Installed Electronic Power Steering on my Honda Pioneer

Started installing the EST onto my Honda Pioneer the other day and finished it today. I had a EST unit from my Ranger that I had only just put on in Jan/2013 and sold the Ranger in April so took the EST off so that I could put it onto my new machine.I took the left front Fender off to make things easier to see and to work . It took a bit of thinking and figuring out were to place it etc: The hardest part was the mounting bracket,this took me 3 tries to get it right.The bracket in the pic has been changed due to me not being able to install the Fender back on,I had to cut off the control mounting plate and move it to left about 2". One thing I did have to do was to cut up the Honda's factory steering shaft so that I could make 2 short shafts with U-joints to connect to the EST unit. I didn't want to cut any of the plastic etc: but I did have to cut just a bit of the plastic heat deflector.Here's some pics of it installed. BTW took it for a bit of a ride and it steers easy,[not that the Pioneer steered hard]. :lol:

Re: Installed EST on my Honda Pioneer

Hondasxs said:

Wow. Great job.
Does this replace the rack? Or is it added on top? .

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Its between the rack and the steering wheel,

foggy said:

Well done. Curiosity….when it's offered…..what will a power steering "kit" sell for?

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look in super ATV's web site under electric steering kits and you'll get the idea of what one will cost.

DG Rider said:

Nice job of fabricating.

Now the real question: Was it worth the effort? Would you do it for stock tires?

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Yes/No .I installed mine because of having bad shoulders,neck,wrists ,so anything to make things easier on myself.I'am sure knowing me one day there'll be bigger tires and a 2" lift. :lol:

Now after having gotten a few rides in { longest was 120 klm } and driving around with the Pioneer I can say that having installed the Power Steering onto it was well worth the time and effort. It's so nice to beable to drive through my bush trails with just using one finger to steer the Pioneer through the trees etc: Anyone who hasn't driven a machine with the Power Steering doesn't realize just how nice it is to have effortless steering. Being that I have bad shoulders ,back and wrist's {broke both wrists at the same time multiply breaks needed pins etc:} makes it so much more enjoyable driving the Pioneer.

Hondasxs said:

Slow,
I am now a believer that the Pioneer could use power steering. At first I said.. "na, it steers fairly well"
I hardly ever found my self tired after a good technical trail with my Rincon, or even a 3 day ride like some of my buddies did.
But my last trip really gave me a work out. This trail proved to me that PS is needed. Trails were tight and weaving back and forth.
Lots of backing up and turning full turns just to make the corner. It was to the point I was getting pissed off. lol.
Anyways,
I will be looking to install once it hits the market. Or if I had the talent you do I'd build my own.

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Could you describe to us more about your 3rd version bracket?
And more details on this? Did you use the shafts in the picture or just the factory one?

one thing I did have to do was to cut up the Honda's factory steering shaft so that I could make 2 short shafts with U-joints to connect to the EST unit

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Thanks.

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I couldn't use the shafts that came with the kit , because of the splines being different for the Polaris rack and steering wheel shaft. However I did have to use the one end of each shaft that fit onto the power steering unit.So I had to cut the ends off the shafts that came with the kit [the ones that fit onto the power steering unit] and weld them onto the one end of the Honda's shaft that I had to cut into proper length.I needed to do all that because of the splines on the shafts being different for each machine. {I'am sure once a kit hits the market it will come with the proper shafts}
The bracket to mount the power unit to the machine had to be changed to fit on the Pioneer. If I would have taken before and after pics you would see how much different it needed to be made.It took a bit of figuring out as the bracket has to be almost perfect in how it's made. If the unit didn't sit exactly were I have it either the u-joint on the bottom would hit the throttle cable or the upper u-joint would rub on the underside of the cross frame.The other problem was to have it sitting at the proper angle so that the u-joints didn't bind .Once I got it figured out and properly placed nothing rubs on anything and I didn't have to cut into any of the plastic floor or firewall.The only plastic that I had to cut a bit of a notch into was that of the deflector heat shield. But like I said above once there is a kit made for the Pioneer I'am sure it will come with all the stuff made properly and a template as to were to drill holes to mount it to,plus wire it etc: One thing for sure is that once you drive with the Power steering you'll wonder how you did without it. :lol: