I've been reading a lot about the 450ES and how much of a pain it is to shift the quad manually if the ES has problems. I'm looking into buying this quad and I was wondering if anyone has ever tried to put a heel-toe shifter in place instead of the standard toe shifter (as a backup of course). This would hopefully allow you to shift (like the Arctic Cats do) and you wouldn't have to worry about trying to put your toe under the shifter due to the floor board height. The only thing holding me back from buying the ES over the S model is the fact that if the ES ever fails for whatever reason, there's got to be a way that you can manually shift and still ride the quad. I'm not talking about limping home, I'm talking about riding out the rest of your day with some reliability. I'm sure that there are owners out there who will say "just get the S and don't worry about anything breaking", well, the S is my second choice, I just love the fact that the ES has a couple of extra nice features, that's all.

I don't do any mudding, or swamping, or deep water riding. Just pretty much lite trail riding, pulling trailers with wood, hunting and the occasional fun ride with a bunch of buddies. I know the Foremans aren't speed demons, that's fine, 48-50 mph is good enough, I'm looking for low end grunt. i just got rid of an Arctic Cat 300 4x4 and the top speed on it was about 44-45, with no low end torque.

Thanks for your input and your "opinions".....

 

No clue on whether you could do that or not. Might get somebody to fabricate one, because I'm sure that the space would be different. Also, seems like I saw a heel toe shifter that you could buy in Rocky Mountain ATV or something. Not sure on how strong it is. Looked real thin in the picture.

If you go up to a 450, you will have better top end than the 300 for sure. Don't know of actual figures, but I'm pretty sure my friends 450S will hit 53 on the speedometer at least. Its no speed demon, but its average.

 

just go with a foreman s i had a es secound day i hade it the problems came so i switched to a s and never have had a problem yet you can,t trust that electric ****.

 

The ES has a shifter that comes with it so you can put it on and shift it manually if your ES fails. The only thing is that it is only for emergency use and you will notice if you shift it, it is a lot stiffer than an S model shifter as you have to work against your solenoid and ES linkage inside the tranny. I think for it's intended purpose, it is probably fine the way it is however if you could get your hands on a welder, you can probably alter it a little so you can make it like a foot shifter without too much trouble.

 

hello
my father in law has a 1998 foreman 450 es and we have only had to use the backup shifter once . the reason is because we leave it in gear while in storage out in the barn and the battery went dead . had to put in in neutral to tow it over to the garage . we leave it in gear because it cannot be pushed by hand or towed very easily if someone broke in and tried to take it . other than that no problems at all . battery died because of a cheap ----- winch winch that we have had nothing but problems with.. great work horse wouldnt recomend a different quad for what we use it for.

 

Thanks for all of your replies. I wasn't sure if this was even worth trying to do. I didn't have a 450ES when I posted this originally, I've recently bought one, an '03. It is awesome! Everything about the quad is top notch. It has so much low end power it's not even funny. I'm used to driving an AC 300, the 450 isn't even in the same league as far as, well, most everything. The only thing that the AC had better, was a bigger gas tank, independent rear, and a locking front, the 450 is just plain incredible.

After getting my new 450ES, I checked out the shifter, kind of a joke. It looks as if you can only slip it on and use your hand to put the bike in gear. I'm sure I could have something made to put a heel-toe shifter on it, probably not worth the time and effort. The only thing that I can see myself doing is to have my buddy weld on a collar of some sort so that I can put a thumb screw on it so when attached, it doesn't slip off, or it will at least give me the option of locking it down if I need to. I will be doing the "start in gear" mod though, real soon. My buddy has a Fourtrax 300 4x4 and he wants the same thing. The instructions look pretty easy, and appears that it could save you from having to break out the shifter.

Thanks.