By Greg Lawrence (Greglawrence) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Ok the piece of pipe between the lateral controls (rods) is bent, this is the shifter linkage i assume, is it supposed to be bent or straight? if straight what do i do just unbend it? or replace it with stainless rod? or what? this is day two and it is not running. the clock is ticking. what causes the shifter rod to bend like that?

By Fred Sowerwine, Montana's Max dealer (Fred4dot) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Greg, it is not suppose to be bent. That happens by somebody reefing on it to change gears. Impatient operator (now you know why it was sitting and for sale). You will want to check shift collars as this could be a sign of internal damage). Also make sure the linkage is right so both sides of the T-20 shift at the same time.


Just pull it out and straighten it cold. If it happens again, you can temper it a little or buy a new one. T-20s do not always shift easily and if you force it, you will just bend or break things. Rock the machine with body weight and when the gears are lined up, it will go right in.

By Missouri's Max Dealer (Brandon_price) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

The shift rod should be strait. It's not uncommon to find them bent since new Max drivers don't know how to shift a non-syncronized transmission. I repaired one a short time ago with the right side trans shifter broke with a bent shifter rod. It didn't seem to matter that the shift rod was bent, everything still worked fine. Just make sure your tranny shifts into forward and reverse on both sides. Whoever bent the shift rod might have broke a trans shifter. It takes some time to learn how to operate the best transmission ever put into an ATV, and some aren't willing to take that time.

By shane forsythe (Shanefor1) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

max dealers.
this would be a good time to tell newbees how to shift a max t-20.
lots of people don't read the whole book.
shane.