Rottne Rapide stuck in low speed

[Wee Jim]

We have a Rottne Rapide Forwarder (late 1990s machine) but the forward and back is stuck in low speed. Anyone know what could be the cause?

[chep]

I ran a 99 rapid. High/lo I believe goes through 1+ relay. Check those 1st
Past that it gets real swedish real quick haha

@snowstorm 

[Dom]

Do you mean the low/high, where high would be used on a road? If so we got calls when people would shift to high for a mile or 2 then couldn't get it back in low. It was 1 relay and 1 solenoid if I remember correctly,we would instruct users how to power the relay and hopefully it would go back to low. We also told everyone to leave it in low. 

[chep]

I 2nd what Dom says. Leave it in low. No reason for a 90s rottne to be in high speed. Think you are having electrical problems now. Hit a few bumps in high and see what happens. That wiring gets crispy and brittle in there
Is this machine used daily in the bush?

[barbender]

 Did these machines have a high/low range gearbox, and then a high/low range on the the hydrostatic side as well?  As I've said many times, I only know Ponsses, and that's how they are configured. Actually, they have 3 speeds that are controlled by the swash plate in the drive pump I think. Those can be shifted on the fly, with a toggle switch. Then the transmission has a low and high. That has to be shifted at a dead stop, and sometimes finessed forward and reverse even then. 

 Like these guys say, with an older machine you're looking for trouble in high range.

 I was running a Ponsse Buffalo that was well over 20,000 hours. When I got to get in a newer machine, the operator that took it over had tons of electrical problems. The Ponsse mechanics said it was basically the same thing, this guy was slamming through the woods at high speed and a lot of those old components didn't enjoy the ride. 

 I'm personally of the opinion that time should be made with a forwarder with efficient crane operation, not high speed driving. You just break stuff and knock your guts loose doing that. 

[Wee Jim]

Do you mean the low/high, where high would be used on a road? If so we got calls when people would shift to high for a mile or 2 then couldn't get it back in low. It was 1 relay and 1 solenoid if I remember correctly,we would instruct users how to power the relay and hopefully it would go back to low. We also told everyone to leave it in low. 

Yeah the hi low for on the road. We have a job coming up that requires an 11km run from where the low loader can get to to the start of the job on decent hill roads so hi speed would be handy.

[Wee Jim]

Anyone remember what relay/solenoid they are?

[nativewolf]

I agree with the others.  Our elephant has a few electrical gremlins now, low speed 11km is going to take a couple of hours. High speed and create just 1 issue will surely get more than that plus parts.  I'd save the time looking for the relay and solenoid and drive.  

[Dom]

We're all telling you not to, but you can give a call to Rottne Canada, they can tell you where the valve is at. Also ask the price and delivery time in case it gets stuck in high. 

[barbender]

 I was operating forwarder for a friend a few winters back. It was a super long skid, so we would click it into high range for the empty trip in. I had noticed this machine (a Ponsse Wisent) shifted funny prior, but it was a high hour machine and that's not uncommon. You have to hit the switch, and then gently touch the travel pedal. If it doesn't catch, and you've mashed the throttle, it will go GRINNNNNNND until the engine returns to idle. Then you reverse direction, and gently try that way. 

 Except this time, it wouldn't shift into low. It just wanted to grind. I was stuck at the bottom of a hill in high, I had to throw off the little bit of wood I'd picked up and get pulled up the hill by the harvester. We screwed with that thing for hours trying to manually force it into low, but no dice. 

 The machine had to get a ride to Ponsse, get the transmission removed and apparently there was a wear issue.

 The main operator was said to have asked "you can shift that on the fly, right?", which probably explains the issue (the answer is NO!) 
 
 Anyways, one of the Ponsse techs did a half hour of dremel work on the offending part to get it working again, as the transmission was obsolete. Put it back together we and we all agreed that it would just be vest to leave it in low.

 A cautionary tale😊