[55Deere]

My 3300 is very hard to shift gears on. Sometimes you really have to jerk or slam the lever to get it to shift. Rev. and 1st seem to be the worst, then again I use those the most. I unhooked the cable from the transmission and can shift the transmission with a punch stuck in the shaft for a handle. The detents/poppets seem to be working fine. Even unhooked, the cable moves too hard in my opinion. Looking in the parts book this cable is unique to this machine, but all of the xx00 series used the same setup. Were all of these machines hard to shift? Any ideas on lubricating the cable or is my only option to give Deere $200 for a new one? By the way, the gear shift lever and quadrants are not binding, they are very loose actually. I'll probably replace the bushings in those while I am at it.

 

[southsask9400]

It will be your cable, I had the same problem with a 7700, finally changed the shifter cable and it shift better than it had for years, should have done it sooner. Your getting a deal at $200 I paid closer to $400. Mine was frayed to much to bother trying to lube it.

 

[55Deere]

Thanks for the reply. I just wanted to make certain I was headed in the right direction. It doesn't look that bad to pull off so I may try to lube it somehow while I replace the shifter and quadrant bushings. If it doesn't free up no time lost as it had to come off to replace anyway.