[badzook]

I have a new 2020 Honda Rubicon 520 Deluxe Auto Shift. I bought a few months ago ( Thankgoodness Just Before Covid ) and I wanted a pull start. The Dealer tried to look up a part number for the Recoil Starter and said none exists yet. I confirmed that by doing a lot of digging around. Bummer..

I have a winch installed and intend to get a snowplow. As you all know that combination is really tough on the battery. So one weekend I took the quad 2 hours from home to ride ( Legally ) in a particular State Park that I like. I get there and go to unload and the battery is weak. Not enough to start the machine. Then, I wore it down even more trying to start it. So, I had jumper cables, pushed it off the trailer, swung the truck around and jump started it. So now I'm wondering, should I ride out into the wilderness or not ? So, long story short... I went out and the battery survived as I didn't turn it off all day. I had it loaded up to go home and then I shut it off and It did restart .......

I replaced the battery with a Gel Type. But, now I know I need to investigate this Recoil Starter further.

I have been renting a machine when ever my wife or grand daughter wants to join me on a ride. That was getting old ( and expensive ) so a month ago I stumbled on a Cherry 2017 Honda Rancher locally with only 58 miles on it. I then found a Pull Start kit for the 420 no problem. Hmmmm. Bought it and started looking it over. Put the two machines side by side and realized they are the same engine. The 520 just has a larger top end...

So, today I took that kit and put it on the 520. It fit and works just fine.
Here is the Honda part number for the kit.
08U70-HR3-A40 Recoil Starter
I bought mine on E-bay for just under $100.

No Instructions come with the kit. So, here is a link

http://cdn.powersports.honda.com/documentum/MW01/08U70-HR3-A40.pdf

Here is a Very Nice video on U-tube on the install. Thank You JDS Outdoors

Pretty easy, took me 3 hours on the 520. It isn't difficult but its in a very tight area to work in. Take off the LR Tire and lower plastic on the right side.
Here are two things not mentioned in the instructions that I found.

1) The 17 mm bolt that goes to the Crankshaft is very tight. I had to open the inspection port used to set the timing with an 8 mm allen wrench open the port. Turn the engine over with the 17mm bolt and stop when you see a notch in the flywheel. Then use a small prybar ( dont use a screwdriver because you could break off the tip and lose it inside the engine) to hold the engine from turning while removing and installing the bolt.

2) The plug for the condenser ( condenser is supplied in the kit ) is located next to the fusebox. It has a black dummy plug in it. There is a molded spot in the plastics under the fusebox towards the rear of the machine that is designed for this part to fit perfectly.

Hope this info helps you guys. Let me know how it goes.
Cheers and Happy New Years Badzook

 

[Trout Brook Rider]

All Canadian models come with a pull starter as standard options..... have to special order one without

 

[lscmark]

Honda shows it as an accessory in their online brochures.
RECOIL STARTER
PART #: 08U70-HR3-A40
$109.95

 

[Upland]

I installed one of these recoil kits on my 520 Rubicon last spring. For some reason it's listed in the Honda accessory online catalog for the 500 engine with DCT, but not on the 520 with DCT, but they do take the same kit. They only show a 520 kit for manual shift and ES models. I think it was just a catalog misprint as the Canada models come with it as standard equipment.

An impact gun makes easy work of the bolt in the end of the crankshaft with no need to hold it from rotating. If you want to actually torque the basket to spec, I was able to get a thin square prybar that to catch two sides of the starter basket to do this as nobody including the dealer has the specialty tool they tell you to use for this. I do wish they included a seal install tool to make installation of the seal easier, but if you're careful it's not too bad. You just need to make sure to get it installed square to the crankshaft when pounding it in with a hammer. One trick is to pack the inside of the seal with a multipurpose grease where the garder spring sits on the back side of the seal so the spring doesn't get dislodged and end up just hanging on the crankshaft when pounding in the seal. That could make for a leak in the future if the spring isn't doing it's job squeezing the seal lips against the shaft.

The peace of mind is worth the install hassle to have a backup start feature if you ask me. I had to use it a few times on my old Honda way back in the woods by myself. The condenser will hold enough charge to fire the system up even on a completely dead battery, as long as the battery still allows current to pass through it and it didn't suffer from an internal short preventing current to pass through.

Some like to use portable jumper packs but that's just one more thing to forget to bring with you and it doesn't help you if your starter goes out. Either one is good to have though.