Bman

Yeah I've done two. First was incorrect oil on a Yamaha and the second was actually a foreman 400. Though that thing was rode hard and put up wet and sunk who knows how many times. The electric shift kinda spooks me. My papaw had an S and an ES that he bought new for his wife. And he left that ES in the building cause he said that thing never acted right and water would screw up the shifting. So far this one works great after fixing the fuse socket. And it's actually very nice to ride. But I haven't had it down in water. I used to hate automatics as I always thought the belts would just get wet in water and you'd be SOL. But I rode a Polaris for awhile and found out that's not as common as I thought. Heck I had it down in a creek for over an hr straight once. Water plenty high. And it never offered to slip once. And I know the clutch cover had cracks in it. I'd keep them both but I know I'd pick a favorite eventually and the other would just sit around collecting dust.

So Is the earlier drive shaft better or the later one?

Well I was originally on the same boat about belts. But honestly I've never had to replace one for anything other than age. I'd also rather be replacing a belt than cracking open a engine to do clutches. However belt slip is very annoying. Where as good ole gears just keeps going.

So I've come to the point of fixing up my Foreman to either doll up the cosmetics on the Foreman and Flip the quad. (Was the original plan.) OR. Boot the Grizzly 600 on down the road and keep the Foreman. The pros and cons of each as I see them. Grizzly pros. I've already been all through the quad. Fresh piston and rings too. Brand New tires. Automatic. Serviced clutch and new belt. Already has front disc brakes and all brakes are working well. Also has in and out front diff. Runs well and is in decent shape. Ground clearance is better as well. Grizzly cons. Not as reliable as a Honda. Parts aren't so easy to come by for the 600 grizzlies. Most service parts are easy to get. However replacement drivetrain parts or engine parts like say a top end rebuild kit for example can't be had. You can get oversize piston and rings but no complete cylinder and all kits. Engine is cold natured. Possibly the only quad I've owned that actually needs to warm up for a minute before riding. However the carb may not be right. It's a big quad. And its known for having stability issues due to its increased height and weight. Honda pros. These a very robust machines. Possibly the toughest. So reliability is in my mind is a mark above the Grizzles. Headlights are a much better design. Digital dash is nice. The Honda does run better. Parts are for the most part common and plentiful. Could need a top end tomorrow and I can get a whole kit from Amazon no problem. Can also find most drivetrain parts readily available. And in that regard I see it being sustainable further into the future than the grizzly. Honda cons. Factory drum brakes. They are awful. Obviously going disc makes things equal, but thats more money. Even fixing the drums aren't cheap. Electric shift. I Hesitate to List as a con because it honestly is a nice system to me. But it does occasionally act out from what I've read and relies on sensors and ecm to control it. I can see where it would awfully annoying to have it act out in the middle of ride. There is a bypass kit to eliminate these problems, but again. More money. All time 4x4. Some consider it a pro some consider It a con. To me it's a con. Being able to switch out of 4x4 is pretty nice. Especially in trails you just don't want to be fighting the 4x4 when you don't need it. Again this can be remedied but not without either lucking up finding discontinued parts for high prices. Or swapping In the later differential and minor fab work. Honestly my biggest gripe about the Honda. Things I consider a toss up. Power. Now the grizzly is more powerful, but honestly not by a HUGE difference. Honda wouldn't have any issue keeping up on trails. Maybe not in a straight line. Ride. The grizzly does have the on the fly adjustment for the rear suspension. For soft or harder suspension. However the Honda seems to kinda split that difference nicely. Front end seems similar in ride quality. Suspension. Both are solid rear axles. Honda is dual shock. Grizzly is single adjustable. The grizzly is McPherson strut front while the Honda is more traditional double a arm. Honestly Im not sure which is really better. Both have full footboards. Honda is plastic and the grizzly is all steel. Or aluminum depending on year. Grizzly looks to have better skid plates. So what it comes down to is the grizzly has alot of options the Honda would have to have added to it. But the Honda is much cheaper, more reliable, and easier to obtain parts. And can have the options added with time. I know this is a Honda forum and theirs likely bias towards Hondas haha but what do you guys think? Spend the money and double down on the Foreman and make it what I want. Or flip the quad and keep the grizzly.

So if I go the swap route. Which drive shaft is better to use? The 98-01 or 02+. From what I understand the 98-01 should have the shorter drive shaft due to it having the longer output shaft correct?

So I got the reverse cable installed. Actually pretty easy when it comes to routing of the cable. Nice to be able to use reverse to move it out of the garage without risking death haha. Reaching under and pulling the lever while shifting it into reverse was getting pretty dicey. Also got the rear rack I ordered. In good shape. It's got surface rust, but so does the front rack. Plan on repainting them and the bumper. Got the taillights in as well and while they aren't exactly like OEM( OEM seem to fill the opening in the fender a bit better). they are pretty close and definitely a good replacement. The carb i fixed by simply tapping the bowl. So far it's Me 2 carb 0. Took the quad out a few times just shorter trips from my house to the creek to fish and it's doing great. I enjoy being able to putt along in a higher gear nice and quiet. And the electric shift is growing on me. Turns out the odometer I put in to replace the broken one has an interesting idea of units of measurement. The MPH is spot on. However. It rolled over from the 999999.9 milage reading and now it thinks I've ridden 22 miles. Hour meter is still stuck on 9999.9

When you say shorten the driveshaft. Are we talking cutting out length from the middle and welding back. Or shaving some off each end?

Anyone got one they want to part with or know of one? Looking for one for a 99 450ES

Got a rack ordered and some tail lights. should be in soon. Oil change looked great. Filter wasn't full of metal or anything. And surprisingly I checked the Diffs and the gear oil wasn't bad at all. Hopefully this one doesn't kill its rear axel like my old one did. My luck with the carb working fine without touching it ran out. Still runs great but the carb is pouring gas out of the overflow. Trash in the needle valve id say. Got my used reverse cable and Im procrastinating installing it.

I don't like to impact these if I can avoid it. I'd prefer to feel the nut move so I can get a feel for how the threads are doing. And it was rusted a bit, but not terrible. Took some heat and 1/2 drive breaker bar and everything I had to break it loose. I'm honestly surprised the drum and hub slid right off. Last foreman I had apart it took a slide hammer to move them. But that foreman was absolutely beat on. It was a testament to Honda durability. And yeah I plan on replacing them soon because while they are now working they aren't working great. I just wanted to be able to move it around without pushing it and brakes were a must to do that haha. I live on a hill so nothing but my garage floor is level. I did get an update on the reverse cable from partszilla. May 9th supposedly.

So while I'm still waiting on parts. I decided to take a look at the rear brake. Ofcourse it was seized up, but not stuck engaged. So I removed the adjusters and set to working the lever. Well I got it moving but still too tight and not returning so I finally resigned myself to tearing the brake apart. I knew from the beginning I'd be doing this. I just wanted to delay the inevitable. And while it wasn't the worst I've done it did have its highlights. Such as the nut holding that hub on must have been put on there by impact. And a big one at that. It took heating it and ALOT of leverage and it finally broke loose. Though thankfully the hub and drum came right off. It was full of an "ash" like that which would be in a fire pit. I figure it's probably a corrosion of sorts. I'll attach some pics. Anyhow I cleaned that all up and pulled apart that lever and cam. Cleaned it and greased it and it moves great. Sanded the pads and did my best on the drum. Drum still needs some attention but I was just shooting for a functional brake for the time being. It's "working" now, but only with the hand break lever. Wouldn't trust it on a hill, but it will get you stopped. The foot lever pivot is seized up pretty solid so I gotta get after that, but plan on getting new shoes and maybe a drum before tackling that.

so some part updates. Couldn't find the reverse cable new anywhere but partzilla. was used ones on ebay for 17$. figured id pay the 20 + shipping to partszilla for a new one. Weelll the next day i get an email update saying the cables is backordered till who knows when. so back to eBay i went and ordered the used cable. Ive decided im gonna go straight to a disc conversion on the front because i HATE these honda drum breaks. Orignal display/dash was trashed. And this being an ES ive found you can't find a new one. OR any used really. but i found one for 40$ on ebay listed as non-working. So i rolled the dice and lucked up. other than some UV damage to the screen it actually functions perfect. You can see the difference. The Original is trashed from weather and sun damage. The board is damaged and badly water damaged. I removed the sun cooked film on the lcd to see it display and it would sometimes display and other times not at all. The New-used one is in way better condition and works fine, just the UV damage. plan on sending it to get fixed. Picked up a tune up for it. filters and spark plug. Still gotta find a rear rack and taillights.

Out of curiosity. Did honda produce a front diff that also has diff lock that could be made to fit into the Foremans?

Gotcha. Just wanted to know if there is anything I shouldn't do. Situations where up or down shifting would damage it

Sorry I should clarify. I mean the electric shifting as in the ESP. The gear box. My current front diff is all time. Not selectable.

So being unfamiliar with the Electric shift. Is there any Dos and Donts when shifting them? It's working so I don't want to tear it up by not knowing.

And those OEM swaps will need everything from the knuckle out right?

Has anyone used those front disc kits? Find them from 250-300.

Probably easier to shorten the later driveshaft then lengthen the older one Id say. And I prefer foot shift as well but this is what I found haha. Don't gotta put your foot down in water or mud on occasion so that's cool. I know the current list of things I need to do right now is. Service the brakes. Might just convert it to disc. Reverse cable is broken so a new one of those. All the fluids. And filters. Need a Rear rack and display. That should get it back to full functionality mechanically.

I figure the switchable front diff just needs 12v switched to operate? And so I might fit without modifications and it might not? I also remember there being the 424 lock outs. I know warn used to make them. Then wide open. Are these still being produced by anyone? And honestly shadetree around here those Foremans would easily sell for those prices. So I figured getting this one so cheap was pretty good idea. I was in the mindset of do as little work as possible to get it going and flip it, but after hearing this thing run I'm highly likely gonna keep It. It is honestly the best sounding Honda I've owned. And under the dirt and neglect I think a solid machine still lives. I did get the display working a bit and it's got 1500miles on it.

I have had 400s and 450s Foremans. I was actually looking for a 02 or newer for the selectable 4wd. But I settled on this one for how cheap it was. Around where I live ATVs and any off road toys carry a premium price tag. Worse so now with the pandemic. Although if I'm not mistaken I can just buy the selectable front differential and the switch and it'll all bolt in?

So in the interest of punishing myself I bought a project. And ooohhh boy is it a rough one. I picked up a 1999 Foreman 450es. Been setting outside for months not running. Looked like it had been submarined in mud before it got parked. No key. Dead battery. No brakes. Shot tires. Rear rack gone. But the one thing that sold me was the compression. It pulled over good and had plenty. So what the heck I figured it was worth the 400$. Give me something to do in the garage. And so far it's been wonderful and a massive head ache. Went straight to the carwash and bathed the poor thing.washed off an unreal amount of mud. Got it home and I had to know. Would it run. Gas tank looked like the bottom of a lake inside. So I pulled it off. Chucked a fuel on the carb to bottle feed it and a battery. Luckily I had a spare ignition from another foreman I used to have. And in true Honda fashion it came right to life. Didn't even touch the carb. Smoked for a moment then it cleared up and too my surprise this thing runs awesome. No ticks. No knocks. Wasn't even smoking. So after I confirmed the engine was willing I moved to the transmission and this is where the head ache started and stayed for 2 days. I haven't messed with an ES before so the electric shift spooked me. Well I was happy when I hit the buttons and it was working. Great right? Wrong. Then it all of a sudden quit working. Then it did. Then it didn't. It would work perfectly for a few minutes then go completely dead. Did my research and I started checking. Checked the connectors. All good. Fuses all good. I was convinced I narrowed it down. it was that angle sensor being intermittent. At this point it went dead and it wasn't coming back. So I called it a night. I had Took the body apart. The skid plate off. And fought with it trying to get the shift motor and angle sensor out. It whooped me. Well the next day the fun continues. I confirmed it still no worky worky. And went back to messing with it and I had been looking around the battery box area at wiring then all the sudden it came back to life. So I prodded a bit more and learned the hard way a voltmeter isn't always the full story. So sure the 30amp fuse tested good, but I didn't pull it out of its socket yet. And go figure the spades on the fuse were nasty. Cleaned the socket and a new fuse and ta da. Fixed. Threw it most of the way back together. And some spare decent rims and tires I had and went to put it through the gears. Found out the reverse cable is broken, but it does work fine. And 1-5 were all good as well. And that's pretty much where I am now. I got it running. Shifting. And very carefully riding. I know I type ALOT. I apologize. I'll attach some pics. One when I first got it and the other after I did what I did so far.

Hey are you still repair these units? I have one off a rough 1999 foreman 450es. Ill attach some pics. The indicator lights work. The screen illuminates. I took it apart and removed the film in the lens so I could see it working and it did work. Although it would only display in neutral. In 1st gear it would turn off the LCD. Although in 2nd it would come back on. Now it's too the point I can barely see it displaying. But I mean barely. I have this unit. And i ordered a parts/non working unit for a 98 ES off eBay I'm gonna look at. This one had the cover busted and left to the elements for a long time I'm guessing and the board doesn't look so good. Though I'm not expert. Think this one could be repaired or do I need to wait and inspect the one I got coming.

Well ive got to get the body straighten back out and fix a few of the fender support rods. fairly sure he had most of the body held together with self tappers haha. amazes me what you can put a honda through. These shocks, despite being a royal pain to try and compress, are pretty soft. and if they were a bit stiffer id get alittle more ride height i reckon. Are there upgraded springs available? These don't have the adjustable spring preload.

Are they any clearance issues with say 26"? I'm talking like tie rods or anything like that contacting the tires