2002 TXT won't lock into gear until clutch engages

[crash12888]

Originally Posted by mxfan2

I recently started working on this cart. It's been sitting for about 2 years. Looks like it's had minimal maintenance. The rear end was almost completely out of oil, air filter was caked with dirt, starter belt was cracked and falling apart, dried mud all over the undercarriage, etc. I've replaced anything I've found that's worn, changed fluids, spark plugs, air filter. It's running great now. But when you initially put it in forward or reverse it doesn't seem to lock in. With the seat off you can see and hear the lever on the axle move when the clutches engage. Then it jerks into gear. After that it's fine until you move it out of gear. Any ideas on where to start with it?

This tells me that the cables are in fact shifting the selector arm but because the arm is actually under spring tension the gears are not sliding as freely as they should.
Possibly from past lack of oil, You stated you changed/added rear diff oil so you might just need to let it ride for a while and see if everything will loosen back up.
If it continues then you might have a scored shift fork shaft and you will have to go internal to either sand it and smooth it out or replace it........