Buy a Yami Kodiak 450. Has floorboards and runs circles around the 450ES. Might be a little less coin too. Oh yeah, free winch as well.

 

I have a 2003 450ES 180 miles on it no problems. I guess the updated the ES in 2001,2002 and again in 2003 (the only change for 2003).
I have spent the past two days in 22 inches of snow, I can't believe where these things can go. I have heard about older Foremans and Ranchers having problems with freezing shifters, but I think they fixed that problem, I put 40 miles in the past 2 days, left it parked in a snow bank for 12 hours, it started up (20 degrees F) no problem this morning, no shifting problems.

Bye the way if you are thinking of something other than a Foreman go with the Vinson over the Kodiak 450 any day, Vinson is faster handles better and is cheaper. I paid $5400 for my Foreman iES in Sept, you can get a Vinson for $5800 and a Kodiak 460 is $6000, around here anyway.

The Kodiak has sooooooo much body lean its like driving a 76 AMC Gremlin!!!!!!!!!

 

hey boys i hate to break the bad news to you, but the manuel shifter that comes with the ES model is not set up to shift gears with, its for getting into a gear to get you home. I think i read this in wifes manuel. Think about it, floorboards in way, would have to mount it on a angle. but i dont think it would change gears anyway. has anyone with es ever checked it out. If i remimber right i waited on buying wifes 350 es because of shifter fork and front suspension problems on 2000 models. I may be wrong but i believe they recalled the quads involved, yeah!!! @#@#$#% right.

 

If you are buying it for the floorboards more than the es part, why not get the s and add the floorboards? If you raise the shifter one tooth on the splines, and get the es rear brake pedal, they will fit. You may have to file away a little notch for the shifter to have clearance, but it works OK.

The manual shifter that comes with the es models is very awkward to use. I agree that it is more of a way to get it into or out of gear, than it is a suppliment to the electric shift.

 

Yea, I've heard that manual shifter w/ the ES is not a real shifter and only a temp. I've ridden the es model a lot and it ok but not very sporty. If you need to down shift twice as I often do, I hit the button twice but it only shifted once and had to hit it again. I've also heard it can hesitate, etc. which would not be good on a steep hill. That was good advice to consider a Kodiak and even better advice to check out an Suzuki Eiger 5 sp. It has full floor boards, better speed/ pickup and ride than the Kodiak or a 450es and less $$.

 

Mine has worked very well for 2700 miles.
Fact- My system and from what I hear most peoples ES needs lots of battery juice to shift right.
Fact- MY ES system has partially broken down once(no reverse), it was from a damaged sensor(10$) I've detailed before.

 

roscoe69 is correct. The shifter is not the same as a S. It will get it into gear to get you haome so you can get it fixed. Get you home without a tow, like all other Hondas.

Double check on the battery power too, I believe the ES is not dependent on the battery and is supposed to work as long as the engine is running.

Hope I did not miss-lead you.

 

No matter what you buy, when you first get it, take the time to take apart all electrical connectors 1 by 1 and coat with dielectric grease. This is especially a good idea with teh ES, but I did it with my '98S and have never had an electrical problem.

 

Yeah dielectric grease is something I definetly will do. I guess Polaris is ahead of the game already-my '01 Scrambler came with dielectric grease in all the connections right from the factory. I was not aware that you can get the floorboards for an ES model and put them on an S model and make it fit without looking funny or looking like a farmer fix-functional but not too attractive!! Has anyone done this? Any pictures? Places to purchase such aftermarket pieces? Info please!

 

No pictures I could find, but if I can find it, I will give you the address to the thread (on another forum) from the guy who did it. He listed the parts needed, as well as any modifications to be done to make it work right. Give me a little time & if I can find it I will PM you.

Farmr