Frozen shift lever L3600

[cmyoung2]

L3600, glide shift(I think) shift lever froze. Temps were in the low 20's, shifter just would not move. Forward and reverse were fine, I was just in 2nd gear, very slow. Running the tractor did not unfreeze it. Parked in the shop, turned the heat on, and it unfroze in about an hr, but as soon as I got back outside, locked up again. I figured the shift cables had water in tehm and froze, so I took the whole shift assembly out. Turns out the problem was the detent roller in the upper shift unit had a little water mixed with the grease. Cleaned it out, regreased, shifting fine now. I also found out you do not have to take the entire assembly apart. There is a small cover that holds the spring that is held with a couple of Allen head screws. You can service the roller detent from there. Just an FYI to those that might have a gear lockup in cold weather. Easy fix, only have to remove one body panel and about 7 bolts to get the whole unit out. Tractor does live outside, so moisture in bad places happens.