Sometimes its difficult to switch gears on my Peerless 9000 005 transaxle in my leaf chipper. I have to really push or pull the shifter to get it to engage or disengage. The shifter and cable are well lubed so that's not the problem. I removed the cable and tried shifing the lever by hand. Even that was hard or not possible sometimes. Strange, but it seemed to shift more easily with the back wheels off the ground. Not a practical solution.

I removed the transaxle and removed the cover on my bench to see if there was anything obviously broken or worn. The only thing I found were a couple of 1-2mm pieces of aluminum in the ball bearing detents (which keep it in a particular gear). Looked like pieces from the cover casting. No signs of wear on the ball bearing, or spring. No signs of wear on the shift keys or shift fork.

Grease looks good, no moisture in the case, no signs of wear on any of the gears, and the bearings appear fine.

Transaxle is original and the chipper is a 1990 model. Manufacturer isn't interested in assisting.

I have no idea if there are regular wear parts that need to be replaced. Any ideas are appreciated.

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