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Reverse locks up

Silver4

Veteran
Joined
Oct 29, 2020
Messages
31
Age
63
Location
Ottawa
Country
Canada
Snowmobile
2013 RST90D Venture 973 cc carbs
2013 Venture chain type sound (or gears) in reverse until suddenly BANG and it locks up.
Sounds and feels so bad. I can still put it into forward and again back into reverse where after 6 seconds- same thing.
Chain tension good, brand new Yamaha belt sitting even with top of clutch shieves

Any thoughts on this?
Reverse fork worn out in crankcase as suggested by dealer perhaps? ..... linkage adjustment? (bolt center to center should be 27 mm. Can anyone confirm?)
Dealer said if I adjust linkage I may lose reverse?!!

Anyone have this problem and fix or diagnose it?
Just want to make it through the season... you know the feeling..lol
Much gratitude...
 

both my apex skip to neutral when they need adjustment , or the pivot bolt comes loose. one has 10000 km and the other has 36000 km. never replaced a fork yet but i probably should on the 11.

check that the linkage pivot bolt is tight (got me once) before adjusting the linkage. it is the same for all delta box sleds.
 
Thank you!
I tried tightening the pivot bolt but it doesn't seem to tighten, it just spins.
Does this procedure require 2 wrenches- or just tighten the nut? It didn't seem to requie a wrench on the other side but so hard to see...
 
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Given that gears are slightly grinding and it suddenly locks up (jumps out of gear?).....

Should I lengthen or should I try shortening the turnbuckle adjustment for starters? Which direction do I turn to shorten it?
Somewhat afraid to make it worse given the dealer said I could "lose reverse" if it was adjusted wrong...

( And still hoping someone can verify the dealer spec between the nuts)
 
Last edited:
Given that gears are slightly grinding and it suddenly locks up (jumps out of gear?).....

Should I lengthen or should I try shortening the turnbuckle adjustment for starters? Which direction do I turn to shorten it?
Somewhat afraid to make it worse given the dealer said I could "lose reverse" if it was adjusted wrong...

( And still hoping someone can verify the dealer spec between the nuts)
Hi! Had the same problem. The linkage should be tight all the way. If it is not, there will not be enough movment in the bottom to be able to change forward to reverse gear. In my case the bolt and lock. The nut was lose due to vibrarions and a result of those vibrarions the bolt hade gotten thinner, I had to replace the bush as well with a new one due to tear, I had a mecanic make a new one. It is important when you put it together again that you also use loctite to secure the nut to the bolt so it does not vibrarte lose again. Good luck! I have just done that procedure myself and will be on snowmobile vacation next week so I hope it will be ok now.
 
Hi! Had the same problem. The linkage should be tight all the way. If it is not, there will not be enough movment in the bottom to be able to change forward to reverse gear. In my case the bolt and lock. The nut was lose due to vibrarions and a result of those vibrarions the bolt hade gotten thinner, I had to replace the bush as well with a new one due to tear, I had a mecanic make a new one. It is important when you put it together again that you also use loctite to secure the nut to the bolt so it does not vibrarte lose again. Good luck! I have just done that procedure myself and will be on snowmobile vacation next week so I hope it will be ok now.
I did not change any setting, just made sure that it was all tight and not lose.
 
Thank you!
I tried tightening the pivot bolt but it doesn't seem to tighten, it just spins.
Does this procedure require 2 wrenches- or just tighten the nut? It didn't seem to requie a wrench on the other side but so hard to see...
you need another wrench to hold the nut.
 
Has the chaincase been apart? Many times the linkage components don’t get reassembled correctly, if you could post a couple pics of your linkage it may help confirm everything is in correct order & position
 
2013 Venture chain type sound (or gears) in reverse until suddenly BANG and it locks up.
Sounds and feels so bad. I can still put it into forward and again back into reverse where after 6 seconds- same thing.
Chain tension good, brand new Yamaha belt sitting even with top of clutch shieves

Any thoughts on this?
Reverse fork worn out in crankcase as suggested by dealer perhaps? ..... linkage adjustment? (bolt center to center should be 27 mm. Can anyone confirm?)
Dealer said if I adjust linkage I may lose reverse?!!

Anyone have this problem and fix or diagnose it?
Just want to make it through the season... you know the feeling..lol
Much gratitude...
Not sure how you made out, but here's my 2 cents worth. I have the exact same sled as yours. Had the same reverse issue that you describe when I purchased it two years ago. Grinding going into reverse and then difficulty getting it to shift to forward again. Shut it off, start again, it's in forward. Adjusted the linkage to 27 mm, tightened the pivot bolt, checked belt and track tension. A bit better but still not working well.

Eventually by trial and error what I found was that if I plan to shift to reverse, I come to a complete stop with the hand brake and then hold the sled with the brake while moving the shift lever. The lever should move smoothly, no fighting with it or grinding and when you release the brake you can hear it clunk into gear. Make your reverse movement, stop with the brake, hold it, shift forward, release brake, clunk and away you go. If when you stop there is resistance to it shifting, pull ahead a little farther, hit the hand brake and try again.

I think it has to do with having no tension on the chaincase gears either from the belt on the secondary or the drive shaft, cogs, etc. It's like if you've ever parked an automatic car on a hill, put it in park, let off the brake and then tried to shift it out of park again. Doesn't work so good because the weight of the car is on the gears in the transmission and you're trying to overcome that with the shift linkage.

Anyway, that's what works for me. The Yamaha Reverse Blues is a common tune on this and many other forums.
2013 Venture chain type sound (or gears) in reverse until suddenly BANG and it locks up.
Sounds and feels so bad. I can still put it into forward and again back into reverse where after 6 seconds- same thing.
Chain tension good, brand new Yamaha belt sitting even with top of clutch shieves

Any thoughts on this?
Reverse fork worn out in crankcase as suggested by dealer perhaps? ..... linkage adjustment? (bolt center to center should be 27 mm. Can anyone confirm?)
Dealer said if I adjust linkage I may lose reverse?!!

Anyone have this problem and fix or diagnose it?
Just want to make it through the season... you know the feeling..lol
Much gratitude...
2013 Venture chain type sound (or gears) in reverse until suddenly BANG and it locks up.
Sounds and feels so bad. I can still put it into forward and again back into reverse where after 6 seconds- same thing.
Chain tension good, brand new Yamaha belt sitting even with top of clutch shieves

Any thoughts on this?
Reverse fork worn out in crankcase as suggested by dealer perhaps? ..... linkage adjustment? (bolt center to center should be 27 mm. Can anyone confirm?)
Dealer said if I adjust linkage I may lose reverse?!!

Anyone have this problem and fix or diagnose it?
Just want to make it through the season... you know the feeling..lol
Much gratitude...

2013 Venture chain type sound (or gears) in reverse until suddenly BANG and it locks up.
Sounds and feels so bad. I can still put it into forward and again back into reverse where after 6 seconds- same thing.
Chain tension good, brand new Yamaha belt sitting even with top of clutch shieves

Any thoughts on this?
Reverse fork worn out in crankcase as suggested by dealer perhaps? ..... linkage adjustment? (bolt center to center should be 27 mm. Can anyone confirm?)
Dealer said if I adjust linkage I may lose reverse?!!

Anyone have this problem and fix or diagnose it?
Just want to make it through the season... you know the feeling..lol
Much gratitude...
 


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