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Hello everyone, Just recently got a Honda Foreman 450es, and discovered this site when I was looking at repairing the screen. Saw that AKATV does great work with the screen repairs so would like to get in contact with him. Looks like there is great info on this forum. Thanks for the add.

Nice thread! Gives us newbies something to see and get inspired by!

If anyone has a long driveway or road and has to take your garbage cans to the end of it you need this.

The exact amount of factory lean they come right out of the box. Not 100% safe or perfect. But they want it that way so they dont last forever.

Figured I'd change the plug out, it did come with 10 extra, how's the color look to everyone.

I wanted to give a shout out to all and see if anyone has a trick to removing the red kill switch button I need to swap one out and tried for a minute or two to pry under it while poking/prying up in the small hole in bottom of button I seemed to think it just snapped on the switch stub over a small plastic bump that slips into a hole in button Felt like I was going to break it, so l left it for the time being

@retro I will try this tomorrow, i just got done driving around, put another 5 miles on it with my son in the fields. Shifted great the whole time even stopped and shut the machine off a handful of time to build snowmen. I will let you know what I get when I do it. @Fishfiles glad to help I think #1, #2, I feel #3 was a big help, #4 I will reconnect tomorrow and see how it goes, #5 I did do a light sand on the cable ends and greased them as well, #6 always @retro again, I was getting to the point were I was going to drop it off at the dealer.

The Pioneer of RAP:

Here are a few more DIY mods : 1992 TRX300FW Southern Blue nicknamed ( Soc Ra Blue = Blue Balls ) 86 BigRed cam , chain and sprocket 88 exhaust pipe , High Performance muffler ported head , Wiseco 10.5/1 piston EBC clutch kit , 54% reduction Warn 424 1st gen kick out SuperATV disc brake conversion front , 250 Fourtrax master cylinder wheel spacers , 2" rear 1" front stick stoppers 2 cone shims added to front diff for traction hub paddles and longer wheel studs aluminum slots , 27 Outlaws floor boards , snorkeled 5 led lights = two rear , two front , one bar hand and foot shifter ( after video ) 3 inch swing arm stretch , rear brake delete rear 420 1st gen front shocks , 2 inch lift rear reverse lock out by-pass 250 Fourtrax front brake lever with adjustable cable end K+N air filter front and rear diff , transfer case all drilled , tap and run grease oil cooler in stock/option location 1000 watt 4 speaker sound , custom speaker mounts , water proof amp box Imitation Yeti with stainless turn bucket hold downs drink holder Super Winch , KFI solenoid dry box , machette holder Garmin GPS mount rear view mirror to monitor tail gaters LOL

Hi jd450es Welcome to the forum! You are in the right place for keeping your 450ES in top running shape, don't forget to download the service manual here if you have not already https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15eWwngQ5SdlsIfbgpm5ZJWJYBYx3vJ7s I can get your speedometer taken care of for sure, just let me know what you have going on and we can take it form there I will send you my contact info as well Talk with you soon AKATV

Jemmons 467 , you take that garbage can hitch to the next level , and you can switch to a drop down or raise up trailer hitch or hook with the pull of a pin , weld a 1 1/4 inch receiver tube to the tongue of the hitch

I could think of a few reason why Jeremy's ES just started shifting again , guess it would be impossible to single one out now , 1) the re-cleaning and greasing of the electrical connectors and controller 2) the moving around of wiring while cleaning all the plugs 3) the controller being put by the heater 4) the disconnecting of the winch cables 5) moving the battery terminals around while disconnecting the winch 6) coincidence

This has been the best ES troubleshooting thread I think I ever read , hoping it turns out well ....

Ok, I just opened the fuse box on my '00 Rancher 350 ES, started the cold motor (oil temp = 30 degrees F) and removed the 30 amp shift motor fuse. I switched my multimeter mode to Amps and set the Min/Max feature to capture Max current draw, then held the meter leads onto the two 30a motor fuse sockets and began to shift up/down through the gears using the buttons on the handlebar while the cold motor was idling. I shifted up & down several times all the way to 5th gear and back to reverse & neutral, perhaps a dozen iterations or so.... as you can see in the photo below the Maximum current the cold shift motor consumed was 5.992 Amps after a dozen or so shift cycles/iterations. The minimum current draw was 5.668 amps (occurred on the first upshift from neutral to 1st gear). The '00-'06 Rancher 350 shift motor is identical to the '98-'04 450 shift motors (all components the same), they just have different nose castings for attachment to their respective front engine covers, so their measured current consumption should be the same. My Rancher ES (and entire electrical system) was thoroughly prepped three years ago using NLGI #2 synthetic grease as per my ES preps tutorial and was reopened/inspected a year later so that I could gauge its effectiveness and condition after its first full year in service. So my 5.992 amps max current consumption should be considered to be a legitimate and ideal result. If your shift motor draws more than 10% more current than mine does, it should be replaced with a new OEM and prepped before installation. Excessive shift motor current consumption overstresses and can fry an ECM.... as listed in my tutorial, reducing friction to minimize current requirements is one of the main reasons why thorough ES preps are so important. Let us know what you learn about yours...

^^^ I agree with the experts above ^^^ Perfect factory tune.

Air flow blockage might have some factor to it , the main reason to relocate the cooler is it gets clogged up with mud in front the engine and the fan spends a lot of time under the water The water keeps the engine cooler , but is a double edge sword from what I have read , if the motor is hot and you dunk it under , there is a quick change of temp and not good for the jug --- but , you got to pay to play ---- God gave me water so I am drinking the lemon-aid

I got the center kick stand where it works , solid and the rear tire is an inch off the ground ( hard to see in that pic ) , so now it can be run on the kick stand , going to do one or the other , first cut off that corner of the plate under the frame , then bead blast the kick stand and paint it or just get a new one , they are pretty cheap about $15 with shipping , China special , LOL

Look what’s here..... been watching more YouTube. For my bumper & racks I’m thinking rustoleum semi gloss mixed 3 parts paint, 1 part acetone, & lil shot hardener.. things are gonna happen while I’m home next 7 days!!

Hi Pip, I don't know if you have discount tool places like Harbor Freight in the UK, but I have a cheap fuel pump pressure gauge I bought from them years ago for about $10.https://www.harborfreight.com/fuel-pump-and-vacuum-tester-62637.html I also thought my fuel pump on my 350 might be over pressuring the carb. I put a temporary "T" in between the pump and the carb and checked it. It was perfect. After much trial and error, I narrowed it down to the choke enrichment plunger. I had replaced the seal on it with one from my K&L carb kit, so I figured I was good. Turns out that the rubber seal at the bottom around the little pin was hardened and shrunk. I bit the bullet and bought the new OEM plunger assy and my carb problems were solved immediately. Do not underestimate the effect of an old plunger especially at idle. I would buy or borrow a fuel pump gauge instead of a Chinese fuel pump...

Wilson and retro-Thanks! I was kind of trying to do that, but wasn't sure if there was kind of a hard plastic ramp on the stub and I needed pry the button over it or if it was different- I will take another poke at it I had a cracked left switch assembly parts unit that was in good shape otherwise, so I am going to swap the kill buttons out I will keep an eye out for one for you, if you still need a button

Ok , I figured it out now ---- Shade' says my bumper on my red 95 300 up there ^^^ is blocking too much air with that bumper all closed off and I ought to put some openings for flow , might get my boy to plasma cut some slots in the center alum. checker plate section ---- but , I don't think I need them slots , I am running no inner fenders and I am in the process of re-re-rebuilding that 300 and this time round it has a double oil cooler/fan relocated to the front rack and a second fan on the engine ---- I need to finish that one up , been lazy lately

thats was suppose to be @Fishfiles

Hi James , you should have started a thread of your own , you still can , I am sure we can swop these couple of post to the new thread --- first thing I would do is check the fuses for power with a test light , then I would check electrical connection plugs for corrosion at the pins and sockets and check wiring for damaged spots from mice or melting

Was back at hunting camp last weekend. Son and son-in-law were trapping beaver. I brushed a half mile of trail and did some carpentry work. Rode the wheeler and did more exploring. Headed back up tomorrow for 3 days of riding and ice fishing. Got a cell booster and had to make a temporary antenna mast.🙄

Hi guys im new to the site. I am looking at a 2016 honda rubicon foreman for a guy i do small engine repairs , guy drop off atv it would stop shifting sometime and a neg sign come up on dash throw code 24 then i replace angle senser then still did it again what could it be and how to reset the computer

thats okay retro, thank for looking. i appreciate it very much! i masked and painted mine, so i can live with, i never use it anyway, lol.

Jemmons , I hate to think it , but I think it was #6 coincidence ^^^^ , it's the nature of the beast , time will tell on the turning and killing issue , check the routing of your choke cable , it might be getting pulled or a wire harness connector being pulled from being routed wrong

Oh I think I pinched a breather line because when I turn almost all the way left it will die. To cold in the garage to take it all back apart to look

Time for the forensics team to make their appearance huh. 🙂

The pics and linked thread is a shackle mount I made for giving an easy place on the front to hook to when using a snatch block, etc.:

I just looked through my stash and found no more kill switch buttons @_Wilson_™. So all I have is that one in the pic above and it is faded pank by the sun. Sorry that I couldn't help ya.

Hi Teufelsschlussel, Have you made any progess on this rebuild? I am in the proccess myselff of trying to salvage a rubicon with a bad hondamatic. Any updates would be appreciated. Thanks,

Don't need a new ECM then huh. 🙂 Congrats man, I feel like you about to win!

Ok holy crap, so I went through every and I mean every connector I could find and cleaned them out, even if it didn't have to do with the esp. Used QD electronic cleaner and more dielectric grease. I also took out the ecm and put it against my space heater I have in my garage for a good while. I put everything back in and the wheeler is shifting fine. One thing though, I do not have my winch hooked up to the battery. Now last time, time before last it was acting up I did the same thing, this was when the old winch was in it and it drove fine for a bit. Do you think the winch might have anything to do with the shifting issue? This new one is brand new with all new wiring and relay switch. I think I am going to leave it disconnected for awhile and ride to see if it might be that or just coincidence. As always thank you all for the help

I am the third owner as far as I know, the guy I bought it off only had it a few months, bought it for his kid and he never rode it. I have the bill of sale from their transaction so I know he didn't own it long. The original owner was an older guy who used it to plow his driveway. He sold the house and the foreman. It is a real clean looking machine even the plastics are in great shape, it even has the original tires on it, has had 2100 miles when I bought it and around 856 hours.

just plain cold no snow.... 17 out this morning.... maybe a temp climbing to around 30... with overcast sky's not much chance of the sun coming out. sure is keeping the fire breathing dragon working.

Retro, I will check the fuses today and see if any have blown. I only have a multimeter and I don't think it'll measure amps that high, ill just borrow one. So what is the amperage that should be coming from the shift motor?

check this out, retro, some idiot put a hose clamp on my 97 before i got it, that just bothered me too much, so it had to go, thankfully that was the only issue it had when i got, well that and the font brakes, but she's been very faithful, no issues ..

I never tried to spray it before , but have mixed Rustoleum , thinner and hardener and brushed it on , never used acetone before , it is very tuff paint and with a brush it will lay flat and you can't even see the brush marks ---that is a good mix and should look great sprayed ----- I really like the Rustoleum Self-Ethicing Primer in the rattle can as my base on any project , does a great job asa rust preventer , it lays flat and the paint sticks well to it

Thanks AKATV! I'm all set for parts though, that switch assembly that I just took apart is from my stash of junk. I'm only saving it because the shift switches are still good. EDIT: Oops I didn't realize that you were talking to Wilson. 😞 @_Wilson_™, I'll go through my junk and see if I have a good button for ya.

Just the motor itself.... if the motor is operating in both directions AND it's not drawing excessive current, then it's good.... and the ECM is bad. I have a used ECM that I can mail ya if ya wanna prove the diagnosis before buying a new ECM....? I need it back though, it belongs on a bike that I'm working on.

Alright here is a 450 kill switch that I just took apart. The kill switch knob has a squarish slot on the underside of the knob to access the knob retainer tab. There is a retainer tab on the square plastic switch post that ya gotta depress with a narrow blade by pushing that tab down hard... while ya stab another narrow blade in behind the center of the knob to pop the knob off the switch post. Notice in this pic I have smashed that retainer tab (see the orange arrow) pretty bad in order to get the knob to slide off.

I have greased the connectors. I did every step in the manual and got to the last one where you test the control motor. If it doesn't move the motor is bad if the motor does move it say is the control unit. It had been intermittent but now it won't change at all, even with disconnecting the battery. See I though it was the ecm because of the intermittentness. I dont know at this point. I am pretty mechanically inclined so I feel I did the tests correct.

glad to, wheeler, I'm still wanting a rear bumper , but that's on hold for now..... any ideas on a quick hitch type deal for the front ? i figured you might have forgotten, you forgot about the 383 stroker badge too, I'm just messing with you.... lol, anyways I'm sure intrested to see what you come up with for a front bumper, I'll add that tan .... with the blade was on ebay a while back, and i contacted the owner, he told me they used have a few of those in a shop in Florida he took his bike to, he checked, they had run out .... with no more orders coming in (no longer made) my bad on the typo, fish.

I'm 45, Dad is 82. Night before last he asked if I'd help him for a few minutes. He's putting in new drain pipes in the upstairs bathroom at their house (replacing the cast iron drain pipes from 1919). I went over there, and he handed me a flashlight and said "I need you to hold the light for me" Seriously.

Kind of cool and it is a Honda :