Mudmachine, what do you ride? As for the water in the oil, the Rubicon's transmission can run with water in the oil anyway. The engine itself would seize up before the transmission would stop working. Where did you ever get the idea that the Honda crankcase breathers let water in? Never has on any of our Hondas. Also, not only does the Rubicon have an oil filter, they also triple filtered the oil system, so they probably have a screen in front of the intake of the hydraulic pump.

 

I'll admit that this trans sounds pretty damn good.NO BELTS?Wow.Im not going to get on the Rubicon bandwagon just yet.New products usually have to be in service for a few yrs before the ''BUGS'' are removed.Sounds like an excellant trans to me.====BILL

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Rooster,
Don't get me wrong, I like Honda,I like the idea of an Automatic Honda. And the idea of Honda going to liquid cooling and upping the cc's..
As for the breather tubes, I have several friends that ride Hondas, from 300 4x4's up to 450S's... We just towed one in last weekend because he was following me thru a duck pond and his banged out and died. As soon as it died, the water filled his crankcase full of water.. Its not the only Honda I've seen that has done it, there's a simple fix for this, just plumb it into the airbox... Problem Solved...
Most of my Honda friends have already made this mod.. Its kinda like me putting a transmission vent extension on one of my Polarises..
Oh, by the way, rides at my house...
99 Magnum 500, 97 Scrambler 500, 99 Honda XR-80R (for my son) Had a 98 Grizzly and 98 Yamaha Big Bear.. Both gone now..
3 Wheelers currently owned include Honda 125M, Honda 110, Half-Breed part Kawasaki part Honda 125 (Thats a HonSaki I think!!)
There is no Honda/Polaris war here or with the friends I ride with... we're usually all too busy just trying to have some fun..
The question I posed about milky oil is a very valid question..(or atleast I thought it was) sinking a quad happens every weekend where I live/ride.. so it is of interest to me. Granted, we ride into places that none of these machines are built or warranted for.. but we're still gonna do it..

 

From what I've been reading in these posts, I wonder how easily this transmission can be serviced. Does the reference to it being contained within a sealed unit simply mean that it is impervious to mud and water, a problem that has been known to plague many of the belt drive units? Or does it mean that it contains no serviceable parts and that the entire unit must be replaced should there be a failure with some internal component?

The answers to these questions would be more worthwhile coming from those who own one rather from those who sell or market the machine. And I am sure we will hear from them during the months to come.



[This message has been edited by drlaney (edited 12-30-1999).]

 

I am very interested to see how the hydro transmission works in cold weather. If it is anything like my dads lawn tractor, it won't work in the cold. - Until it is warmed up in the garage overnight that is...

 

All good questions, hopefully Honda will surprise us all with the Rubicon. As for the transmission, they say it is impervious to external contaminants because it is inside the engine cases. It can be taken apart.

 

i have an atomatic banshee 630cc and it will beat the rubicon in first gear thats how fast it is do you know any mods for my banshee it's stock if you didn't know except for the decals and the handle bars becasuse it wrecked the first pair doing doing donuts!

 

Ok, normally I won't say this but...Hey retard, your banshee is a 630cc and it's stock? Boy are you stupid. You don't even know how fast a Rubicon goes, nobody does yet, I bet you don't even know what it is. So your Banshee can go 50+ in first gear? Sure. Jackas.

 

Rooster; I believe what was being referred to when mudmachine spoke of the Honda crankcase breathers stems from a recall they had in 97 on the 400 Foremans, many of them had a defective breather that would allow water and dust into the crankcase. One well publicized case of a engine failure due to this happened to a writer for ATV Magazine and he wrote about it in the publication, I'm sure I still have it someplace, He ended up spending like $1100.00 to repair his engine after Honda would not cover it due to the fact that his warranty was out. The fix was simple you just ran a piece of hose from the crankcase breather to the airbox,drilled a hole in the box inserted the hose, siliconed the hose in the hole in the airbox and that was it. The 400 Foreman is a very common Ride here and a lot of the owners warranties had already expired when the recall was issued so they got me to put the fix on them. Honda would only cover machines that were still under warranty.At least that was the story from the dealer in Florence.

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Kevin Gowdy aka Kagey 1999 Polaris Magnum 500

 

Hey ihavebanshee, do you know how to complete a sentence!?! Your banshee is a 650, yet insist it is stock!!...what are you talking about?? Why are you talking about a Yamaha Banshee IN THE HONDA SECTION!?!?!...why dont you go talk about it in the YAMAHA SECTION!!! and tell them how it can out run Mazeratti in first gear!!!