I recently purchased this unit used, and tranny shifted into forward or reverse easily. Now it will not go into reverse. twice, after sitting unused for several days, I found reverse engaged when I started it, thinking it was in neutral. both times, I was able to back it for some distance, but after shifting from reverse, no amount of tries would get it into reverse again. I'm stumped. I know reverse is there, but I sure can't find it when I want it.

 

Check that the shift lever(bell crank) on the tranny is tight and the linkage also. You can just remove the linkage ball at the transmission and see if you can shift it into reverse with a pair of vice grips. If you can shift easily then it could be that you just need to adjust the linkage to where a little more force is applied in reverse by the shift lever. Also what can happen over the years is the slider gear(dog gear) and shift forks(both shift forks are milled from a single steel block) can get worn down along with worn gear dogs on the reverse gear. This can cause problems also.

 

I have checked and attempted to adjust the linkage, all is tight there, so my guess is the fork. I'm not looking forward to taking it apart, may just be careful to not get in a position where ai need reverse. thanks for the response.