1996 G16A Reverse Problem

[jimmy4eyes]

The problem is, I was backing up in reverse and not thinking about it I shifted into forward while the cart was still rolling backward. [Note: I have been used to driving an older electric car and would do this, though I would not push the accelerator pedal until I came to a stop; no issue in the electric cart, of course.] So, I hear this horrible sound of what I imagine was metal pieces breaking, and some clanging/pinging as I accelerated forward. And now, as I'm sure is obvious to many of you, I have no reverse gear. At first, for a while after this happened, it was like there was no gear at all in reverse; it was like neutral. But now it goes forward in reverse.

So, how bad is this? And what needs to be done to fix it?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Mike Mac]

I would not drive or push the car till you jack up the rear wheels. Turn both wheels by hand, try to feel if you broke any gears or teeth off. If everything feels pretty smooth, start looking for cables to be out of adjustment. Remove or loosen cables to see that shift lever travels full stroke to the forward position and reverse position.

Trying to drive or push it will just do more damage. Dump oil, see if gear teeth or bad things come out in the oil. If you have to push it, push very slowly.

[jimmy4eyes]

Do you think it could really be a broken gear/teeth? Wouldn't that take an awful lot of force? I would assume that these transmissions are designed to somehow handle the frequent idiot who puts it into forward while still rolling backward [yeah, that's me] without doing "major" damage. I've looked at an exploded view of the G16A transmission, because I was wondering if there was just a shear pin that I broke, which would break by design in the event of mechanical overload, and would be relatively easy fix. I don't see any such shear pin, but I do see a couple of "shift bars". Could one of these be what I broke. I have not had the time/opportunity to get into it yet, and I'm hesitant to start tearing it apart, because I'm not sure how/where to start. How much of the cart do I need to disassemble to get into where I need to get into to assess exactly what the problem/damage is?

[Mike Mac]

Did you do all the things I mentioned in the post above? Dump oil, see what comes out is the best tell tail view. If your lucky, maybe only broke shift fork or pin. But the stress was at the gears, and case.