6X4 Gator gear changing

[nathan8804]

Ok guys I just bought my new 6x4 trail gator and i love it. Just one problem is changing gears. I depress the pedal all the way however I grind gears. When the sales guy and delivery driver dropped it off it did not grind. I asked the delivery driver and he stated that "they all do that (grind gears) just change gears fast". Now I did take his advice and it seems to work 90% of the time. But I just can't get over the 10%. I noticed the point where the cluch engages appears to be about 2-3 pedal movement from the floor. Let me know what all of you that have gators 4x2 or 6x4 have experienced.

 

[cowboydoc]

Either your idle is set too high or you have your foot on the gas when you put it into gear. This is the only reason on a new one that they grind. Amazing to me how many dealers don't figure this out.

 

[Dargo]

I have purchased 2 brand new 6X4 Gators in the past, a gas and diesel one. They both always made a bit of a grinding sound when putting them into gear. It never caused a problem, but they always did it. It will be worse if your idle is too fast or if you don't wait for the engine speed to drop as low as possible before shifting into gear.

 

[nathan8804]

I have made sure my foot was in its proper place when shifting. I guess its the high idle.

 

[nathan8804]

Now did the grind occur on both the gas and diesel models? or was it just the gas. And how long did you have the unit with grinding gears. If memory serves me right the gators at my university that the maintenance department used would did the same thing. I just want to make sure I am not causing gear box damage and thus have problems later down the line. Thanks all.

 

[Dargo]

The grind was with both. The reason that I don't think it will be any issue for you is that the Kawasaki gas engine flat wore out in my gas model and it never had a transmission problem. That is why I bought the diesel model. According to the military research reports I read, you too will likely wear out the engine before you have any transmission problem. There are diesel Gators in Iraq. They drop them from transport planes and call them "air Gators".

 

[cowboydoc]

I agree with Dargo. You aren't going to hurt it. And yes they all make a little bit of noise going into gear.

 

[nathan8804]

Thanks for all those that responded.

 

[KubotaBling]

Is the gear box gears straight cut or beveled? it uses a pulley belt drive doesn't it or is that on cheapo's?