By Jerold Interlicchia (Drifty) on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Just bought a Max ll and have tried the manufactures technique to get into forward gear.Have tried the technicians advise and still have a very hard time getting it into forward gear.It will go into forward after a good rev of the motor,then a small crunch noise then it will go into forward.Is this normal or should I persist to have this serviced,as it is brand new.
Thanks,really!!!

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

Jerold,
A new T-20 is really tight and can be a bugger until the machine is broken in (about 25 hours). Don't rev it up and crunch it. Please be patient with it - all you will do if you force it is bend linkage, eat the edges off the internal gears or break the shifter collar.

The internal gears have to be lined up for the shift (into forward or into reverse or from forward to reverse or vica versa) to occur.

I have found the most effective way to change gears is to do it just as you are coming to a stop. Have both levers in the neutral position after just braked to a stop and move the lever smoothly to the other gear (you still have just a little machine motion that lets everything line up without grinding or noise). If you are at a dead stop, use the holding brake to hold the wheels in place and use your body motion to rock forward and back just a little to let the gears line up without grinding.

The only possible adjustment would be to lower your idle speed (if your engine is running too fast to allow the gears to aline). I am assuming that you have not already bent the shifting linkage.

If you would wait until your engine has slowed down (after a slight rev) so you don't grind the grears, your technique would be OK (I use the engine rev system only when I am bound up against a rock, log, or something that keeps me from being able to rock the machine with my body motion).

There is a slight learning curve that goes with your machine. Take it easy until you know what its abilities are (the limitations come from the driver's ability). The Max is most likely completely different from anything else you have ever operated.

By Gyrojimy on Unrecorded Date: Edit

Jerold, the max has an automatic clutch on the convertor, You must rap the throttle enulf to engage the clutch some. This spins up the trany so the gears will engage. pratice makes this easy. Rocking the machine with your body weight works well but looks kind of silly. My Max is about a year old and does shift better. You will look silly when you bottom out in watery swamp grass, Or some other various fixes we get in Gyro Jim