My Kavasaki Bayou 300 shifts into reverse by just stepping on the shift lever. Should only hit reverse after twisting the reverse key **** and stepping downon the shifter.It's going to get me good someday if i dont fix it.Its an older model (89') but runs pretty well and seems like a workhorse. Any easy fixes? Opinions???Are these (older)Bayou 4x4's good and pretty reliable? or, Are they a money pit? This one seems pretty good overall. Thanx

 

Rock solid unit. Just put a socket on the bolt coming from the lower left side of the engine under the rope starter cover. You may have to remove the 4X4 propeller shaft cover to see it. There is a small shaft with a lever and cable attached. It should have a 10mm bolt head in it. Take a socket and try and turn the bolt to allow thelever to return to the most rearward position.(Don'tHEMAN the lever, it should move fairly easy unless cable is frozen) This should allow you to down shift into neutral without going into reverse. The cable needs to be replaced and is only available from Kawasaki.
Hope this helps,
Jody

 

Hey guys ' we got a rock stuck in next to the reverse shifter and front drive shaft.Now when I downshift it goes right down into reverse,I got the rock out and it still does the same thing.I had to pry the shift lever away fron the bolt head on the case but it still goes right down to reverse when downshifting .Do I also need to loosen the shaft bolt or did we bend something internal [:@]?Thanks for any help.
"I can still walk, so I can still ride"

 

Well I got the side cover off and messed with the shift reverse lever and got it to lock out of reverse.Seems the cable would not let the lever go all the way down so I pulled the cable off and sure enough it was froze up almosttight. A couple of hours later and a lot of oil, I got it to move pretty easy.Put it back on and it worked but is still slow in reacting so I put a helper spring from the tip of theshift lever down to the frame to help move the arm and cable to the lockout position.If the cable does'nt loosen up with some use I will have to get a new cable (they still sell them) but for now it works fine.I am just glad it was'nt anything internal .
"I can still walk so I can still ride" [sm=shades.gif]

 

so anywho...