Honda Foreman 500 S vs Honda Rubicon
#12
Honda Foreman 500 S vs Honda Rubicon
Been plowing snow and pulling for 6 YEARS now with my Rubicon.
The set it and forget it tranny is the only way to go when plowing snow. Trust me.
This year has been a very trying year with snow, icestorms, trees down etc..
It has done good for a machine that has been worked since 2002.
Problems with it? sure i have,,, check my post over the years and you can see. I cant hide a thing..
As far as shifting gears either with foot or hand while trying to plow? I have never had to do it and can not comment on it. 9 times out of 10 with the depths of snow weve had this year, I just put her in ESP and let first gear do its thing.
Now when there is not much snow or its a snow that is not heavy, you can use D1 and put in low gear and just let her go.
They will both do fine no matter what you chose. You never plow over 5 mph anyway. Or at least I dont.
And yes I do think the Liquid cooled is a huge plus while plowing, Them fans will kick on just as much if not more than summer driving. This is just my opinion only and nothing more.
The set it and forget it tranny is the only way to go when plowing snow. Trust me.
This year has been a very trying year with snow, icestorms, trees down etc..
It has done good for a machine that has been worked since 2002.
Problems with it? sure i have,,, check my post over the years and you can see. I cant hide a thing..
As far as shifting gears either with foot or hand while trying to plow? I have never had to do it and can not comment on it. 9 times out of 10 with the depths of snow weve had this year, I just put her in ESP and let first gear do its thing.
Now when there is not much snow or its a snow that is not heavy, you can use D1 and put in low gear and just let her go.
They will both do fine no matter what you chose. You never plow over 5 mph anyway. Or at least I dont.
And yes I do think the Liquid cooled is a huge plus while plowing, Them fans will kick on just as much if not more than summer driving. This is just my opinion only and nothing more.
#13
#14
#16
Honda Foreman 500 S vs Honda Rubicon
yeah the rincon would be awesome if it had the rubicons tranny and low range, but it doesnt so im still a waiting.. I pull heavy HEAVY loads with my rubicon, so heavy i blew up a rear tire this year when pulling my tandom axle 22' bluewater boat out of the shop to winterize it... yeah. should have used the truck. I also built 3 trailers for my rubicon, I have a lot of land thats land locked and only a quad trail for acess and I pull tripples ( half quard ) of wood out at a time and low range floored with 2 sacks of cement on the front rack for traction is the only way!
No issues in 7 years of abuse yet
No issues in 7 years of abuse yet
#17
Honda Foreman 500 S vs Honda Rubicon
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: JRM
yeah the rincon would be awesome if it had the rubicons tranny and low range, but it doesnt so im still a waiting..
No issues in 7 years of abuse yet</end quote></div>
I too would seriously consider a Rincon if it had a Rubicon trans, no engine braking just doesn't cut it. I have 8000 miles on our Rubicon and still have the original brakes on it.
I think the trans is the big difference between Foreman and the Rubicon, the trans is why we bought ours in the first place, nothing out there even comes close to it.
yeah the rincon would be awesome if it had the rubicons tranny and low range, but it doesnt so im still a waiting..
No issues in 7 years of abuse yet</end quote></div>
I too would seriously consider a Rincon if it had a Rubicon trans, no engine braking just doesn't cut it. I have 8000 miles on our Rubicon and still have the original brakes on it.
I think the trans is the big difference between Foreman and the Rubicon, the trans is why we bought ours in the first place, nothing out there even comes close to it.
#18
Been plowing, hauling deer corn, dragging logs and using the daylights out of the rubicon since we got it back in '05.
The achilles heel, IMHO, as with many Hondas is that their carburators (Keihn) SUCK! With very hours I waived the white flag and replaced the carb!$$$!! The recon and Rancher we have are great machines as well but the carbs suck - just search "Rancher carb leaks" anywhere on the internet.
Witht he whining out of the way, hydrostatic drive is the only way to go for anything that has work to do. Look no farther than all construction equipment if you need further convincing. I bought the Rubicon, as opposed to the Foreman and all others mainly because of the transmission. Liquid cooling, as previously posted is also a plus when snow plowing and when i pull a mower through the marsh in the summer.
My "play" quad is a 700 Grizzly and it is the best quad i have ever owned or ridden; now if the Rubi had more power, four discs, EFI, IRS ... hmmmm.
The achilles heel, IMHO, as with many Hondas is that their carburators (Keihn) SUCK! With very hours I waived the white flag and replaced the carb!$$$!! The recon and Rancher we have are great machines as well but the carbs suck - just search "Rancher carb leaks" anywhere on the internet.
Witht he whining out of the way, hydrostatic drive is the only way to go for anything that has work to do. Look no farther than all construction equipment if you need further convincing. I bought the Rubicon, as opposed to the Foreman and all others mainly because of the transmission. Liquid cooling, as previously posted is also a plus when snow plowing and when i pull a mower through the marsh in the summer.
My "play" quad is a 700 Grizzly and it is the best quad i have ever owned or ridden; now if the Rubi had more power, four discs, EFI, IRS ... hmmmm.
#20
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin
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just bought a 2009 rubicon. only experience i had with a foreman 500 was the 20 minutes of test driving it right before the rubicon, so nothing basically. they are both great work machines (from reviews), but the rubicons tranny is so ridiculously smooth, if you ride one, you won't go back to anything else. plus, as stated previously, you can switch it to esp mode and still "shift" in case you need just a low gear or something....no other machine can do both...
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