Yanmar Tractor Gears Grind When Shifting
As the old saying goes... "Grind it 'till you find it!". Unfortunately, that grinding sound is not doing your transmission any favors.
The grinding sound that you hear is the teeth of two mating gears slipping past each other instead of locking together. The more you hear this sound- the more those teeth
will get rounded off until they will start to have trouble locking into each other. That is one of the ways that you can end up with a transmission that pops out of gear when you are using it.
So how do you prevent the grinding sound? Yanmar tractor transmissions* are not synchronized. They are not designed to be shifted while the tractor is moving. They are designed for the operator to select the gear they want to use from a complete stop and then, slowly, let out the clutch and continue in that same gear. If you want to go a little faster or slower... come to a stop, slip the shifter out of one gear and into the next, and then slowly let out the clutch.
Here are a few Yanmar clutch "Pro Tips":
- When shifting- do not shift out of gear until you are at a complete stop and do not let out the clutch until you are ready to go again. This will prevent the transmission from spinning up between shifts.
- Depress the clutch fully when you want to shift and give the transmission a few seconds to slow down to a stop before trying to shift into gear.
- Do not get in the habit of resting your foot on the clutch pedal when using the tractor. This will cause the throw out bearing to engage the pressure plate and spin continuously. This will wear out the throw out bearing faster than normal. Keep your foot on the footrest.
- Lock your clutch pedal down when you are not using the tractor more than overnight. Yanmar tractors are notoriously bad about the clutch getting stuck to the flywheel. Some models have a small latch for this purpose but a 2x4 cut to length and wedged between the clutch pedal and set will do the same thing.
- Use a PTO Overrunning clutch if you are using high momentum implements like a mower.
- Do not force the shifter into or out of gear. It could be that the teeth are just not quite aligned yet. If it does not want to go, slowly, let out on the clutch while applying firm pressure to the shifter. It should pop right in.
* This article is only for the Yanmar tractors with gear drive. It is not for the PowerShift models.