By
'garGuyPaulie
Hello all - I have a 1990 312-8 that recently started being a pain to shift, and eventually it stopped shifting into 1st and reverse and was hard to get into 2nd and 3rd. After looking at some posts on here I discovered the possibility that a loose shifter could cause this problem. My shifter definitely had a lot of play in it so I proceeded to pull the seat, rear plate and shift plate off the tractor so I could get to the area where the shifter goes into the transmission. I removed the shifter, reseated it and got the dog head screw lined up in the shifter donut and was hoping that would fix the issue, but after getting it all reassembled and trying to shift even into 2nd or 3rd the shifter, while not as sloppy, now just turns side to side - taking it back out and inspecting the shifter I have discovered that the pin which holds the donut in place on the shifter has sheered and the donut is now able to free spin on the shaft. Not too much of a problem as I plan on just pressing the old pin out and replacing, however I am concerned that the ball on the end of the shifter seems to be getting pretty flattened off on the left and right sides of the ball. I tried looking up a replacement on Toro and several other parts websites but I can't find one anywhere - I can get the boot, everyone has those, but no shifter. My question is, does anyone know where I might be able to find a new shifter and more important, is a little flattening on the ball anything to worry about?
Also, with the shifter out, looking down the hole my transmission looks like it's full of mud! Definitely doesn't look like the gear oil I put in it - anyone know what could be causing the transmission gear oil to be sludging up like that?
By ericl72