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dearchristopher

2008 Rancher - My ‘Do It All’ Build

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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

 

 

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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. 

 

 

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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. 

 

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

 

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Edited by dearchristopher
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 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.

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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! 

 

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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.) 

 

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all done with that! 

 

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

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

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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. 

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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. 

 

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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! 

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Edited by dearchristopher
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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 !.

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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 

Edited by dearchristopher

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3 minutes ago, dearchristopher said:

 

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 

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.

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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 

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2 minutes ago, dearchristopher said:

 

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 

yeah, got a '88 trx300fw restoration, and currently restoring a '88 trx350D foreman 4x4.

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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 

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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 

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

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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. 

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Looks nice.  I much prefer the 07-13 Ranchers to the new ones.  I don't see the point in a smaller displacement bike on a full sized frame. 

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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. 

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On 2/25/2020 at 8:55 PM, dearchristopher said:

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. 

Starting in 2014 the Rancher is on the same frame as the Foreman, and the 2012-up Foreman and Rancher motors are the same except for the Foreman having a bigger cylinder, clutches, and higher output stator.

 

Honda is using more and more of the same parts on different lines to save money.

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On 2/27/2020 at 10:22 AM, jeepwm69 said:

Starting in 2014 the Rancher is on the same frame as the Foreman, and the 2012-up Foreman and Rancher motors are the same except for the Foreman having a bigger cylinder, clutches, and higher output stator.

 

Honda is using more and more of the same parts on different lines to save money.

 

glad to have chosen what I did then. I like the size of mine a good bit 

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I got the bike out yesterday and rode it for a bit, then swapped out the taillight and the toolbox lid I broke. the taillight was definitely not the correct one but I made it work. still keeps out water and seals, but i may try to source the correct one if it becomes a problem. i hate spending another 20-30 on a taillight. this one is actually brighter than the old, too 

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2 hours ago, shadetree said:

this the one you purchased ----> https://www.partzilla.com/product/honda/33700-HP5-601?ref=ab7d55104b6f0463639cfff1300aeae81b5d1b45 ? 2008 trx420ES 4x4 ( A ) model.

I bought from amazon and trusted the “It Fits!” and maybe shouldn’t have. lol 

 

if it causes problems I might order the correct one. it doesn’t look all that bad, but it may end up bugging me. I can’t ignore details like this sometimes 

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