[Pete33]

Hi I have a 2020 Viking With 150 hours. I think something is wrong inside transmission. It will not shift into drive. Only into reverse and neutral. It starts and runs fine. It will not move though when in reverse. I thought it might be the belt. I removed the cover and I can see the belt spinning. It looks like that part is ok nothing wrong with the belt. It just revs and the belt is spinning and nothing happens. I removed the shift cable at the linkage on the engine. I tried to manually move the lever on the engine but still only Into reverse and neutral. Also when in neutral it is not sitting correctly. I have to move the shifter to get it to light up neutral. I removed the section where that lever is on the engine and I see a gear that I think is attached to the shift drum. When I was removing the nut on the shift lever the torque from the ratchet shifted it into drive. But was unable to get it to return to drive after going into neutral. I have the rear end up off the ground and the wheels do not spin even in neutral. At this point I imagine something is wrong with the shifting setup inside transmission. I have the factory manual. I am unsure of what side needs to be removed to access those parts. Is It the drive belt side that has to be removed?

 

[Sport4x4]

Welcome to the forum Pete33.
You have a very unique problem indeed since 66 members have read this with no posts. I think your on the right track with everything you have tried. I have never been into the engine where you are talking about, but since you say you have a shop manual have you looked at that to see what side of the engine you need to open up? What about shifter adjustments listed in manual?

 

[cactus]

I think you have to pull the engine and split the case to access the gearbox.

 

[northernviking]

Without doing my own trial and error testing, I would be leaning more towards you gear selector system, something binding or only going half way.
And as Cactus mentioned, you will need to remove the engine to get at the transmission. These engines are almost identical in design to the 660, which I have disassembled before.
Also, my opinion is, that if there were gear issues from the drive system, IE: broken gears from shifter, you would be hearing a whole lotta knocking and grinding coming from inside the engine case, as they are all in one, and your engine would have already self destructed.
My 2cents

 

[Ultratec]

Welcome to the site..

If you do wind up opening things up, post some pics if you don't mind..

 

[Pete33]

Thanks everyone for your reply. I have a feeling this will take me a while. I feel a bit overwhelmed, but I have no choice has to be done. The Viking is located up an inlet in the mountains middle of nowhere. I used a zoom boom to carry it down the mountain to a covered location. I wonder why this has happened as it is a fairly new machine. The modifications it has are a lift kit, because it was bottoming out frequently. Also, the tires are a larger size. I think they are 30x10xthe rim size. I am suspicious that the tires may have contributed to this situation. This machine is always climbing up steep hills or going down. Very little flat terrain. It also is pretty loaded as it carry's techs and tools up the mountain. The person driving when it broke down said there was a metal grinding noise and they were trying to shift on a hill from what I recall. I will post pictures as I go along.

 

[cactus]

Great photos, they've probably tried to force the shifter under load while on the hill and bent a shift fork. Is the belt spinning a normal thing under these circumstances anyone? I would've thought that if the gearbox was broken then the belt wouldn't be spinning? 30" wheels will increase the load on the transmission, however the Viking is rated for 980 pounds load capacity, so should have been ok in your situation.

 

[cactus]

And they should be selecting low 4wd when they're parked before going up the hill.

 

[Sport4x4]

Yah changing gears while moving is a big no no.

 

[Pete33]

Great photos, they've probably tried to force the shifter under load and bent a shift fork. Is the belt spinning normal under the circumstances? 30" wheels will increase the load on the transmission, however the Viking is rated for 980 pounds load capacity, so should have been ok in your situation.

Yes engine runs fine and the belt is spinning as you accelerate. A bit of a whining noise as its accelerated but no response to the wheels.

 

[northernviking]

Yes engine runs fine and the belt is spinning as you accelerate. A bit of a whining noise as its accelerated but no response to the wheels.

Can you reach in(engine OFF), and grab the drive shaft, turn it by hand ?? Try both the front and rear..I'm just spitballin here, maybe a broken drive shaft...but still wouldn't explain the non shifting issue, or maybe it would.

 

[northernviking]

Can you reach in(engine OFF), and grab the drive shaft, turn it by hand ?? Try both the front and rear..I'm just spitballin here, maybe a broken drive shaft...but still wouldn't explain the non shifting issue, or maybe it would.

I re-read you earlier post about the situation when it all happened, and, possible it wasn't totaly in gear, and the teeth ground down on the drive head. have you drained your oil yet, if so, how much metal filings were present, if you havent, maybe try to rig some sort of filter into your catch pan while draining, to verify. I'd say, if no fillings are present, if it were me, I'd rule out internal damage.
I like this kind of conundrum as it forces me the put my diagnostic hat on again..

 

[cactus]

As above and pull the filter apart to check for metal.

 

[Pete33]

I tried moving the drive shaft and its totally stuck. Even when I turn the wheel I can see the differential spline turning at the shaft be no movement in neutral. I have removed the engine and about to start to see what I have to do next. I have not drained the oil yet. I will look for metal in the oil as you guys suggested. I did notice an oil leak the the very bottom of the engine. Not sure if that means anything yet. I took a picture which I will post.

 

[cactus]

That's a scary looking engine for 150 hours. Maybe the middle gear is gone? Does it have any oil in it at all? Is that a gap in the balancer cover right hand side of motor, is that where the oil was leaking out?

 

[trailcutter]

sure sounds like what happened to mine when middle gear broke,i was lucky it didn't wreck the case although it was leaking.

 

[Pete33]

That's a scary looking engine for 150 hours. Maybe the middle gear is gone? Does it have any oil in it at all? Is that a gap in the balancer cover right hand side of motor, is that where the oil was leaking out?

Everything does get pretty dirty up on that mountain. There is still a lot of oil in there for what has leaked out. it's at about half on the dipstick. It is leaking a fair amount of oil from that middle part of the engine. That picture is a bit deceiving. There is this bead of silicone there that is holding oil in that grove. The oil part looks like a gap. There is no gap but that is where it is leaking from now. Looks like something has been leaking I think from the dirt that's on the bottom stuck to the engine. This leak now is maybe the same one, but it is definitely way worse now. Its been sitting in the back of my mini truck for a couple of days and there is a small puddle under it.

 

[Pete33]

sure sounds like what happened to mine when middle gear broke,i was lucky it didn't wreck the case although it was leaking.

how long ago did that happen to you? I was wondering if its even worth fixing it since something might be stretched out now or deformed. It might not last very long if it gets repaired.

 

[Sport4x4]

I think it would be fine if the overhaul is done right.

 

[cactus]

Yeah it's worth fixing. The case hasn't cracked just separated enough to be leaking. There's no way the underside of the engine could look like that at 150 hrs otherwise. Search up middle gear failures there's a fair bit of info on here about it.