P500 Just got a 520 home, shifts really hard

[skinnyman]

The Rancher 400 is a hydrostatic transmission. It doesn't actually have any "gears". This why its so smooth, your not shifting any gears.

Thank you for educating me on this. I never looked into exactly what it had.

I opened up the Ranchers owners manual to page 100 " Shifting Gears". It states in Auto Mode "the transmission automatically adjusts to keep engine at the best speed for riding conditions." Then under Manual Mode "In this mode you can shift gears much like a manual transmission, but without operating a clutch."

Now in the service manual in the Contents section there is no listing of a transmission other than the sub-transmission which is the forward-neutral-reverse part of it.There is a listing for Hondamatic. In the General information under drivetrain it lists, transmission- Hondamatic. I could not find a picture of the Hondamatic transmission. It seems to rely heavily on sensors and its own computer to operate.

Also in the service manual I found a section for the centrifugal clutch.

Honda Tech you may have seen these I don't know. What I do know is I like it.,,,,,,,as long as it working correctly and has been for me for years with 6600 miles.

As for the P500 with this new found knowledge I will quit praying to the clutch adjustment gods in hopes of getting it to shift smooth.LOL.

While I have your attention Honda Tech, and thank you for being on the forum, can you shed some insight to the rear diff noise of the P500? At 15miles I changed the fluid. What came out was what I see termed " Honda Gold" meaning oil with metal in it.
I changed it again at 50 miles and the same looking oil came out. I have been doing this about every 50-100 miles and it looks about the same each time. Each time I tried a different oil ( brand and weight and oh yes the holy synthetic stuff too) in hopes of a magic cure to stop or tame the noise but to no avail. By the way ,yes the Rancher rear diff is quiet.

Do you have any ideas???

 

[alloutdoors]

For what it is worth, I hated the way all my 500s' shifted, sharp and hard, but overall, we haven't seen any real issues out of these units because of this known issue. As stated in either this thread or elsewhere, I did see it get soft with miles, but the biggest improvement overall was doing this, started many times in 2nd gear which is fine on the 500 and manually shifted through the gears by letting off the pedal, and shifting when it needed it vs. banging it into gear. Not sure this will help, but offering an idea to try.

 

[HondaTech]

Thank you for educating me on this. I never looked into exactly what it had.

I opened up the Ranchers owners manual to page 100 " Shifting Gears". It states in Auto Mode "the transmission automatically adjusts to keep engine at the best speed for riding conditions." Then under Manual Mode "In this mode you can shift gears much like a manual transmission, but without operating a clutch."

Now in the service manual in the Contents section there is no listing of a transmission other than the sub-transmission which is the forward-neutral-reverse part of it.There is a listing for Hondamatic. In the General information under drivetrain it lists, transmission- Hondamatic. I could not find a picture of the Hondamatic transmission. It seems to rely heavily on sensors and its own computer to operate.

Also in the service manual I found a section for the centrifugal clutch.

Honda Tech you may have seen these I don't know. What I do know is I like it.,,,,,,,as long as it working correctly and has been for me for years with 6600 miles.

As for the P500 with this new found knowledge I will quit praying to the clutch adjustment gods in hopes of getting it to shift smooth.LOL.

While I have your attention Honda Tech, and thank you for being on the forum, can you shed some insight to the rear diff noise of the P500? At 15miles I changed the fluid. What came out was what I see termed " Honda Gold" meaning oil with metal in it.
I changed it again at 50 miles and the same looking oil came out. I have been doing this about every 50-100 miles and it looks about the same each time. Each time I tried a different oil ( brand and weight and oh yes the holy synthetic stuff too) in hopes of a magic cure to stop or tame the noise but to no avail. By the way ,yes the Rancher rear diff is quiet.

Do you have any ideas???

It could need shimmed. When the 500 first dropped we had one with a noisy rear diff that we had to reshim to get rid of it.

This is the Hondamatic in your Rancher.

 

[DG Rider]

All this about shifting is why I had hoped the DCT would come with the 520. Oh well...

 

[DG Rider]

Thank you for educating me on this. I never looked into exactly what it had.

I opened up the Ranchers owners manual to page 100 " Shifting Gears". It states in Auto Mode "the transmission automatically adjusts to keep engine at the best speed for riding conditions." Then under Manual Mode "In this mode you can shift gears much like a manual transmission, but without operating a clutch."

Now in the service manual in the Contents section there is no listing of a transmission other than the sub-transmission which is the forward-neutral-reverse part of it.There is a listing for Hondamatic. In the General information under drivetrain it lists, transmission- Hondamatic. I could not find a picture of the Hondamatic transmission. It seems to rely heavily on sensors and its own computer to operate.

Also in the service manual I found a section for the centrifugal clutch.

Honda Tech you may have seen these I don't know. What I do know is I like it.,,,,,,,as long as it working correctly and has been for me for years with 6600 miles.

As for the P500 with this new found knowledge I will quit praying to the clutch adjustment gods in hopes of getting it to shift smooth.LOL.

While I have your attention Honda Tech, and thank you for being on the forum, can you shed some insight to the rear diff noise of the P500? At 15miles I changed the fluid. What came out was what I see termed " Honda Gold" meaning oil with metal in it.
I changed it again at 50 miles and the same looking oil came out. I have been doing this about every 50-100 miles and it looks about the same each time. Each time I tried a different oil ( brand and weight and oh yes the holy synthetic stuff too) in hopes of a magic cure to stop or tame the noise but to no avail. By the way ,yes the Rancher rear diff is quiet.

Do you have any ideas???

I had one of the original Rubicon's. God was that tranny awesome! I wish they had kept it around, but I suppose they had reasons.

Could you imagine a P500/520 (or any SxS with) that tranny? Awesome!

 

[Aerolite]

For what it is worth, I hated the way all my 500s' shifted, sharp and hard, but overall, we haven't seen any real issues out of these units because of this known issue. As stated in either this thread or elsewhere, I did see it get soft with miles, but the biggest improvement overall was doing this, started many times in 2nd gear which is fine on the 500 and manually shifted through the gears by letting off the pedal, and shifting when it needed it vs. banging it into gear. Not sure this will help, but offering an idea to try.

I usually drive my 520 in manual and most times I start in 2nd, also lifting off pedal up shifting and blipping throttle downshifting just like a bike, tranny is getting quite smooth operating this way. I don’t care for Auto, always starts in first and 4th to 5th is still quite rough. But just broke 200kms today so still lots of time to break in.

 

[johnnyrockets]

If similar behavior can provide with my dealer information if u want it, so your mechanic can talk to my mechanic. Just a thought

Thanks for the offer! They picked it up yesterday, no word yet on how it’s going. If you have the j go handy, PM me and I’ll relay it to them.

 

[johnnyrockets]

A test drive would have solved the problem for me.

Same. Honestly wouldn’t have bought it with it shifting like that. Dealer refused a test ride unless I bought it first (they’d tear up the paperwork if i didn’t like it). I let it go relying on Honda’s reputation. Lesson learned.

For what it’s worth, I’m confident some tweaks and some miles will sort it out. Still disappointed though. I bought something new so I could avoid problems and here I am.

 

[johnnyrockets]

Well, I'm happy to report that I just got it back from the dealer and it's definitely improved a LOT. I honestly think if we had done a test ride, they probably wouldn't have sold it to me like that anyway.

It went from throwing me around while shifting, and even chirping the tires while downshifting at one point to an acceptable level of clunkiness. Seems like they need to make some adjustments to the factory defaults, rather than it being "defective".

I'm waiting for them to tell me exactly what they fixed, but I'll update again when I find out.

All in all, I do like the setup. Here in NH, the trails can be very technical with rocks and hills, so having a solid low first gear is ideal for that.

 

[Bruce4795]

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your new buggy. Abrupt shifting is characteristic of these machines when new. It will smooth out some with usage. Just drive the hell out of it!

Let's see a couple of pics!

Agree. Also consider a simple clutch adjustment that you can do yourself. Downshifting is nearly always abrupt whether in auto or manual modes. Upshifting will smooth out considerably with manual mode. Always be sure to pull the paddle levers all the way back to enable the fuel cutoff when shifting.

 

[SaltyPersuader]

First post here and first side by side. Woot.

The dealer dropped it off and I took it for a spin around the block. It’s shifting so hard in automatic or manual mode that it throws me forward. The delivery guy was happy to take it back but after waiting a week for the delivery, I decided to hang onto it and see if I could find any info. So far the dealer has no idea, I think I got the first one in the area. Worst comes to worst, they’ll pick it up again and fix it under warranty

Any ideas? A couple things come to mind but I haven’t tried anything yet. I’d noticed the other new 520 thread mentioned transmission issues that turned out to be a weak battery. I put it on a tender overnight, haven’t tested again yet. It was also super cold here in NH yesterday, I think it was 18 degrees. I did warm it up for a 20 minutes or so but it didn’t make a difference. The only other thing that comes to mind is just break-in period. I was literally putting the first mile on it. I checked the manual and ithe machine itself will change the display if it thinks there’s a transmission issue. According to the machine, all is well. lol

First post here and first side by side. Woot.

The dealer dropped it off and I took it for a spin around the block. It’s shifting so hard in automatic or manual mode that it throws me forward. The delivery guy was happy to take it back but after waiting a week for the delivery, I decided to hang onto it and see if I could find any info. So far the dealer has no idea, I think I got the first one in the area. Worst comes to worst, they’ll pick it up again and fix it under warranty

Any ideas? A couple things come to mind but I haven’t tried anything yet. I’d noticed the other new 520 thread mentioned transmission issues that turned out to be a weak battery. I put it on a tender overnight, haven’t tested again yet. It was also super cold here in NH yesterday, I think it was 18 degrees. I did warm it up for a 20 minutes or so but it didn’t make a difference. The only other thing that comes to mind is just break-in period. I was literally putting the first mile on it. I checked the manual and ithe machine itself will change the display if it thinks there’s a transmission issue. According to the machine, all is well. lol

Just got mine a couple weeks ago, I found the same thing with the shifting. However now that I have 50 km on it (Canada) but made in same plant as yours. I learned to shift it better. The automatic is still hard though. The manual is smooth as silk now. I started to shift just like my ATV. I start in 2 then go a bit let off the gas pull the paddle shifter to 3 then Back on the gas. Same with 3 4 n 5 th. Try it really smooths it out. I believe the automatic can be fine tuned too. It is all computer controlled. Like you I was not impressed but now after learning how to shift it smoother I think it great. Remember if you just keep your foot on the gas and pull the shifter without letting off for a second it will be jerky. hope this helps.

 

[Lightman]

First post here and first side by side. Woot.

The dealer dropped it off and I took it for a spin around the block. It’s shifting so hard in automatic or manual mode that it throws me forward. The delivery guy was happy to take it back but after waiting a week for the delivery, I decided to hang onto it and see if I could find any info. So far the dealer has no idea, I think I got the first one in the area. Worst comes to worst, they’ll pick it up again and fix it under warranty

Any ideas? A couple things come to mind but I haven’t tried anything yet. I’d noticed the other new 520 thread mentioned transmission issues that turned out to be a weak battery. I put it on a tender overnight, haven’t tested again yet. It was also super cold here in NH yesterday, I think it was 18 degrees. I did warm it up for a 20 minutes or so but it didn’t make a difference. The only other thing that comes to mind is just break-in period. I was literally putting the first mile on it. I checked the manual and ithe machine itself will change the display if it thinks there’s a transmission issue. According to the machine, all is well. lol

Hello NH from fellow NH! Tried shopping around NH for a P520 and no dealer would budge on price. Full MSRP+Del+Set-up+Doc fees. Do you have any better luck, if so who?

 

[Gold-digger]

First post here and first side by side. Woot.

The dealer dropped it off and I took it for a spin around the block. It’s shifting so hard in automatic or manual mode that it throws me forward. The delivery guy was happy to take it back but after waiting a week for the delivery, I decided to hang onto it and see if I could find any info. So far the dealer has no idea, I think I got the first one in the area. Worst comes to worst, they’ll pick it up again and fix it under warranty

Any ideas? A couple things come to mind but I haven’t tried anything yet. I’d noticed the other new 520 thread mentioned transmission issues that turned out to be a weak battery. I put it on a tender overnight, haven’t tested again yet. It was also super cold here in NH yesterday, I think it was 18 degrees. I did warm it up for a 20 minutes or so but it didn’t make a difference. The only other thing that comes to mind is just break-in period. I was literally putting the first mile on it. I checked the manual and ithe machine itself will change the display if it thinks there’s a transmission issue. According to the machine, all is well. lol

It will settle down after a few hundred miles and when it warms up your notice it gets smoother

 

[Aerolite]

Just got mine a couple weeks ago, I found the same thing with the shifting. However now that I have 50 km on it (Canada) but made in same plant as yours. I learned to shift it better. The automatic is still hard though. The manual is smooth as silk now. I started to shift just like my ATV. I start in 2 then go a bit let off the gas pull the paddle shifter to 3 then Back on the gas. Same with 3 4 n 5 th. Try it really smooths it out. I believe the automatic can be fine tuned too. It is all computer controlled. Like you I was not impressed but now after learning how to shift it smoother I think it great. Remember if you just keep your foot on the gas and pull the shifter without letting off for a second it will be jerky. hope this helps.

I mentioned the same thing above your post as well, also blipping throttle on downshift helps as well, especially before the computer tries to downshift in manual, but it's easy to do it before it does. I have 270km's on mine now and it's already improved a lot.
Whereabouts in Ontario are you? I'm south of Ottawa.

 

[Mudder]

Bet dealer did a clutch adjustment.

 

[johnnyrockets]

Hello NH from fellow NH! Tried shopping around NH for a P520 and no dealer would budge on price. Full MSRP+Del+Set-up+Doc fees. Do you have any better luck, if so who?

Same experience. I got them to wiggle a tiny bit on the plow, winch and roof getting 10% off and a few bucks off the delivery fee. Wouldn’t budge on anything else. Too new and too much interest in them was the excuse I got.

 

[Amitchellr]

Picked up a new p520 yesterday and noticed the shifting is real hard. Hopefully it smooths out and gets even better after the first service.

 

[Remington]

Picked up a new p520 yesterday and noticed the shifting is real hard. Hopefully it smooths out and gets even better after the first service.

Knowbody has been on this thread in over a year bud just fyi.

You need break in time with the machine. Plus you want it tight like that new and let it brake in naturally. First PM will help a bit too.
If it still gives u any issues after about 6-800 miles Id suggest to start a new thread to get some answers!
Happy trails!

 

[waynester]

I'm a new owner also, Dealer warned me about hard shifting till break in period. Glad he did, also explained gear ( shaft ?) vs belt. Gear was another +point for me, I can deal with less smooth shift.

 

[Amitchellr]

I'm a new owner also, Dealer warned me about hard shifting till break in period. Glad he did, also explained gear ( shaft ?) vs belt. Gear was another +point for me, I can deal with less smooth shift.

Thanks for the information!