i just bought a 01 honda foreman 450 es with a tranny problem, the orignal owner said it would not shift into neutral, even with manual shift, he took it to a honda dealer and they wrote it up as stuck in 5th gear. they took apart the front half (clutches and so fourth) and told him it was going to be 1600.00 to fix the problem but could (or would not i don't know) tell him what the problem was. i recevied it in boxes the way he got it back from the dealer. i charged the battery and the display shows 5th gear, i can manual rotate the star shaped? gear and it shows shifting gears on the display, i can shift it down to neutral and then you can crank electrically, but while trying to shift the gears by the gear in the front (roughly star shaped don't know the name and don't know how to explain it) it does seem to bind up a little, and also remember it does not shift manually. since it was in the condition i received it i removed the engine today to disassemble to look for problems because i do believe it is something internally, but just wondering if any has had this problem and wondering what to look for any info or reapair pages would be greatly appricated. thanks.

 

PM your email address and I can email you the transmission section ..

 

thanks for the info, helps alot to know what you are working on, my manual is coming pony express should be here by christmas, but have more questions now that i can kinda put two and two together, i haven't disassemblied completely yet, but have removed more covers to get a little view inside and see that the manual shift rod does nothing inside the crankcase, did not know that before because all the shift linkages and clutches were apart when i got it, but i recall when i first turned the gear on the shift drum the armiture that rides against it was very tight and could bearly move by hand until it got to the point that it wouldn't spin by hand so i removed the armiture and thats when i was able to shift gears easy by hand rotating the shift drum, i am going to try a couple things tommorrow to verify there is no binding inside the crankcase, but wonding if the armiture for the shift drum could possible tighten up that tight by itself or is it suppost to be that tight. other possibilty i that was that the tech. tightened it up so it wouldn't fall off when the atv was picked up but everything else came in boxes so i really don't know. don't know if any other armitures touch that gear but i am talking about the spring loaded one on the left. any help? thanks

 

I just emailed you the gear shift linkage section ..

I'm not sure what you mean by "armiture that rides against it" unless you mean the stopper (the spring loaded curved plate with the roller wheel on the end" .. Anyway with the stopper off and clutch off you should be able to turn the transmission shaft and rotate the drum shifter (star shaped plate on shift drum) thru the gears , it won't just spin/turn free because the dogs on the gear/s have to line up and mesh before it will go thru that gear and into the next gear ..But it shouldn't actually bind when turning...

 

appricate the added info, yeah i was talking about the stopper, like i said now with the info and i know what i am looking at i don't belive that anything is binding up inside crank case, it does shift through the gears fine when you turn the mainshaft. i personally thnk the best thing for me to do is put it all back together and start from scratch with diagnosing problem. i do have another question though to pick your brain. when i got it i charged the battery to see what display read and it showed 5th gear, i was able to change the display to all gears even reverse by turning the shift drum by hand. now the shift motor was not bolted on but still had wiring harness connected so i tried to shift with buttons to see if the shift motor gear would at least turn or do anything and it did nothing. is this because there is a possibly a problem there or because there is another sensor that bolts on the front that was not connected. like i said my best bet i think is to completely reassemble and start from scratch myself. again thanks alot for all the help you've given me.

 

i put the shift liknage back together today and it shifts throught the gears fine manually, will continue to put back together, and let you know what i find