On the bottom/middle of the motor just below the rope starter is a little black lever that is bolted to a shaft going into the motor. That is the reverse lever and it's going to be hard to see with the skid plate on. Most likely a stick is jambed in there holding the lever "pulled" and that is why the cable came unhooked.

 

Thanks. Looks like I'll be pulling a skid plate tomorrow
after work.

 

I was tearing one down for a complete rebuild and was going to get you a pic but it's just too tight in there to get a good one. Pulling the skid plate will most likely fix your problem. If needed I can get a pic out of frame but it's just not the same.

 

And to think some people do mods to make that same thing happen, maybe you should just go with it, lol.

 

Alright, so I'm not a mechanic. Turns out it wasn't the reverse selector cable, it was the thermosensor wire on the bottom of the crankcase. Got it hooked back up, but now fan won't come on. I ran it long enough for oil to heat up, but no fan. When I touched the wire to any "ground", the fan would come on. Am I right in thinking the sensor is bad?

Part 2 of this......I'm still able to shift into reverse without hitting the lockout button and squeezing the brake lever. Any thoughts as to why. When parking it last week, I had to shift into reverse the "normal" way with the button. Pulled it out a few days ago, and can now go into reverse by just pushing gear shift down. The pressure I have to put on the lever is no different than before, and it shifts into all other gears fine. Not complaining about it, but just want to be sure that I don't have some other issue that I'm not aware of.

Thanks again!!

Southrn50

 

It probably didn't get hot enough for the fan to come on. Sometimes you have to run them pretty hard for the fan to come on. But if you run it pretty hard and it don't come on, then yes, the sensor is probably bad.

As for the reverse issue, the lever on the back of the engine must be pushed up or the cable may have come out of adjustment a little. When you push that red button and pull the lever in, it just pulls a cable hooked to the reverse lockout lever and it raises the lever. It may have a stick or something hung in there holding it up or they cable come out of adjustment.

 

There is nothing blocking the lever. The cable seems to be as it was before. As long as it's not connected to another issue, I'll just leave it as is. We rode in some deep, muddy sand. Think something might have made its way around the seal and is not letting it release all the way?