'11 Gator 825i - Transmission Slips out of Gear while in drive - DTAC Solution 87163

[Laxin213]

Hi Guys,

Hit about 40 hrs on my 825i gator. I've noticed that something odd this is just starting to happen. While driving along the machine will "slip" out of gear. I'll be driving in 2 wheel HI for a few minutes and the shift lever will shift on it's own into neutral and the machine will just rev when hitting the gas. Then, all the rest of the day it will not happen again, with the machine working fine...:hdscrh: At first I thought maybe I didn't shift it hard enough into gear or something and that it was a one off type of thing, but upon the slipping happening a third time in about a 1 month span I decided to take it in for service as I'm at about 9 months of ownership.

My local JD dealer, drake lawn and garden near Buffalo, NY (very good to work with btw), fixed the issue in a day. Upon taking it in they hadn't heard of this before, but they were luckily able to replicate the problem and found a solution in their JD database on it. They told me it affects a limited amount of newer gators, and that as of now there is no recall. The fix is to adjust the shift linkage, and the fix is detailed in DTAC Solution 87163.

Just wanted to put this out there in case anyone else ever experienced this and figured it might be a one off.....

[Regulator]

That's a "good to know" kinda thing where you posting it on here with the DTAC Solution just might help someone else in a similar position...

Thanx for posting the problem and subsequent solution to the problem!!!...if everyone does the same as you, there will be a sweet database of troubleshooting info on here....

take care, and have fun with your 825i!!!

Larry in MD :Jestr:

[budman1]

Just an FYI, mine is heading to dealer today with what appears to be an identical issue! 825i. I will print your info and give to dealer to help ID the fix. Thanks

[GATORDONE]

What i have learned over the past yr with the 825i is that if you try and put it in gear over 1000 rpm like when it is cold you have to force it into gear and this will cause the shift linkage brackets to bend some and knock the cable out of adjustment. I usually see it with kids driving them with no patients to wait for it to come to a idle.:Bnghd:

[Deputy347k9]

Laxin213, I have my 825i for one year now as I purchased it during March of 2011. Before my machine could be delivered to me the dealership found that exact problem. A simple adjustment to the shifting linkage took care of it. I have not had a single problem since. I think I have about 160 hours o the machine.

Also a big "welcome" to "budman1"

[bulldogfan]

I know this has been adressed previously, but I personally have seen a couple of literally brand new (less than 10 hrs) have come in for a complaint of it being hard to shift from gear to gear. What has been the case is that the clutch is dragging just enough to make it difficult to move frome neutral to drive or neutral to reverse and so on. Pop on a new clutch and is smooth as butter!

[Catfish]

Mine has 178 miles on it and its been in the shop 6 or 7 times. I just got it back from the shop and the same thing. On a hard take off it pops out of high Range/gear. This has been going on for 6 months and started the first day at my house. Should I contact someone besides the dealership?

[Kiwi06]

Mine has 178 miles on it and its been in the shop 6 or 7 times. I just got it back from the shop and the same thing. On a hard take off it pops out of high Range/gear. This has been going on for 6 months and started the first day at my house. Should I contact someone besides the dealership?

I would! Your experience is bad advertisement for John Deere, and I'd think they would want to rectify that! (Although with large corps these days... :Nnd:) Unfortunately, there are good and bad dealerships when it comes to repair. When I got my tractor, I skipped the nearest JD dealership based on things I heard. Next closest has been great, so when it came time for a Gator, I went back to them.

- Steve in CO

[budman1]

Update, took to dealer and they replaced the clutch. Seems a reoccurring issue that the factory is aware of. Mine was covered under warranty. Only issue- it still jumps out of gear on occasion! Not as much, and shifts much better now. Another part of the problem was the idle was set way too high. Supped to be around 950-1050 I am told by dealer. They adjusted.

[Laxin213]

Hello Guys from the OP. About 1.5 years later and I looked up my thread to re-read what had occurred. The work by the dealer on the linkage fixed the issue, but he it is happening again - once again I cannot shift gears. Especially when cold I will let it sit a bit and warm up, and I notice my idle is higher in the rpm range than I would think is normal (1500-2000), and will usually settle down. Then I try to put it in drive.. But just this weekend It went from shifting OK to totally impossible to shift in about 5 minutes, after it had been running and warmed up - so I fear it is something else than the easy shift linkage fix. I did a bit of searching and found this - I'm going to contact my dealer and see how I can get it to him to work on it, seeing its stuck in gear.. Going to have a real hard time.

"Go to your dealer and have them look up solution number 96997, which talks about transmission popping out of gear on these models. It calls for possibly replacing the shift collar and high gear splines in the trany."

[MBDiagMan]

Laxin, does it shift okay with the engine not running?

[Laxin213]

Just wanted to update with my results:

The dealer looked at it and ordered an entire new clutch. $297 for parts about $100 for labor. He is looking into getting me some sort of break on it because of how notrious this issue is with these machines, but no news yet. Also, he didn't mention it, but I swear the idle was adjusted. It idles much lower now, and goes from higher RPM (1300+) to lower (900+) much more quickly. From what I've heard, read and understand, having lower RPMs while shifting saves a lot of wear on the clutch. And for those keeping in unheated areas in the winter in the north, and using them in the winter a lot, the idle RPMS being higher can wear a clutch if you're not letting it idle for a while to bring those RPMs down....

[Laxin213]

No it would not at all w/o engine running

[MBDiagMan]

Yes, shifting at a too high idle speed will cause clutch wear, but if ignored could be more damaging to the transmission which would cost much more to get sorted out again.

its important to allow engine warm up to low idle speed before shifting into gear.