Sorry, its the electronic control module, controls a lot of things including the transmission shifting by processing info from speed sensors, throttle position sensors, gear position sensors etc... basically the brain of the ATV

----- Gimpster -----

 

We have both a geared transmission ATV, our Rancher, and an automatic trans ATV, our Rubicon. The engine braking on the geared trans is no better than the automatic. Actually, the Rubicons is better because of the way it down shifts, NO GEARS. You can be flying and drop it from 5th to 1st as fast as you can push the shift button. It will literally slide to a near stop. No grinding, no "reving" the engine, it just snaps in to the gear you select.

Engine braking of the Rubicon is equal to any geared trans and far superior to any belt driven ATV.

 

Gimpster:

I really appreciate all your advice to my situation.
Would a 2005 foreman 500 FE with its manual tranny have been a better choose or can I get this 2005 Rincon to a point where going down steep down hill won’t be so hairy?


Thanks

 

Specta:

Thanks for your reply.
So the Rubi tranny is as good as a manual tranny on a steep down hill decent for engine braking?
Does it have a option for chooseing between full auto mode and rider select?
Is this done through push buttons or a gear shift ****.
I thought I had researched this purchase of the Rincon pretty good but I guest not.
I know that I do not want a belt.


Thanks

 

One of the magazines recently reviewed the Rincon, and one of their comments was that it is difficult to make a torque converter have engine braking, without the thing being massively huge and heavy. Honda went half way and put something in there, but below 8 mph you are out of luck.

Good lesson here folks. Ask questions about your prospecitve purchases before you pay your money!

 

Thawk,

So the Rubi tranny is as good as a manual tranny on a steep down hill decent for engine braking? Yes, excellent engine braking.

Does it have a option for chooseing between full auto mode and rider select? 2 full automatic modes and ESP (driver select), it is a selector **** that rotates and is on the laft side.

Is this done through push buttons or a gear shift ****. A mechanical shifter for high, low, neutral, and reverse. A seletor **** for auto modes or ESP, and push buttons to select the (gear in ESP) 1,2,3,4,5

 

Thawk

Once again I tend not to agree with what people have to say about the Rincon engine braking. The torque converter in the driveline system works in place of the centrifical clutch. A centrifical clutch has been used in conjunction with a wet clutch pack in Honda transmissions from the get go of ATVs. The centrifical clutch has a one way bearing, or sprag bearing as it is better known as, to supply engine braking to the unit during deceleration. If what people say about engine braking under a certain MPH on the Rincon, it would hold true on all Honda ATVs, because of the fact that the centrifical clutch and torque converter both have the same sprag bearing operation that bypasses the centrifical clutch, or torque converter, directing direct engine braking from the crankshaft to the transmission, output shafts, drive shafts etc... If there is an issue of not having the engine braking under a certain MPH on the Rincon, there is another failed component or symptom, like with oil pressure, throttle angle sensor, speed sensor , ECM tranny controller etc...
I roda a new Rincon at work today and its engine braking was exellent, as well as the 03 that I performed normal maintainance on today, and test rode. If anyone is still not convinced still that what I say is true, view the Honda TRX650FA Rincon Transmission Features and Technology Training CD # S4506.
Back to the question you are asking about a down hill decent, and the unit being squirrely, I would look into a little firmer front shock compression and a rear shock with a stiffer rebound than the factory ' soft ride ' shocks. I would also reset my front brake adjustment to be a little softer and play with some different toe in adjustments for better control with the front end suspension compressed. Here is an example, on my race car, a soft suspension set-up will make the car slow and hard to avoid accidents because the handling is not as crisp. A stiffer suspension set-up will make it faster and easier to avoid accidents because I am not fighting the higher roll center of gravity that the softer suspension is amplifying. I look at rough terrain in a mountain ride on an ATV with this out look, because of all the uneven obstacles that are to be contended with over a softer trail ride set up. Although the ride may be rougher, the handling of the quad will be more managable with a stiffer suspension set-up.
I could also go into detail on pros and cons of why I like both the new 500 Foreman, and the Rincon, but that is like the old "apple and orange" debate, so I will spare you. LOL ...

Just my 2¢

----- Gimpster -----

 

Gimpster-I'm not sure if you are trying to deny reality, or just call Thawk a liar??? Here he is posting his genuine personal experience, and you come up with a bunch of technical data that says he must be mistaken, or have some problem with his machine. EVEN HONDA SAYS THE BIKE HAS NO ENGINE BRAKING BELOW 8 MPH! And, every magazine review of the bike says the same thing. This isn't a failed component, this is a FAILURE BY DESIGN. Honda intended to build a curiser couch that appeals to a particular segment of the market, not a serious all-around utility machine. There are a fair number of other posts on the board from other Rincon owners who have the same experience, so it isn't his imagination.

You said you "rode a new Rincon today at work", well I don't think we are talking about cruising around the parking lot here! Thawk and I live in an area where there are losts of steep, rugged, nasty mountains (earthquake fault stuff). We are talking life-and-death serious descents here, not a tour of the parking lot or cruising the Dakota prarie.

 

Whoa, hold on here a minute, I never called anyone a liar, or was not starting a spittin'match, I was only trying to help Thawk out from his withdrawalls of buying the Rincon by letting him know that there could be a simple fix for his engine braking dilema. Like simply adjusting the idle correctly, or initializing the ECM etc.. And I pointed out some worse case scenerios.
Honestly I have been wrong before and have never claimed to be the best ( but I am second best ). I have not seen anywhere in any of my 'The Wrench' letters, or service letters or bulletins from Honda pertaining to no engine braking on the units mentioned. Next time I am on with tech line I will inquire though.
You can look at his post as if he had an old school quad going downhill and apply many cures that may help from there... but this tranny has a lot more technology in it than old school. Many things that the consumer may not understand completely, and, what steps it could take to cure a problem that may not even be present if the unit is working properly. We don't know this for sure, because we have not riden his unit and experienced what he is talking about. Is it a set-up issue where the ECM is not getting the correct info to back shift the right way or does it really need to be modified internally to make him satisfied with the quad the way he is going to use it ? Sure would be nice to put in a torque converter that has a different pump, turbine and stator set-up that has the capability of more than 90% pump to turbin out put, or a remapped ECM to adjust the shift points differently etc... but this is not possable, because these parts are not available aftermarket or from Honda.
So I aproached his post with this in mind, and with the knowledge I have from servicing, and curing Rincons with simular problems or should I say complaints in the way the unit performs which are simular to what he has basically outlined. Most of them can be resolved with simple reinitializing of the ECM after properly setting the idle speed. Others have been cured by replacing the throttle position sensor. ( Yes Honda has changed their sensor manufacturer to one who will build them to their specs so those troubles should be over ) But he could have a bad sensor giving incorrect readings to the ECM, or the TPS could be set wrong. I set them to 620 ohms although the book calls out for 580 to 620 ohms settings. I found that a 620 setting will make them shift better. Anyway this is all water under the bridge.
I suggested he take it to a dealer to see if there was a problem first, before trying to dump a bunch of money into it to cure something that may be a simple fix. Remember that part of my post ?
About magazines... I don't believe nothing they publish... You can post a picture of a 300 lb woman in one and call her a cream puff and half the nation would buy one, take her home and find out otherwise.
Remember though I work for a STEALERSHIP. We take your money and leave you with nothing... YA RIGHT. Whenever someone says that it YANKS MY CHAIN, you know why ? Because we are the front lines for the big companies letting them know what is right or wrong up front. Helping out consumers with their units. You know where you would be without us.... ON DA FOOT
And by the way, We are not "Prairie", check out the Badlands, Medora, Lake Sakakawea, Theodore Roosevelt National Park etc... The eastern part of our state is flat, not where we are.

Later My friend ...

----- The Gimpster -----

 

Gimpster-Sorry for getting personal there. I am really venting at Honda for a poor/needlessly complex design. But you work for the "stealership", so in a way you are "Honda" to the customers.

If you have to do a lot of tweaking and adjustments to make something work, it just emphasizes how poor the design is to start with. I found some Honda literature on this subject. They put what they call a "One-Way Lock-Up Clutch" in the torque converter, which no doubt helps the situation.........until you reach that magic speed of 8 mph, then it is all (drum) brakes.

I have taken an informal pole of Rincon riders that I meet out on the trail. Actually there are a surprisingly large number, considering that So. Calif. is sport bike country and utilities are relatively rare, at least compared to other parts of the country. 100% of the owners have the exact experience that Thawk has related! But not surprisingly, 99% of them don't really care. The market this machine aims for are those who want a comfortable cruiser, and don't really care about technical trail performance. All of them rave about the suspension, and that is what they bought the machine for. Thing is, Honda's ads show this machine out in the mountains on technical terrain, which is pretty much false advertising.

My other beef with Honda is that they poured years of R&D into producing one more highly complex utility machine after another (Rubicon, Rincon, Rancher AT), while year after year, we sport bike enthusiasts got absolutely nothing! They could have thrown the XR650 engine in a frame a dozen times over, for the years of R&D they spent on utes.