It would be great if a mechanical engineer or other qualified person would weigh in on this question which has come up in a few different places.

The question is, strictly from a mechanical perspective, is this system designed to be shifted on the fly? or can it be shifted on the fly safely?

Some say they engage 4wd on the fly with no problem on this machine, while the manufacturer doesn't recommend it.

I've scanned the images of the Final Clutch Mechanism and other pertinent information provided in the service manual on pages 2-3 and 2-4, shown in a 147K jpeg image here.

If there is an expert out there who is willing to stick his or her neck out with an opinion one way or another, I for one would like to hear what you have to say.

Thanks in advance.

 

And....the other Hondas (Foreman, Rubicon, Rincon) have push button selectable 2wd/4wd. Do they use the same mechanism???

 

I shift my 420 on the fly most of the time, as long as both the front and rear tires are spinning at the same speed meaning I'm not turning sharp or spinning the rear tires in mud or whatever. The shifter is spring loaded, when you pull the shifter when sitting still it usely doesn't lock into 4 wheel drive unless the splines are lined up perfectly, when you start moving the splines will line up and it will engage. It's the same principle when shifting back to 2 wheel drive. So I figure why bother with stopping if it's probably not going to engage till I'm moving again.