was out on my rancher 4x3 es today, and backed it into a muddy pond. Got stuck.
Right front wheel was still on dry land. Left front wheel was airborne. Both rear wheels spinning. Airborne front left wheel spinning. Front right wheel doing absolutely nothing. I even tried "rocking" the handlebars back and forth to no avail. Im convinced: the honda suretrac diff is a flop, but the rancher is still a good quad (hell it better be I just spent $5k on it)

 

Hey, if a million people come in here and tell you that it doesn't happen, then I know how you feel. I have a half dozen people in the AC forum that have never experienced the 3-wheeling thing on their 500's. I'm trying to think of how many times I went out and this didn't happen.

 

Tree Farmer's Premise: ALL differentials, including limited-slip differentials, perform as the originating poster describes, when insufficient torque is biased to the front wheel on the ground to spin it. Otherwise, they wouldn't be, "differentials," by definition, devices that divide power between two wheels and permit those two wheels to turn at different velocities.

If riders haven't experienced one front wheel stationary while the other spins while riding their differential-equipped quads, then the limited-slip feature is biasing enough torque from the wheel without traction to the one on the ground to keep it turning. Good show! However, even the best limited-slip differential has its limitations.

If you doubt a differential allows one of its associated wheels to spin while the other is stationary, jack all four wheels up, start the engine, put 'er in gear, and hold one front wheel--what happens? Or, put three wheels up on jacks with one front wheel touching the ground, sit on the front rack, putting your weight on that wheel--will she drive off the jacks? If so, your limited-slip differential biases considerable torque to the wheel on the ground; be thankful, it's doing its job! (These are the famous Gordon Banks Memorial Differential Tests.)

A distinction exists between open differentials and properly-functioning limited-slip differentials; but even the best limited-slip differential biases only a portion of the torque from the spinning (or "slipping") wheel to the one with traction; that's what it's designed to do, thus it's called, "LIMITED-slip." By contrast, lockers, like Detroit Lockers, are sometimes designated, "NO-SLIP" differentials.

Tree Farmer

 

Yeah, what TF said. Limited slip, key word being _LIMITED_. If they worked all the time, they would be called _NO_ slip, and your turning radius would be a couple feet larger.

 

I believe that you probably tried to get out of the mud hole in full throttle. Next time you should try whith less power, I mean less torque.

Limited slip means that until the wheels reach a certain rotation speed, they spin together, above that rotation, it works like a normal differential.

Lourenco - Rancher 4x4 ES Red - Portugal/Europe

 

I don't know about all the technicalities, I just know I bought a quad that claimed it sent power "to the front wheel with the most traction" and it absolutley does not do that. Seems to me that it's simply a case of false advertising on honda's part. I mean, maybe they saw a test Rancher actually perform as promised on an isolated occasion, and decided to market the notion as "suretrac". I've got a new name for honda's new front diff: let's call it the honda SureCrap.

 

Now is a good time to sell it. Hunting season is upon us and you will have no problem getting rid of it and getting something more appropriate and less discomposing.

 

There were about the same subject a while back.

April of this year did the same test. Backed the Rancher into a mud hole & had one wheel in the air. The tire in the air spun slowly around a couple of times, the one on the ground was pulling. This was done at half throttle. If you had the throttle pinned then maybe the sure trac couldn't switch the power.

 

You might want to try and change your gear oil someone recently stated in a post that after changing thier gear oil to "gearsaver 80-90"
they noticed a big improvment in the the agresivness of the suretrack. I dont know how this could make a difference but he claimed it worked.
it might be worth a try. (see "sure track honda wild tip post")

 

Sexshopper, the AP front differential does indeed work on our Rubicon. I tried it by jacking the wheels off the ground. I held one front tire and when I blipped the throttle, it jerked it out of my arm. Try blipping the throttle next time. It doesn't seem to kick in at a low rpm.