[Honda Mechanic]

What is it ..?

 

[Honda Mechanic]

How did you "bench test it"..?.

 

[Honda Mechanic]

To change the swash plate angles you must turn the gear the shift motor meshes with .. .. You can't bench test a TRX500FA/FGA hydrostatic transmission .. And Honda doesn't have a test for it once it's out of the bike ..

We've changed hydrostatic transmissions that the bike had to be pushed into the shop ,once the transmission is out it will turn freely because it has oil in it ..


I have lots of TRX500 transmissions at the shop ..You want to buy them to sell ..?

 

[Honda Mechanic]

We've changed a couple of dozen + Rubicon transmissions since 01 we've thrown most out but still have some .. I know for a fact that some were still good but I've tried turning the shafts and can't tell a good one from one that I know is bad ...Honda has sent out several shop talks on the transmission saying most were changed and are still good but I'm not going to spend 10-12 hours pulling the engine doing a teardown/rebuild only to have the transmission ratchet even with a new oil pump installed ..

 

[Honda Mechanic]

Cool .. I guess it'd save a guy money if he's doing it himself .. Be a shame if he had to pay 12 hours + at $50-70.00 per hour ..

I know that I've changed anywhere from 8-12 that were perfectly good in 2001 when the problem first started .. Back then (and still today) we test the oil pressure on every Rubicon that comes in the shop .. And as for Hondas numbers on their test ,they are WAY low ..Honda says 150 kPa (22 psi) at idle and 800 kPa (116 psi) at 5000 rpm .. We've had them ratchet at 22 psi a nromal Rubicon has 40+ and at 5000 the needle bottoms out on the post which is over 200 .. And the district service rep told us not to change an oil pump without changing the hydroststic pump and don't change a hydrostatic pump without changing the oil pump ..