going to park or any gear seems to work. I also think that going to park before you shut it off makes it shift easier when you want to shift it anytime. Foot on the brake help also, as I think it takes a little pressure off the drivetrain.

 

[TRW]

When I started this thread, I had a new 2016, now I have an 2018. This shifts much better and before shifting it I go from whatever gear I am in to neutral or bypass neutral and then go to the gear I need. If I am in Reverse, I just bump it up to N and then go to park or whatever gear I need. That works well.

 

[TRW]

Just a follow up. Today I pulled into some deep snow and forgot to put it in park. When I went to start it, I could not get it out of Low. I did rock it hard by lunging forward and backward with my body and finally got it to come out of Low. It goes into Park easy when it is running, and that is the time to put it there.

 

[[email protected]]

Just a follow up. Today I pulled into some deep snow and forgot to put it in park. When I went to start it, I could not get it out of Low. I did rock it hard by lunging forward and backward with my body and finally got it to come out of Low. It goes into Park easy when it is running, and that is the time to put it there.

if it’s difficult getting out of gear just give a little throttle and move a couple of more inches. Apply the brake so there’s no load on the transmission and change gears. Works for me.

 

[TRW]

Thanks for the input, I was kind of stuck in very deep snow, so moving it was hard, but you info did help!

 

[GRC]

Wow, this is interesting, anyone got any thoughts on this? I will try this and see what I think.

Removed the cable from my 2016 Grizzly runs from the bottom on the left brake lever, down by the steering shaft around the top of the engine to a elongated nut behind the exhaust. Under the headlight loose the cable and remove from the brake handle ( after removing plastic) feed the cable down and out to right side of bike. Loosen off the lock nut at the back of the elongated nut until the spring pushes the nut back. If your is stuck use a good sized drift or screw driver to drive the pin out. Now your shifter will work better than ever. I see no practical use for this lock pin your grooves beside your shifter do the same thing. Very poor design works great until it gets dirty rusty or wet. Which is every time you use it in Canada anyway. Still starts in gear with the foot brake depressed and all other functions are the same.

 

[TRW]

Removed the cable from my 2016 Grizzly runs from the bottom on the left brake lever, down by the steering shaft around the top of the engine to a elongated nut behind the exhaust. Under the headlight loose the cable and remove from the brake handle ( after removing plastic) feed the cable down and out to right side of bike. Loosen off the lock nut at the back of the elongated nut until the spring pushes the nut back. If your is stuck use a good sized drift or screw driver to drive the pin out. Now your shifter will work better than ever. I see no practical use for this lock pin your grooves beside your shifter do the same thing. Very poor design works great until it gets dirty rusty or wet. Which is every time you use it in Canada anyway. Still starts in gear with the foot brake depressed and all other functions are the same.

That is a very interesting solution, I hope we have others weigh in on this as I see it as a good thing! Thanks for the feed back!

 

[RedRocket]

@TRW That shift interlock is an interesting one. Seems Yamaha did away with it starting in 2019, I believe. That tells me their engineers also found it to be pretty useless. On the GC forum, multiple discussions surrounding that interlock pin and many have disabled it, myself included. Seems there are 3 main ways to disable, remove the cable and associated parts as suggested by @GRC, bend or cut the plate the pin is attached to, or just find the cable housing expansion screw/nut and make the cable housing longer. I used the third option so that way I could easily put it back together if I needed to.

That cable housing expander is just down from the left brake lever and is on the cable housing, not associated with the hydraulic hose. You'll see rubber covers over the expander, move those back and break free the set nut. Lengthen the housing to where the interlock pin is disabled and then tighten the set nut. You will know when the interlock pin has been disabled.

 

[TRW]

Thanks for the info, I love this forum!