Leaderboard

Hello all, just signed up. I’m finally back on a Honda, a rancher. Grew up on a 1989 Yamaha moto 4 250, but I wanted a Honda bad. So when I was about 12, I got a new rancher for Christmas. It was a green, 2000 4x4 ES model and I loved it. We lived on a 450 acre farm, with access to about another 500 acres or so of hunting land to ride on. So I racked up about 1200 miles in less than 10 months. But, ES, so it was also in the shop 5 times in those 10 months. Under warranty of course, but the dealer was 45 minutes away so it wasn’t exactly convenient to take it in. So, it got sold and the money was set aside to replace it. My dad told me to get a foot shift rancher, but I was swept up In Yamaha’s marketing and chose a 2000 big bear instead. I had it until February this year, and I’ll admit it was a great machine. Never had a warranty claim and never let me down. But, that Honda itch never left. So, I sold my trusty Yamaha, and picked up a 2001 Rancher, 4x4. Foot shift, and red this time. It’s in way better condition than my Yamaha was, definitely led an easier life. I don’t have much planned for it, basically a refresh. This is it right after I brought it home. I sold my big bear about 9:30 on a Saturday morning, for $2500 and by lunch I had this in the back of the truck headed home. I gave $2500 as it sits.

I forgot to add, that it came with a set of 4 tie rod ends, so I replaced those within a few days of buying it. Today, I finally got around to getting the front alignment dialed in just about right. I had to wait until I could get a tube put in a front tire, apparently whoever originally mounted it ripped the bead and it wouldn’t seal anymore. While I had it up in my teeth, I checked wheel bearings and they’re solid. I noticed a clicking sound when the tires were rotating, and after a bit I found that the warn 424 cable is not adjusted quite right and is not 100% disengaged. Does anyone know how to adjust it correctly? I’m still really happy with how clean it is. It was cleaner, I took it for a three hour ride on brown mountain here in NC’s pisgah national forest, and it’s still dirty from that. It was a shakedown run just to make sure everything was good to go, and it was great other than one minor hiccup. After about an hour of riding, it started to sputter at half throttle. After 20 some seconds of playing with the throttle, it cleared up and hasn’t missed a beat since.

You wouldn't happen to have a rear view, would you?

Glad to see someone bringing these old bikes back to life!

Nice! I just bought a 05 Rancher 350 2x4 this weekend from an old farmer for $900. It needs some work but thought it was an ok price.

That's a good point on the 2x stuff. And probably most of my issues has been not letting it cure long enough and being impatient. I know when I did my rims they hung in the hot attic for a month while I was at work. The paint appeared to be very hard set. Also, prep is 90% of the job. The better the prep the better the final product.

Welcome! It don't look bad for a 2001 whoever owned it before you took care of it.

As I was going over everything, I discovered that the recoil starter rope was only about a foot long, and was frozen up. I took the assembly off, disassembled, cleaned and greased everything, and replaced the rope. That pretty much brings us up to speed. I still need to replace the breather lines, a couple are missing and the rest are dry rotted. But it runs and rides great. It’s still missing a couple pieces, namely the heat shield from the muffler, and the small plastic cover for the recoil starter. The toolkit is missing as well. So I’m casually looking for those. I would also really like to have a set of the OE Bridgestone dirt hooks, but those are nearly impossible to find. I do have a set of 12” rims with 26” Titan 589’s, but I think I’d rather have the power and durability that the stock tire size provides. I still need to buff and polish the plastic, but I may just see if I can find a set of orange plastic. Less face it, orange is HOT. I added a gun rack, and I have a 2500# traveler brand winch that may make its way on, but I haven’t decided yet. But anyway, here it is now with the new seat and correct tires and wheels.

Case is on.. & all bolts torqued. Won’t have time for piston/jug today…

I have had good luck with Rustoleum sticking , I am talking about regular old school Rustoleum and not this new Rustoleum 2X , not a fan of that but I always do excessive prep work , sand or at least scuff the metal , then use either paint thinner or Liquid Sand Paper or such , then Rustoleum Self Etching Primer , then scuff pad the primer before applying the paint , also do light coats of paint , but many coats and not put it on too thick at one time ------- another key thing Retro taught me is be patent and let the paint cure , I use to be putting freshly painted parts on next day

05 3/4 Burb that I never shoulda sold. Looking for another but folks done gone crazy on used truck prices! I’ll have another or put one in something old school one day again.

Hi all,Thanks for letting me join. I'm not much of a chat person, I mainly read. I learn more reading. I search through the forums looking for similar issues I might have. I will post questions if I can't find similar issues and I'm sure there is a lot of experience on this site for help when needed.