355 miles on my Rincon and it won't go into gear. It grinds gears when I try to engage drive from neutral. In auto or ESP. It goes into reverse fine. If I shift into drive real fast then I bypass the grind. I've only done that a couple times so I don't break anything. Once in drive it almost feels like it's not engaging all the way. Could this be a simple linkage adjustment? It's an 03 model so the warranty is out.
So much for me bragging Honda quality.

 

ive heard of rubicons doing the same thing. usually ends up being a simple linkage adjustment

hope its nothing major

 

Take it easy, no need to get mad at Honda because of such a simple "problem". I mean, would you get mad at Honda for having to adjust the rear brake cable on your Rincon? Because that's probably all you need to fix your problem, a simple cable adjustment.

There is a shift cable located underneath the gas tank. It is not uncommon for this cable to need adjustment after a few hundred miles of break-in. This is the most common cause of grinding when going into gear. The cable gets to be off center, and causes the sub-transmission to not engage all the way in one direction.

The other possible cause is that your idle may be set too high. It needs to be set at 1450 rpm at operating temperature. If the idle is any higher, it can be difficult to shift into gear, and can also cause the grinding effect you are describing.

Chin up my friend, you're making something out of nothing. At least wait until you encounter an actual problem before jumping off the Honda bandwagon...

 

Yea but............I've always been such a die hard fan, and I guess I'm assuming the worse case scenario, you know a $1000.00 repair job or something of that nature. Could a vacuum leak cause this. My idle does seem high, though I haven't messed with it. I started to disassemble my quad down to bare bones, man these things have a lot of those little pull out body tabs, just in case I have to take it in for repair. No reason to pay for something I can do myself.

 

When the engine breaks in and loosens up, it is quite common for it to idle higher than it did when new. No problem, just get yourself a tach and set it to 1450 rpm at operating temperature. The idle speed could be your problem, but if it isn't, the problem is the cable adjustment. I guarantee it. Get the $1000 repair bill out of your head and rest easy. This is not a problem.

PM me if you want me to tell you about the two first year Rincon glitches that you may/will encounter.

 

Generally Honda's are real realiable so I wouldn't loose any sleep yet. SOunds like a high idle or cable adjustment, neither of which are a big deal. Either you can do it yourself, generally whenever I buy a new machine, I take it to the dealer for the very first service so they can do the oil change, check every nut and bolt, take care of any warranty stuff and do these little adjustments. Generally it costs a couple $$$ but its the only service I ever pay a dealer for. I do all the rest of my own work from then on.