Hard to shift into park

pmbaseball24 · Mar 19, 2020

Has anyone had any issues getting their machine to shift into park. Shifts out of park just fine, shifts through the gears fine. It seems a little “notchy” when I come out of a gear and put it into park. Almost have to roll it a little to get it to engage. Is this a simple adjustment on the shift cable? Just wanted to see if anyone else had this issue. I should note, this is when I’m parking in the garage on a flat surface, or anywhere for that matter. Happens 3 out of 4 times I would say. Any help is appreciated!

Mark in Colorado · Mar 20, 2020

You are not alone here. I live on mostly uneven ground so it typically goes into/out of Park just fine. But, when I bring it into the level garage I notice that it goes into Park “soft” and the “P” dash indicator doesn’t come on every time - despite it being all the way up into the Park notch on the shifter gate. Exactly the same as your problem. My “hack” has been to get out and rock the machine slightly (with the key on) until the P indicator pops on, and then all is well. I once got the machine stuck high-center on a snow mound and, foolishly, shut it off without the “P” indicator showing on the dash - no way to rock it and the starter would was locked-out as a result. My daughter and I shoveled for a long time... it’s not an issue if you know what you’re doing, but I’m waiting for my wife to call me one cold night about a dead machine and I’ll have to tell her to “get out and shove it a bit” so that the Park sensor on the flywheel lines up with a tooth (or whatever the heck the logic is)! -Mark

Mossyoak · Mar 20, 2020

mine does this lots when I have my tracks on especially, learnt to either give it the little rock back and forth or if you hold the brake pedal down you can then start it

pmbaseball24 · Mar 21, 2020

Mark, I never even thought about that scenario. Glad I’m not alone, but wish this wasn’t an issue. I find myself frequently leaving it in neutral and locking the e-brake when in the garage or out in the field. The only time I really attempt to find park is when we are trailering the machine. I’ll probably give my dealer a call on Monday and find out if there is any adjustments that can be done to solve the problem.

BBs MUDDER · Apr 3, 2020

The shifting issue is a major one with my HD5. When I bought my machine there was a shifting issue. When the seller agreed to reduce the price by $2,000, on the advice of my brother-in-law I bought it thinking that this could be fixed for less than $2,000. I had the local dealer inspect everything and he made the adjustment required.

Soon enough I started having shifting issues. Often I can’t put the machine in gear, any gear including park. My solution is to leave the shifter wherever it is and press the gas. I only need to get it moving for about 6 inches until I hear the transmission engaging properly. After that I can shift to any gear I want. I only have to make sure I don’t stop close to anything that would prevent me from moving forward or backward.

The other problem that this shifter issue has caused me is the ability to start the engine The shifter looks at if in the park position but when you look at the display you can tell that it isn’t . Once you know, not really a problem

Going to the dealer to have it adjusted again was not very tempting. They couldn’t do it the first time and I had another dealer say that the Can Am rock can be a solution. Our cottage is on an island. Getting to the dealer and back is a two day proposition.

Other than that my HD5 is great, the king of the island. It allowed us to get to the cottage with ease during last year’s flood. What we call mud is different than what we see on YouTube, it is closer to clay. Didn’t get stuck even pulling a loaded trailer. Our primary vehicle used to be a golf cart and we would use our garden tractor to pull our trailer. The HD5 has changed the way we work/fix things. Thanks to all the storage, I have the three bins that go under the seats, I always have the tools and other gear to do most jobs. The Gator owner cannot say the same. Actually this would apply to almost all side-by-side. Nothing really compares to a Defender when it comes to storage. I would have like to get an 8 and more power but this would have cost me an additionnel $6/7K and I would have had to drive more than16 hours to get to and back from Rimouski. I couldn’t justify that. The only thing that it can do so far, is getting my boat out of the water. I just go get the JD Tractor for that.

I apologize for being so long. The last paragraph is more intended for those considering buying a Defender.

Okie556 · Apr 4, 2020

pmbaseball24 said:
Has anyone had any issues getting their machine to shift into park. Shifts out of park just fine, shifts through the gears fine. It seems a little “notchy” when I come out of a gear and put it into park. Almost have to roll it a little to get it to engage. Is this a simple adjustment on the shift cable? Just wanted to see if anyone else had this issue. I should note, this is when I’m parking in the garage on a flat surface, or anywhere for that matter. Happens 3 out of 4 times I would say. Any help is appreciated!

I have the same issue with my 2020 XT-P. I also use the rolling technique to get mine in Park.

Andystoy19 · Apr 4, 2020

The "park locking gear" has several teeth (3) on it that engage a gear on the transmission that have to line up (mesh) perfectly before the parking lock gear will drop into position immobilizing the transmission gear that prevents the machine from rolling. The slight rock or "butt shake" while holding the lever in park allows the slight misalignment of the gear to move enough for the teeth to engage. This is completely normal and no adjustment of the shift linkage will change this.

If you have a problem of the lever not aligning itself in the console with the gear you are selecting than an ajustment of the shift cable can be made to correct this. The shift cable is a stiff wire that is enclosed in a metal tube that is held in place with clips so it is possible that it may move if it wasn't secured properly from the factory. If you parked your machine on a slope you will find that it is very hard to get the machine out of park and may require a real hard pull on the shift lever also causing cable movement.

The 2020 XT cab now comes with a parking assist brake which I have installed in my 2019 as a retrofit, You can hold pressure on the brake pedal, engage the parking assist mechanism and than put the lever into park, The parking assist mechanism holds brake pressure until you release it and prevents the the parking lock gear from binding in the park position because it isn't holding the weight of the machine on the two gears. You can see the parts list and a description of the process in the build section under my name.