Ken Holmes

I think all is good now except my pride. It all started last year. One day while moving my ATV it just quit. Turns out it had blown the main 30 amp fuse. I figured there was a short somewhere so took side plastic off to examine as much wiring as I could. Pulled and twisted on harnesses as much as I could without ever finding anything obvious. Put another fuse in and it fired up and ran for rest of last year. Started a few times through the winter without issue. Got it out the other day to move an aluminum boat and trailer. Nicely hooked up and moved about 6 feet and died. Fused blown again. This time I was determined to get at every possible wire and connection so started by taking the racks off so front and rear plastics could be removed. Popped all the plastic fasteners off and realized I had to remove the battery, starter solenoid, fuse box and other things before plastic could come off. (never done this before) As I was handling all these components still attached to the harness I noticed chaffed wires that has to be rubbing on the solenoid bracket. (metal) Put the test light between the negative cable and negative battery post and low an behold it did not come on as it done previously. Had I taken these components out first I would have saved myself a ton of work putting everything else back together. Lesson learned. Rule out all the easy stuff first. I had it in my head that the rectifier may have been bad and that is what I was going to ask on this forum. No need now but I see this forum appears to be a very good source of information and many people willing to help. Thanks for asking wheelsquad!

Thanks bcsman. I camp up in the Port Elgin area also but I have camped on your side of the lake also. Michigan is a beautiful State, especially north of Port Huron.

Thanks Shadetree. I am just learning how to post on this board so hope I am doing it correctly.

Hello all! My name is Ken Holmes, and I am a 77 year old rider of a 2005 Rancher TRX400FA gpscape. Dont do a whole lot of riding now but spend a week in Matachewan area in the spring and another week in the fall. Use the Rancher to tow aluminum boats to different lakes in the area. Also spend one week in spring in Dorset area. No boat pulling there as way too rough. Just use it to get back into an old hunt camp for a men's get away of which I am considered a youngster. Two of my cronies are well into their 80's, and still use their 4 wheelers. My main reason for joining is to hopefully glean some information from other riders that do their own maintenance and trouble shooting. I will be scanning the Rancher Forum for answers to an electrical issue and will post a question for my problem specifically. Thanks again, hope to chat with a few of the members Ken