886 Hi -Lo Shifter Fix

[Vanstractors]

Seems to be a multitude of kits with different parts on the market ,a first time repair for us .Anybody have any thoughts on one or the other ?Our Hi -Lo Shifter bottoms out up and down. low side is worst.Thank You !Have the TA Housing out and need to fix it while i can kinda get to it .Thank You !!.

[ksfarmdude]

Just replace the worn parts the little ball joints get worn out maybe need replaced Also the shifter lever on the Hi-Lo shifter shaft will get loose too I know they make a lever that clamps on instead of just a bolt thru the top to hold it on

[Super A_sepa]

If you replace the "duckfoot" part of the high low shifter measure your old one to be sure the new one was indexed the same before it was welded. I have seen a few where the new ones were welded incorrectly and would not fully engage one range or the other. I forget which right now but I think they were like 1/8 or 3/16 off.     I would suspect worn parts of the linkage to be more worn out then anything under the cover at this point. There's lots of places for slop on an 86 most commonly the flat plate with the oblong hole on the range cover. Sometimes a good one of them and a good bolt and heavy washer will eliminate nearly all of it. 

[Vanstractors]

Thank all of you i haven,t pulled the cover yet i will pull it and see what i find .

[Matt Kirsch]

2 hours ago, Vanstractors said:

Thank all of you i haven,t pulled the cover yet i will pull it and see what i find .

Not sure what you mean by cover, but all the slop in the hi-lo shifter can be fixed externally, by removing the seat and floor plate. No need to open up the transmission, at least not in my experience.

[Farmall Doctor]

Hy-Cap has the high-low range cover update kit. It’s the best way to go. 

[ole 815]

Common problem on 86 series the hi -lo arm on shift  cover that is held on by bolt gets loose and sloppy. Causing your lever to hit end of travel both directions.

 Here is a pic of style that fixes that.  It is pinned and clamped to shaft. Pic for reference I found on net to show style.

[Farmall Doctor]

That’s the one! Thanks for sharing the link. I am away from home and don’t know how to share a link with my telephone…. Haha

[hippy5488]

hy cap has the best kit for cover that i have used.a&i is the ones that wasnt welded right in my experiance. also check cab mounts if there junk new ones often make them shift a lot better

[Jeff-C-IL]

I agree that the above fix is a good one.   I also think the the main problem is that IH used a light washer on the bolt that help the original arm on the shaft.   You simply could not tighten it enough to keep it from working and wearing out.    Our 1486 I replaced that arm & shaft with OEM -  twice!  The arm would immediately start getting loose again.   After some thinkin'....I bought a new arm and installed it with a grade 8 bolt and a 1/4" thick washer and Bellville spring washer on the top.    TIGHT.   We never had any problems with that getting loose again.

So the above update is great - but if you got a 86 series that where the shaft is still OK, I recommend replacing the arm & using a grade 8 bolt and thick washer - its cheap, easy and may keep you from having to open up the tranny.