dearchristopher

i’d take it in a heartbeat! wouldn’t pay 6k for it but i’d love to take it for a romp lol 

don’t know if any of you folks follow bring a trailer, but this auction is running today and I thought y’all might enjoy poking around on it. this thing is in stellar condition. 

 

if any of you remember the movie heavyweights, this go kart made me dream of having one as a child. This thing is at $5500 already! 

 

Link to more pics and the auction

thanks folks! 

 

I didn’t realize the new ranchers were physically larger. I almost bought new but the price made me sick to my stomach. I could have a jeep for that. I bought used for the practicality, and lucked out on my bike being a diamond in the rough (in my opinion)  

 

I never even got to test drive the new rancher. they didn’t take me seriously I guess at the dealer. 

3 hours ago, LedFTed said:

ah aint got any bears round here. internet say's flax seed oil is the best, in a roundabout way.

 

I used to use grape seed oil. now I just use olive oil and let it smoke outside in the pit. just fry some bacon in yours, that’s a good seasoning

welp. i’m in love. 

 

these tires are surprisingly smooth. almost broke off into a field out here to see how they do, but I just got the bike clean (ish) yesterday after misjudging some mud at my dads lease. i’ll let it be clean a few more days. really happy with the purchase. 

 

originally I wanted a bronze and black lip wheel, but couldn’t get any options in the 2/5 & 5/2. I don’t like the idea of running spacers, nor am I crazy about wheels with identical offset. I like a more classic look. the d window steelies seem to fit the bike perfecto. 

1 hour ago, Fishfiles said:

Looking good ------ lots of pics -------  

 

I noticed you painted the brackets that hold the winch rocker switch to the handle bars , did you know , you can use one of the two screws that hold the brake lever bracket to hold the switch and do away with the bars 

 

I think you can see what I talking about  in this pic , you need to flipped the bracket of the rocker switch to put it on top 

 

I will be gladly ditching that bracket and doing exactly what you did, that is perfect! 

thanks everyone! if you’re interested, I started a build thread in the customization section. 

 

Here’s a link to the thread

 

New wheels and tires are getting put on tonight! 

wheels and tires are in! just have to get home and throw them on now. 

4 hours ago, retro said:

 

We hope that y'all will like your new forum because once you joined us you each became an equal owner-operator! You heard that right! We are 100% member owned, member financed and member operated. We each are volunteers. We built this forum from scratch ourselves. There are no bosses here, no advertisers, no 3rd party snoops harvesting data, no corporation... just folks having a good time sharing their skills and good humor with others. Ya can't run off and leave us be cause you're part owner now. We gotcha didn't we....! Haha 🙂

good stuff! i’ll be happy to offer any help I can from time to time. I build web based software for a living, maybe I can be helpful here or there if ever needed. it’s off to a fantastic start here, I am a member on a few ram truck forums and never stick around because the forum just doesn’t have the life that the forums I used to frequent had. looking forward to hanging around here. 

Just now, shadetree said:

lol 5'-11'' here...lol. get bored, me and fish have a thread or two of our builds/restorations ( me ), and his mod builds here in the custom section. I do all my builds to stock..for the most part anyway.

 

I’ll check em out! found one of fish’s threads, I can tell he likes to mod stuff. I’ll poke on yours! happy to get new ideas for mine. lol 

I ditto the oven cure! I usually coat entire skillet and wipe it off until it feels like i’ve almost wiped all the oil off. I will usually toss it in my propane grill on high and get it ripping hot, and then cut the grill and let it cool down before bringing it inside for a rinse. then I’ll go on the stove, heat the water off, and put it up. 

I do stovetop seasoning for maintenance, I rarely do a full season in a pit or oven and I can fry an egg without any butter or oil in nearly all of mine 

Welcome! I’m new too, this forum seems incredibly active. haven’t seen a forum quite like this since my time years ago on the trailblazer SS forums and f150online forums. good stuff. you’ll like it here I think 

6 minutes ago, shadetree said:

nice write up !. yep, first bad thing with tail light, and i'll bet a dollar to a dime..it wont be the last time you mess up !. I kinda like the idea of relocating the mini rocker switch ?, but the one thing that would bother me is if it hit my legs when making tight turns ?, but if it works for you ?, all good !.

 

fully expect more band aid moments! 

I haven’t had it come close to my leg yet, but i’m all of 5’7”...hobbits dont have problems like that. haha 

 The first real mods I did were mounting the dry boxes for phone, wallet, keys, etc when out on the trails, as well as some new grips, cheap-o seat cover, new winch hook with lead, and a winch stopper.

 

I drilled some holes and sealed things up with silicon. I have a larger dry box that I thought may make it to the back rack, but it was a no go. so now I have a lot of extra U bolts for other uses. The perks of not planning! 

 

I got them tightened down as much as I felt comfortable doing, where the boxes wouldn’t move under weight or pressure. I bent the bolts down instead of cutting, to avoid any edges. Once they were siliconed up, I replaced the padding and was ready to roll! (if you see 2 holes extra in one box, that was also do to no planning and doing this on the fly. I didn’t like that mounting method so I pivoted for the box on the left.) 

 

 

 

all done with that! 

 

below are pics of the winch spruce up, and the new grips 

 

 

 

winch lead ended up being too long, so I cut it down and scored a keychain out of it. 

 

while backing up to my big trailer, I did a number on the tail light and tool box lid housing...thankfully parts are cheap. already got the lens in, waiting on the new tail box lid. nice little 23 dollar mistake. 

 

bonus glimpse of what laziness having this thing promotes...we got my wife new wheels on her compass recently and I needed to get the old wheels into the boxes and in my shed. the yard trailer fit it all nicely. hah! 

you can also see the cheapo seat cover I installed. i will say it does seem to make a difference in comfort. 

 

 

My next mod will be in shortly, hopefully by wednesday. we took the bike out this weekend and I got to see how bald these factory maxxis tires are...cant wait for the new wheels and tires. I will keep the factory ones for around the house, in case these new ones cut up the yard too badly. will post updates when the wheels are on! 

 

 

The first thing it needed was a good wash and a full fluid change. I ordered a full tune up kit including spark plug and air filter, as well as oil and oil filter. I also grabbed some gear oil and drained the front and rear diffs. 

the previous owner let me know it was very much due for an oil change, but I wasn’t as alarmed once I started draining. a little dirty, but to be expected considering the oil COULD be 5-10 years old. the air filter disenigrated in my hand when I checked it, which was concerning. I’m assuming oil was some how getting back into the air box, so I’m keeping an eye on that. 

 

 

 

 

I also decided to pull the warn switch apart, flip it upside down, and clean up the bracket for a relocation. Before, it was above the bars and seemed like it would be a problem if I ever unfortunately rolled the wheeler and needed the winch in a pickle. Below seems to be a much easier place to reach so far, the few times I’ve used the winch. 

 

nice shot in the back yard shortly after getting the bike. 

 

 

Hey everyone! I recently picked up a 2008 rancher to serve in the space of work around my new house, entertainment on the trails, and solving my itch to tinker. 
I come from a jeep/truck/auto enthusiast scene, and i’ve been so happy to find that things for ATVs are way cheaper in general. I’m running out of ways to tinker with my truck, and needed something else to fill that space. I found a pretty solid deal on this 08 rancher ES 4x4 420 and jumped on it. I’m making this thread to track the progress of the bike, and the mini “restoration” I’m doing to it, if you can call it that. I’ll do my best to modify it in ways that are unique, helpful, and serve multiple purposes. We will use it for house work, trail riding, and occasional ferrying at some of the jeep events I attend with my friends. Thanks for reading! 

 

Here are some pics when I first got the ATV home

 

 

14 minutes ago, Fishfiles said:

Welcome to the forum .. Start a thread and show some pics of that winch in the rear , looks interesting 

 

sorry, no winch in the rear. I can see how the post arrangement was sort of confusing. I have an SRA rear, only a winch in the front! 

7 minutes ago, SlammedRanger said:

Welcome aboard! The forum stays alot cleaner and easier to search on if we put threads in there proper catagory. So feel free to start a new thread in the modifications sections or the specific place the mods were done. Up to you on that one! 

 

Thanks! I’d like to have one thread I put all of my modifications for tracking purposes, as none of them are SUPER interesting on their own. haha

 

thanks for the welcome, everyone! 

Thanks for having me here! Was invited by Shadetree from another forum. I recently bought a 2008 Honda Rancher ES 4x4 in great shape for $2900. Had 162 hours & ~1230 miles on it. The previous owner just putted around his deer lease with it, from what I understand. 

Pictures attached of the bike. I’ve done some upgrades already, and plan to continue adding as I go. 

Where would the best place to post upgrades and progress in a thread be? Do you folks like them in a certain category, or can I put them in this thread? Thanks again for the invite! 

 

Chris