Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Anyone riding a 14 or 15 Foreman?

Anyone using one of the newer Foreman's with the locking front differential, fuel injection, changed chassis? Any feedback on them?

Kinda narrowed things down to a Foreman (basic model) or Grizzly (450). Main uses are farm work and mountain trails (steep/rocky/muddy). Grizzly has been out for a while and is known as a solid performer. Foreman had some changes over the past couple years and I was wondering if there was anything to watch out for.

As a foreman owner I'm trying really hard to like the new ones but I'm getting a Grizzly 450eps. Possibly a 550eps if I can get a better price.

The Yamaha just has more of what I'm looking for.

I just purchased a new Foreman Rubicon....but still haven't picked it up. I signed the paperwork Monday, and ordered a winch and bracket to be added. I said to just wait until the parts come in to uncrate it. I called yesterday and they said that the parts are in. I said that I'd be there when I got off work to pick it up. They said that it would not be ready until noon today. I said that I'm going to be backed up to the dock when you open tomorrow, and you better have it ready, or we're going to have a problem. How long does it take to uncrate an atv and install a winch?

Anyway, I'll hopefully have time to play with it and let you know. The only reason I chose the Rubicon is because it has irs and can be had with manual, foot shift transmission.

tzone, I agree, the grizzly has a lot going for it. It is a proven product, almost to the point that it's overlooked. Nothing flashy and has been a good solid package with a lot of features for a long time...so solid it hasn't had any changes to solicit "new" reviews of it singing it's praise.

username, the basic Foreman with foot shift is the one I'm looking at. The irs isn't really that big of an issue for me. On farm work it will be pulling a trailer a lot so the solid rear axle isn't a problem for me....though I've been using IRS on my current for a lot of years and haven't had a problem with it. Mainly worried about any issues that may not be ironed out with the upgrades to the diff lock and fuel injection. Looking forward to hearing your feedback on your Rubicon. Please let me know how it goes for you when you get a chance to spend some time in the seat.

Thanks guys.

Can't speak to the diff lock but the FI motor is the cats azz. My wife's 09 RancherAT has it and I like it a lot, wish my 04 Foreman had it. So easy to start, no choke to deal with, no jetting or adjustments have to be made to it. Basically push the start button and go ride.

That new Rubicon should be a beast and I'm looking forward to the review myself.

Can't speak to the diff lock but the FI motor is the cats azz. My wife's 09 RancherAT has it and I like it a lot, wish my 04 Foreman had it. So easy to start, no choke to deal with, no jetting or adjustments have to be made to it. Basically push the start button and go ride.

That new Rubicon should be a beast and I'm looking forward to the review myself.

I figured since I have the foreman 450s (foot shift) I have the solid rear axle covered. The one and only thing I don't like about it is that it's full time 4wd. On a technical trail ride, it gets old quickly.

Not sure if they still make them but the this Warn 424 can fix that issue. My buddy has one on his 04 Rubi and it works great.

I have the 2014 with diff lock, electronic shifting and powersteering. I actually paid for the foot shift and when I got home noticed it was electronic shift. Called the dealer and they said oops our mistake, "free upgrade". I was not happy as I would have rather had foot shift. I did not have time to get the bike back to the shop in a reasonable time and the dealer would not take it back due to it already being titled. For those in the southeast beware of Southern Powersports in Chattanooga. They have cheap prices but try to change and upsell you when you come to purchase. If you are paying cash and don't fall for upgrades you can get a good deal. After having it for about 6 months I love the bike. If you are going to put a winch on it, I would get a winch bumper and mount the winch on it. Strongbuilt makes a nice bumper at a reasonable price. I hope the ES has no problems.

Eddie

I'm not sure why you'd want the foot shift over the ES? But I guess some folks do or they wouldn't still make it.

I had a Foreman ES and it was flawless, like the other Honda's Ive had.

Have heard a few stories of problems with the ES. My Dad had a problem with his when the battery got low. Nothing major though. Main reason is that I spend a lot of time spraying fences and hold the sprayer in my left hand while the right runs the gas...no problem with a CVT/auto or footshift, but with the ES it is a little hassle. It's not a deal killer on one, but the foot shift is a little cheaper, super reliable, and would fit my needs/use a little better.

You could always put the emergency foot shifter on while you're spraying then remove it when it you're done. I've had my ForemanES since new (2004) and have never had a problem with it.

I just put a new battery in it a few weeks ago and this is the second one I've replaced in in 11 years, which is pretty danged good IMO.

Manual shifters are still much in demand from the daily drivers of them. ES has had issues, especially in the cold.

Something more to break and expensive to fix. When the sensors get wet and then freeze. Not good mojo!!

Same here. I got so frustrated with the carb on my '02 rancher that I bought a 2010 rancher AT one day after cussing the carb trying to get it started again. I will NEVER own anything with a carburetor again, they're the spawn of the devil. I just wish Honda wasn't so slow to adopt innovations. They should have been using fuel injection 15 years before they did but they just rest on their laurels peddling old designs. I love their reliability but it's hard to stay loyal to them when they're 10 years after their rivals adopting new technology.

Lots of aggravation with mine. If you turn it off in gear for some reason, it is near impossible to get it into neutral. Lots of rocking and up and down shifting. On cold days it sometimes does not want to go into neutral. I carry a box end wrench to help it along. 10mm I think and it fits on the shaft where a foot shift should be. I keep thinking about getting a foot shift installed but never have. miles

Honda ATVs were good before they started trying to play "catch-up". They seem to be ahead of the game in many ways as long as they stick with what they know well, though it tends to be conservative. Their carbs have long been excellent but for the 'choke' (which can get sticky and cause rich condition when it gets cold). Their foray into FI machines has been problematic from the start, not being designed or proven in cold conditions. In fact, anything less than -10º is getting into questionable territory. A hotter plug is known to help, but the 'program' should have been designed to accommodate it. Perhaps they've changed that in the latest models.

On my '02 rancher I've replaced the choke cable for sticking three times. The guy at the Honda parts counter said there's a place where it can get water in there where the cable goes into the carb so it corrodes and starts sticking. I did a rebuild on the carb once because it got trash from some bad gas in it. At first I though I had a plugged up fuel filter so I went to the dealership to get another filter. Imagine my surprise when I found out there's no fuel filter on that series of rancher. WTF? Who in their right mind would NOT put a fuel filter on an ATV? They're constantly getting fueled from cans in the middle of nowhere so they're going to eventually get bad fuel, a fuel filter should be a no brainer but Honda elected to not put one on there. I took a piece of the fuel line to the napa place and told them to give me the smallest in-line filter they had so now I've got one plumbed into the line. That was a really stupid idea on Honda's part though not to put a fuel filter on there somewhere. The carb rebuild didn't work too well so I ended up putting a new carb on, it's running OK now. I got so frustrated dealing with that over a couple of months and not having a running ATV that I went to the Honda place and bought a new '10 rancher AT. I would have bought a Rubicon or Foreman but at the time they were carbed and I wasn't having another carburetor again, the rancher motor had been updated with fuel injection so I went with that. That was five years ago and I haven't had a moments trouble out of the fuel injected motor. It doesn't get cold in Mississippi though so I don't know if it'd give trouble in extreme cold.

I'll never buy any kind of vehicle that isn't fuel injected again. Carburetors are evil!

Fuel filters are not a common item on any carbed ATV I am aware of. I always add one, though I've gotten by for years running them without….as long as the tank gets a regular squirt of isopropyl to keep moisture out.

Lot's of interesting points. Was mainly looking for problems related to the new upgrades but a lot of other points have come up.

I didn't realize Honda had been using FI for a while. Since it just came out on the Foreman I assumed it was new all the way around for them. Seems the biggest concern with it is how it works in cold weather....but it rarely gets to the teens here so cold weather isn't a major concern for me.

The diff lock is still a question for me. I'm guessing Honda did a good job with it. Has the diff lock been available on other models of Honda for a while?

As a kid I had a 1981 Honda ATC 110 three wheeler. It had a fine mesh screen behind the fuel selector valve that filtered any gas coming through it. Something like that would have kept the crud out of my carb. I haven't messed with the fuel delivery systems on any other ATV's so I didn't know other makers didn't use fuel filters also. It's amazing what some companies will do to save a couple of bucks.

Honda never took any steps to stop the fine particulates which were eventually inevitable in those old steel-tanked Hondas. Trying to troubleshoot the leaky 'carb problem' when the problem was actually very fine rust particulates was eventually cured by installing filters on everything we drive. I suspect some of the rust we had trouble with may have originated in the tanks of the old ATVs. It was also possible that it might have originated in steel drums used to haul fuel in though also. Fuel screens or screen 'filters' don't trap the fine particulates; paper elements seem to work well however.

Why not just get a yamaha?

11 years and over 4k miles of riding on my ForemanES and I've never touched the angle sensor and the same with my wife's 09 RancherAT.

I might! It's one of two choices....

IMO, you can't go wrong with either choice.

I really like the Yamahas, I think that's the way I'd have to go vs a new "theory" with Honda. Needed to do some catch up.

I hope I have the same luck!

I bought a 2014 Honda Foreman. I have an aftermarket winch. It came in handy last winter trying to pull a trailer full of firewood uphill in the deep snow.
From my experience it has plenty of power but tire chains might be a good thing to have.

Do you have the solid rear axle or the IDS?

'12 foreman with EFI and EPS
no front diff lock
manual shift

starts easy the first try even if it sits for months...it doesnt get 10 degrees in georgia though...

Had it narrowed down to the 450 Grizzly and Foreman. Local Yamaha shop had sold their last 450 Grizzly and were not sure if/when they would get more...seems Yamaha may not be making them? So, I ended up going with a 15 Foreman. They marked down the 15 models since the 16's are out. I wound up with the electric shift model rather than the foot shift mainly due to the remaining 2015 foot shift models having extra dealer add on's that I didn't want.

Spent a week with it so far, one day of which was in rough mt trails, the remainder on the farm. Quite a change from the IRS and CVT on our other machine but for my uses it will work well. Pro's and con's of each difference, depending on how it's being used. Hopefully it will last a LONG time....

That is correct. Yamaha is no longer making the 450 Grizz. They're now making the Kodiak again, which is a cheaper version of the Grizzly while making the Grizzly as well...which is a fancier bike.

I think it's on the website now.

Either way, it should still be faster, more up to date, and just as reliable as the foreman.

Just took a look at their website and it shows the Kodiak. If I read thing right, the smallest is a 700. No diff lock on the base model, to get it you go up to the SE model...and same price as the Grizzly 700. Looks nice if you want a base 700...I really don't need anything over a 500. It looks like mid-sized atv's are going the way of the dinosaur and I hate to see that.

If i was buying today i would get the new Rubicon with DCT and if i was concerned with pulling heavy loads, i would get a foreman...gears beat belts for that in my book

It's the same size as the 550, physically.

That would be the same flawed logic the sno-go makers have fallen for if that’s the case. The majority of the market might put more miles on there ATVs on trailers being pulled by large 4WD pickups but that certainly isn’t the whole market, and there are probably more miles expended on the ground by utility users of the ATV, many of them in the lower, practical horsepower ranges - where machines last and last.

I just don't need an 700 machine. A 400 has met my needs for the last 10 years. It gets used every day and I've never said "I wish I had a bigger machine or more power". Several times I've wished the footprint of the machine was a little smaller. That was one of the reasons I liked the Grizzly...and one of the reasons I didn't consider the Rancher since it is now the same physical size as the Foreman.

Diff lock I do like and have seen it make a lot of difference when climbing steep trails with uneven rocks and the back tires start spinning with one of the front tires off the ground. Doesn't help that I wear tires until I can get no more wear out of them.....

On trails this past weekend I really liked the solid rear axle. It has the down side of feeling everything more, but it seems so much more stable (compared to IRS) on the washed out ruts and uneven rocks. It was the thing that stood out most. High speed and smooth ride aren't nearly as important to me as stability. I kept thinking that the stated lower ground clearance of the Foreman was going to hit a lot of the uneven rocks/ledges that I was going over but it didn't...my IRS machine seems to hit more even though ground clearance is supposed to be higher.

Changing gears is neither here nor there with me. For my kids I especially like the CVS and engine braking, I think it's a lot safer than gears if they don't know how to use them. As long as you use them, the gears on the foreman are great, especially the low first gear when descending rocky sections. I like not having to stop and switch a lever from low to high or to reverse when driving up a steep tricky section then flattening out to a level section....just change gears and you're good.

I keep thinking I wish I had gotten a manual foot shift, but hopefully it will never make a difference.

I wish I had pictures - in more than just my mind- of the loads I’ve hauled on and by trailer, with my old 98 Honda 300 TRX 2wd. Too many people use engine displacement to replace a lack of cranial displacement.

Have I ever wished I could crack 60 mph just to see it on the display? I suppose it might be fun purely for no reason other than to say I’ve done it. Have I ever wished I could ruin tires faster, smoke belts, or get heavier machines into impossibly stuck places? Not so much.

We had a TRX 300 2wd for a lot of years. I remember when my father sold it after a lot of years of use...for exactly what he paid for it when he bought it new. Several guys I know still have one, saw two of those guys using them this past weekend.

If I can remember I'll take and post a pic in the next week or two on the thread about what folks pull/haul with their machines. I'll never wear one out running fast...I might break something with a heavy load, but so far I haven't.

Next time this happens just squeeze the right brake handle and it'll crank up even if it's still in gear.

I read that in the manual of the one I just picked up and gave it a try....worked great. Does it work the same on older models?

I have a 2011 Rancher and it works on that. I got way back in the woods about a week after I bought it and couldn't get it back in neutral. I called the dealer and asked them how I was gonna be able to get it back to the trailer. He laughed and told me about that little trick.

I choose the ES too. If I had it to do over again I'd get the foot shift. The ES is nice but now I need a cup holder. :^)

My only real complaint about the new Honda's is they don't supply a rope starter with them anymore. That was the first upgrade I did to mine and it was a pain in the arse to install. Getting stuck in the woods with a bad battery and no way to start the bike sucks big time.

Didn't work on either of my Fourtax 300's (90 and 94) or my 04 Foreman but I believe it worked on my buddies 04 Rubicon.

I went trail riding with some guys and ended up riding in the dark for the first time.
When the guy ahead turned a hard right I was in fifth gear. The engine died and there you are in the woods in the dark and you can't start it unless you are in neutral and you can't find the shifter. No problem in the daytime but night riding sucks. He had a Polaris 800 cc
I asked him how fast he was going he said sixty five mph.
I did not go over forty six. It started to get squirrelly.

The brake handle squeeze that TC1 mentioned allows mine to start in gear....at least in first gear, haven't tried it in any other. Do you know why the engine died?

My only regret so far with the Foreman is not getting a foot shift. I didn't realize how often I'm carrying something or holding something in place on the front rack when I ride. I originally desired the foot shift for reliability, now I just want my hand free.

You're giving me more reasons to get a grizzly.

The Grizz starts in gear too just by squeezing the left brake lever if you want to, otherwise you need to use the right foot brake to shift into or out of reverse or park.

All my yamaha's have started in gear since about 1997. Glad to see Honda is finally catching up.

My 2000 foreman won't start in gear.

my 2012 foreman starts in gear

Yeah they started in like 05 or something. I've had 6 years older than that, that did tho.

The site for wheelers is nyroc ,why do u guys buy stuff that is so behind that the owners book is on a stone tablet? Suzk your stuff up ...1st on 4 wheels

Been a Honda Guy for 50 years.

Had three Rubicons with the Hondamatic transmissions. They were awesome in every way! Tried a couple of Polaris 550s & a CanAm 800. Recently went to a Honda Pioneer 500 with basically a Honda Foreman drive-train. We like it. For what we do it has the "Right Stuff."