# Cat 420 hard shifting forward to reverse



## cmo18 (Mar 10, 2008)

Just got our new backhoe from auction and everything seems to work fine and it's in excellent shape

It's a 2004 cat 420d with 2700 hrs, manual shift 4 speed on the floor and f/r shuttle shift on the columb.

A local cat mech. Said it could be the solenoids, anybody else have any idea what would cause it to bang into forward or reverse?


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## johnhenry1933 (Feb 11, 2013)

I think the switches and solenoids are sealed in that unit. You would have to replace the entire group.


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## Brian Young (Aug 13, 2005)

Are there any U joints on the unit


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## cmo18 (Mar 10, 2008)

Yes there are u joint and they all seem tight. I had a cat tech over to the shop again and he seemed to believe it was normal

One new detail is the neutral switch on on the shifter and joystick sometimes works and sometimes down so we assume it's electrical


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## CAT 245ME (Sep 10, 2006)

cmo18;1889766 said:


> Yes there are u joint and they all seem tight. I had a cat tech over to the shop again and he seemed to believe it was normal


I received my new 972H at work in 2011, it has always had a rough shift going from 2nd to 3rd or 3rd down to 2nd. Loader is nearing 7000hrs.

There is also a 1997 769D rock truck that shifts hard from 3rd to 4th or 4th down to 3rd, truck has close to 20,000 hrs on it. Transmission is original.

Seems to be somewhat common on Cat machines.


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## peteo1 (Jul 4, 2011)

Cat 420's shift pretty hard to begin with. If the cat tech was OK with it then I wouldn't worry. The guys at Caterpillar are some of the best around


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## rob_cook2001 (Nov 15, 2008)

When they shift soft it is time to worry lol


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