Start in gear mod for 450 Foremans, 350 Ranchers and 300's

[jeepwm69 5,683]

Figured I would post this up here, since it's something that I like to have on all my machines.

 

I picked up a used Foreman 500 (05-11) brake master cylinder and brake lever, which has two micro switches built into it.  This is for an 05 350 Rancher, which has one microswitch on the stock brake lever for the brake lights.  You hook those wires onto one of the two microswitches on the Foreman brake lever, and hook a relay up to the other microswitch for the start in gear mod.

Grounded wire goes to swtich on brake lever

Wire coming off of other side of switch on brake lever goes to relay 85

Black/ brown wire coming off of 15A lights fuse goes to relay 86

Relay 87 is grounded

Snip wire going to neutral light

Relay 87A goes to neutral light

Relay 30 goes to wire you snipped off that used to go to neutral light.

 

This allows you to start the machine in gear, but only with the brake lever held back.  Will still start in Neutral with the lever held back or not held back (as normal).

 

[jeepwm69 5,683]

I did the same mod on my daughter's 300, again using the Foreman brake lever so I could also add brake lights.

 

On the 300 the wiring is as follows.

Get your relay.

Ground wire (under frame bolt) to Foreman brake micro switch

Other side of micro switch to relay 85

Ground relay 87

12v pos switched power source to relay 86 (pink ignition wire)

Snip wire going to neutral light.

Relay 87a goes to the snipped (-) Neutral light wire which should be Light Green/Red and goes to bulb

Relay 30 connects to the snipped end of the Light Green/Red wire that goes to the solenoid (neutral light wire you snipped that goes back into the harness) AND you need to run a jumper to the green wire going to the CDI.

 

Then use the other microswich for your brake lights.  I'll post another thread here

 

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by jeepwm69

[Mac102004 410]

Good write up Jeep. Which year 300 is that for? As you know there are wiring differences over the years. 98-00 300's would be more similar to the 00-03 Ranchers. 

 

I usually just take the lazy way out and ground the N wire so it shoes N all the time. Your way would be the CORRECT way to do it.

[jeepwm69 5,683]

That's for a 97 Mac.  All the 300's I plan on keeping are 2nd gens so I can use the Rick's CDI's and the 424's (without finding or modifying one to fit a first gen).

 

But you are correct, 3rd gens would be more like the 350 method.

 

As much as I'd like to take credit for it, I just had the idea.  Retro and Melatv came up with the actual "how to"

[jeepwm69 5,683]

On 12/4/2019 at 9:15 AM, jeepwm69 said:

That's for a 97 Mac.  All the 300's I plan on keeping are 2nd gens so I can use the Rick's CDI's and the 424's (without finding or modifying one to fit a first gen).

 

But you are correct, 3rd gens would be more like the 350 method.

 

As much as I'd like to take credit for it, I just had the idea.  Retro and Melatv came up with the actual "how to"

 

 

Planning on doing this to my buddy's 450 project I'm working on too.  Don't think I'll do brake lights too, just stick with the start in gear mod. 

 

Looking at the wiring diagram, looks like the Light Green with Red tracer going to the meter would be the same as the 350 Rancher, correct?

 

@Melatv @retro@AKATV

[retro 3,534]

2 hours ago, jeepwm69 said:

Looking at the wiring diagram, looks like the Light Green with Red tracer going to the meter would be the same as the 350 Rancher, correct?

 

Yup, supply a ground through your relay for the Light Green/Red is all ya gotta do on a 450FM

[retro 3,534]

This is a popular mod that everyone likes, so I end up doing one or two of them every year on early Honda's that I work on for friends & neighbors. We likely have posted this info already in various threads here... but I'm gonna add some pics to this thread anyway to help show what @jeepwm69 have explained above... and I'll include the additional step that all of the early FE/TE models require.

 

This is the pinout diagram for the standard 5-terminal automotive relay that you'll need. Don't be concerned with the amperage rating of your relay, any of the 5-terminal types will work.

 

 

Here is a diagram provided by @Melatvshowing how the Lg/R wire must be snipped near the display and how that snipped Lg/R wire must be connected to relay terminals #87a and #30:

 

 

• Ground a length of wire to the frame and connect the other end to one of the switches on brake lever
• Wire coming off of other side of that switch on brake lever connects to relay #85 terminal (and optionally jumper that same wire from relay #85 terminal to relay #87 terminal - which provides a single ground relay wiring shortcut)
• Switched positive voltage goes to relay #86 terminal - You can get switched battery voltage from the accessory circuit White/Black wire, the Pink ignition switch wire or the Black/Brown lighting circuit wire that goes to the display.
• Relay #87 terminal must be grounded - either wired to a bolt on the frame or jumpered over to relay terminal #85 as mentioned above
• Snip the Light Green/Red wire going to neutral light in the display harness
• Run a wire from relay #87A terminal to the snipped end of the wire that goes to the neutral light in the display
• Run a wire from relay #30 terminal to the remaining end of the wire that you snipped where it comes out of the harness (See Melatv's diagram above - ignore the ground reference in that diagram, we have changed things up a bit since...)

That's all for FM/TM models but if your Honda is an FE or TE model (ES), an additional wiring step is required to prevent the shift ECM from faulting and shutting down when the brake lever is pulled, while in any gear except neutral. What happens is the LG/R neutral wire that goes to the shift ECM gets grounded when the brake lever is pulled... and if the transmission is in any other gear except for neutral, the ECM shuts down because the ECM is receiving two gear shift signals - one from the gear shift switch signalling the proper gear - and one signalling the ECM that the transmission has been shifted into neutral, as well. The ECM shuts down and refuses to shift when that happens.

 

So here is a workaround fix for that problem:

One more wire from the relay #87a terminal must be run to the ECU harness and connected to the Lg/R wire as shown, after cutting that wire near the ECM connector.

 

 

As shown leave the harness side of the Lg/R wire disconnected after snipping it. Seal the orphaned wire end up with adhesive-lined shrink tubing to insulate and protect the wire from oxygen and/or water exposure.

 

You can find a good used master cylinder that includes the micro switches and the rubber boot at powersportsnation.com for about $21 shipped at the time of this posting (I just ordered another one this weekend for my hunting buddy's new to him 350 Rancher). The '04-'07 Rancher 400AT (TRX400FA), the '03-'05 650 Rincon and the '05-'11 TRX500 Foreman models share the same master cylinder with the switches that you need. OEM sub-harnesses for the switches are available used as well. Have fun!