It seem the HFT swashplate moving electric motor will live on DN for about 100k km, maybe a bit more. And then it seems to fail, at least in some cases. Mostly the motor's permanent magnets seem to break loose. This small electric motor is a soft spot of the DN-01.
Without this motor the DN will not go anywhere, some of those Honda stealerships even may suggest you to buy a full new HFT unit for $6000 as a fix...
And this small electric motor as a spare part is priced by Honda also pretty high. Dealers probably will not keep it in warehouse therefore time of delivery may be long. This is one unpleasant situation.
So I decided to look around for maybe there are some aftermarket motors available while wheather is still good.
Have to say I couldn't find any aftermarket swashplate electric motor for DN available. Sadly and sorry.
Found out that very similar motor is used on some Honda ATV's with similar hydrostatic transmission. BTW they call it Hondamatic, not HFT on ATV's, but basically these transmissions are very similar.
And this very similar electric motor for ATV transmission as aftermarket component (from our colleagues in China) is available for around $40...50 USD, this is for about 10x times less than the motor for DN as a Honda OEM part (probably also produced by our colleagues in China, as Honda uses a lot of components made in China nowadays, even on DN).
Looks like worth to check it out, eh?
So I got my hands on both versions of those electric motors, the aftermarket one for ATV and another OEM for DN.
These motors look like twin sisters at first glance! No big differences, same kind of installation surfaces, same kind of electric connector, same outer dimensions, same kind of O-ring gasket... BUT!
The electric motor for Honda ATV transmission has 11 teeth on it's axle. And motor for DN's transmission has 12 teeth on it's axle!
Did Honda hired some really bad minded engineer to work for them or is it arranged by demands from the pure evel himself working in their marketing department??
So otherwise these motors look exchangeable, only there is a different amount of teeth on axles. And therefore the axles diameter differs also a bit. And no - these motors from ATV and DN are not direct replacement for each other!
But this is not yet the end of the story! I'll open these motors and will take a look inside of them. There may be a possibility to exchange the shaft itself, it seems to be removable. Or maybe the part with permanent magnets may be usable from the aftermarket ATV-version, because the breaking loose magnets seem to be most problem part for these motors. Or maybe we can figure out some more use of those cheap ATV electric motors to fix the expencive DN's motor...
So the story will continue.
Meanwhile enjoy the photos about these both electric motors.
Without this motor the DN will not go anywhere, some of those Honda stealerships even may suggest you to buy a full new HFT unit for $6000 as a fix...
And this small electric motor as a spare part is priced by Honda also pretty high. Dealers probably will not keep it in warehouse therefore time of delivery may be long. This is one unpleasant situation.
So I decided to look around for maybe there are some aftermarket motors available while wheather is still good.
Have to say I couldn't find any aftermarket swashplate electric motor for DN available. Sadly and sorry.
Found out that very similar motor is used on some Honda ATV's with similar hydrostatic transmission. BTW they call it Hondamatic, not HFT on ATV's, but basically these transmissions are very similar.
And this very similar electric motor for ATV transmission as aftermarket component (from our colleagues in China) is available for around $40...50 USD, this is for about 10x times less than the motor for DN as a Honda OEM part (probably also produced by our colleagues in China, as Honda uses a lot of components made in China nowadays, even on DN).
Looks like worth to check it out, eh?
So I got my hands on both versions of those electric motors, the aftermarket one for ATV and another OEM for DN.
These motors look like twin sisters at first glance! No big differences, same kind of installation surfaces, same kind of electric connector, same outer dimensions, same kind of O-ring gasket... BUT!
The electric motor for Honda ATV transmission has 11 teeth on it's axle. And motor for DN's transmission has 12 teeth on it's axle!
Did Honda hired some really bad minded engineer to work for them or is it arranged by demands from the pure evel himself working in their marketing department??
So otherwise these motors look exchangeable, only there is a different amount of teeth on axles. And therefore the axles diameter differs also a bit. And no - these motors from ATV and DN are not direct replacement for each other!
But this is not yet the end of the story! I'll open these motors and will take a look inside of them. There may be a possibility to exchange the shaft itself, it seems to be removable. Or maybe the part with permanent magnets may be usable from the aftermarket ATV-version, because the breaking loose magnets seem to be most problem part for these motors. Or maybe we can figure out some more use of those cheap ATV electric motors to fix the expencive DN's motor...
So the story will continue.
Meanwhile enjoy the photos about these both electric motors.
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