I have seen the 500 Foreman and 420 stuck many times with one front wheel in the air turning while the other front wheel stuck in the ground is not turning.


Go to a serious mud run ATV contest and all the bad boy Honda ATVs that are involved have the aftermarket diff lock system installed. If Honda's limited slip worked so good why would they bother buying the expensive kit.

Heres a link to the kits site High Lifter ATV Products & Accessories - High Lifter's Detroit Gearless Locker 4

Most all other ATVs have a diff locking system stock nowadays,Honda has always been slow on new Ideas,they did not even have selectable 2wd/4wd until 2003 while others offered it in 1996.
Honda still has not given up on drum back brakes on many models.and they still use old tech OHV motors not OHC motors thats way Honda has the lowest HP numbers for there cc motor size.

 

Notice how every time someone is trying to sell you something, they try and tell you there is this magical possibility of 3wd!!!

 

Who went and dug up this 5 year old post?????

Honda biases their front end 70% power to the wheel with traction and 30% to the wheel that is spinning. This 70/30 is important, because while it sends most power to the wheel with traction, it also keeps the other wheel spinning so it will have momentum when if finally does get traction (vs starting with a dead stopped wheel). This conserves energy, by not sending to much of the power to the spinning wheel. (Remember, lockers are inefficient because it sends just 50% of the power to each wheel all the time, no matter whether it has traction or not!)

While lockers are called for in situations like mud where neither wheel has any traction, this is not necessarily the case when you are out rock crawling and have one wheel up in the air. The average rider isn't a "mudder", so Honda went with what will appeal to the majority of riders in the majority of conditions.....not just one small specialized group.

The bottom line is, that if you are incapable of understanding that having "3-wheel drive" is superior most of the time, then just don't get a Honda already!!! If you are a dedicated "mudder", then lots of other manufacturers have a machine designed for you....and you can go hang out in one of their forums, where everyone will agree with you and tell you exactly what you want to hear!

 

"Amen"

 

Actually, all the Honda system is is a "locker" that is biased 70/30, vs the usual locker that is always biased only 50/50. I don't know about the rest of you, but I prefer 70% of my power to go to the wheel with traction, rather than just 50%.

 

ReconRanger, are you refering to the newer TraxLock system used on Honda ATV's since about 2002?

 

No....TraxLock refers to selectable 2wd/4wd: 2010 FourTrax Rancher - Honda Powersports

I can't recall what the name is for the torque sensing front differential (???). The technology is licensed from Land Rover, as I recall. I think it first appeard in 99 on the Foreman 450. I certainly have it on my old 00 Rancher as well....so nothing new here.

 

The Honda,s I have seen do the 3wheel drive thing were a 05 500 Foreman and a 08 420 rancher, they both behaved the same as my old 2001 450 Foreman did from what I seen.

I do not think Honda came out with any thing different since 05 or 08.

What can possibly be a down side to a True locker system like Yamaha,Suzuki,Kawasaki,AC have. you dive in normal 2wd or limited slip 3wd but in a low traction situation at the touch of a button you have 100% true AWD then once through you switch back to easy to steer 3wd or 2wd.

Honda will cave in to demand and offer "True AWD diff lock" but they will add it once the feature is old new to everyone else,like they held of selectable 4wd forever.

 

TLC....I don't get you man. Why do you even care???? You are always over here bitching about Hondas. Go ride your Polaris and enjoy your lockers....you deserve them!

 

What are you doing telling people Hondas font diff is something special from land Rover?

Here is how Hondas front wheel drive works YouTube - HondaForeman "A Brincar na Areia"5 OR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhDFkkbENIU

If that had diff lock you would see two front wheel rooster tails at once and at all times not one front wheel and the other taking turns.

Yes Honda should jump on the AWD diff lock band wagon like every one else and the sooner the better.