Kubota L4850 shuttle stuck in reverse

[hugho]

I have a 97 L4850 with the everclutch hydraulic shuttle. I experienced difficulty shifing through fwd and reverse and eventually the lever stuck in reverse. Hoping that it was just a jam in the shifting mechanism I took it apart from the shift lever down and removed the footbed to try to get access to the shuttle valve disassembling the various linkage rods as I went. I called up 3 Kubota dealers The first said I would have to bring the tractor to them for pressure tests. The second said they had seen the problem once before and it required splitting the tractor. They said it was possible the valve would need to be rebuilt. Estimates were $1000 and up plus the time and expense of finding a trailer and taking to the dealer over 100 miles away. The last dealer in Burley ID was puzzled and suggested opening or removing the shuttle valve to see if I could find where and why it was stuck. This I did. There are 3 detents on top of the valve for the 3 positions of fwd, rev and neutral. After I airblasted the housing I peered at the valve and discovered a really small piece of debris, rock, jamming the mechanism. Once I pried it out the valve worked freely. I had prepared a new thread asking for help from this forum and I wanted to pass on this bit of advice. Removing the foot bed allows access to the valve which is totally covered by the plate. All the usual problems with rusty bolts requiring deepcreep and powerblaster and a propane torch and eventually all was well.