Here in Saskatoon it is about -25 Celsius and I am having trouble with the shifting on my truck. When the truck is cold it won't go into reverse without grinding the reverse gears. The only way that I can get into reverse is to start the truck with the clutch engaged and the transmission in reverse. This also happens sometimes when the truck is warm. My limited experience with motorcycles leads me to believe that it is just a loose shifter cable. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know. -matt-
Could also be the tranny fluid is thickened up in the cold. Find the correct weight for your application - transaxles are different than diffs for oil type. Normal diffs use GL-5, transaxles don't normaly use this as it is quite heavy for that application Some transaxle use GL-4 while others use motor oil or ATF for fluid. i.e. My Sambar uses GL-4 fluid, not sure on the correct one for Acty. I would highly recomend going to a synthetic oil like Redline, Royal Purple or Amsoil. Not only will it shift better but the synthetic oil makes the the syncros last longer, reg oil is somewhat corrosive to the syncro rings and slowly over time eats away at them.
reverse gears don't have a syncro and are not helical. both of those factors make reverse a little more difficult to get to. my jeep is a pain to get to reverse especially when it's cold, i usually have to put it into 3rd or 4th first and then i can get it into reverese. i know it sounds goofy, but by shifting it into other gears first it will rotate the shafts and allow it to go into reverse more easily.
Also a stretched clutch cable can cause lots of problems when changing gears in the actys, as clutch won't engage as it should. A good cheap way to start is replacing this first.
