Max IV Issues with Tranny

[j.palmer25]

hi

[Noel Woods]

Hello:
Congrats on the Max4, they are great vehicles and it should open up lots of fun and opportuntity for you and the family.
1) Check your tranny fluid level, it may just be low. Pull the upper plug and it should have ATF about a half inch below the plug, if not add some dextron2. The transmission will go forward in drive-thats a design feature, just keep it in neutral until you want to go forward.
2) May be related to low fluid, or the plunger issue you mentioned, or wear to internal parts.
3)Recreatives can tell you the year by giving them the serial#.
4) The reline mentioned may be for the transmission bands and not brake bands. There are Max4s (I believe 1995 year only) that utilized brake drums. Most other years had discs and use brake pads.
5)On the trail, I carry a spare belt, spare grade 5 bolts for the pinned axles, spare master links, and a well equipped tool box, fire extinguisher, first aide kit, fuses, etc.
6) Water coming in could be the result of a bad bearing, try siliconing the skid plate rivets/bolts first. The best way to determine a bad bearing is to raise the machine off the ground and grab a wheel and shake it, if the bearing is bad it will rattle or move a good deal. You can also use a water hose and fill the body slowly to the point that water is above the bearings (I wouldn't go much higher) and then look to see where the water is coming out. Let us know what you find or if you need more help.

[JoeMeg]

Don't own a Max but somewhat familiar with a t-20. Here goes.

1) With spring loaded levers this sounds normal to me.Like Noel said,keep in neut. untill ready to go.

2)May just need to become familiar with rocking the machine back and forth while operating the shifter. Known as the "T-20 Shuffle".

3) I believe if you call RI with the number,they can tell you a lot about your unit.

4) & 5) IDK dont own a Max.

6) I think if you just close the holes up (screw,rivet,etc) you will be much better off. I would try just that first before I began worring about how to "seal" them up.

Hope this helps a little too.

Joe.

[brushcutter]

Congrats on the Max, an excellent trail machine! Here are a few additions to the already mentioned:
#1 covered
#2 Try disconnecting the side that will not go into gear and see if you can get it to go in by direct manipulation. It could be as simple as shifter adjustment or as complex as damaged shift collar. The plunger pin could also be worn.
#3 covered
#4 Do you mean the transmission bands or the park brake pads? If your machine drives good and performs as it should (except for issue #2), has the correct fluid level and the transmission doesn't make any abnormal noises then chances are the bands are good.
#5 add a chain breaker to the above
#6 covered

[amphibious drew]

I don't know what your Max has against tranny's, they can be very nice people.

After reading your post, not just the title, the going forward at idle thing can easily be solved, your idle may be a bit high, but I personally don't like the springs on the sticks and would just remove them. I know many members that ditch the springs because the machine jumped forward on them due to starting the machine in gear. I have heard it happening in garages, on trail rides, and even on a trailer.

[j.palmer25]

Thank you everyone for the input. I'm going to tear into it this weekend with the information that you guys have supplied and hopefully get her running like she should. Thank you all again. Jp

[j.palmer25]

update

hi

[Mike]

The T20 does not hold that much fluid. It only holds one quart. Remove both drain plugs. Fill through the upper drain plug until it runs out the lower one. Any more than that (1 quart) and you will have issues. For a rebuild article, you didn't search very hard. Use the search at the top of the page or go right to the front page of the site and look in the how-to articles. There are full articles with step by step instructions and even a video.

For removing the transmission, remove the engine and engine stand. Remove the shift linkage going to the transmission. Remove the chain that goes to the transmission and then remove the four bolts that hold the transmission in. Pull it out.

Edit: Just re-read your original post and before you go removing everything I would check the diamond shifter's pin on the side that won't engage in reverse. On the top of the transmission, there are two diamond shaped shifters that shift the T20 from forward to reverse. They have a shift pin on the bottom of them that moves a shift collar within the transmission. It can get sheared off. You can easily remove the diamond shifter usually by just removing a couple of bolts (sometimes they have spring clips holding them in too). Pull that out and look at the pin to see if it is fine first.

[j.palmer25]

hi

[Mike]

Are you sure you got the pin in the middle of the groove in the shift collar when you reinstalled the diamond shifter? Also, I wonder if you have the correct diamond shifter. Pull the other side out and see if they are mirrored images of each other. The pins are offset to one side or the other depending on whether you have a left or right diamond shifter. Could it be that someone before you replaced the shifter with one from the wrong side? It may be worth checking before you pull the T20 out.