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Reebs

Honda Rancher- Rear Differential "Check Bolt" Issue

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at this point ?, if it were mine ( and i know its not ! ), its time to pull the rear diff out, split it, and go at it with the covers split, yes i know it takes time, but what is worse..time ?..or the money you would pay a shop  ( dealership ) to do this simple task ?.

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It's pretty easy to remove the rear final and that cover to fix it. Your going to want a 30mm socket in the future for rear brake repairs/left rear wheel bearing and electric impacts ca be bought fairly cheap. Remove the right hub, undo the brake cables and disconnect the vent line. 4 nuts (14mm) hold the brake assembly on and once those are removed the whole assembly can be slid off.  Remove the left hub and the 4 bolts holding on the outer axle tube (14mm again), turn the tube 90 degrees and remove it. Then you can slide the hub stop off the left side (don't forget to reinstall that) and slide the axle out. Just 4 more bolts on the final drive and it will slide out. Then it's just removing the outer cover on the diff, fixing and cleaning, a thin film of hondabond (RTV) and put everything together again. It will probably be a couple hour job the first time but nothing is difficult.

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Thank you very much for all the help.  I will be back in touch with results!  Might be a week or two until I can get to it but I will be sure to post what happens.

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Thought I would bring this post to a close with a decent outcome!  See the photo attached...one broken "Check Bolt" removed!  I called in a favor to the guy who I buy/service my power equipment with (doesn't normally work on ATV's) who I trust and he was able to get it out without having to take apart the rear diff.  I am glad he got it with minimal damage to the bank account (relatively speaking).  Only downside is I couldn't do what he was able to, but I learned a few valuable lessons here (namely don't over torque a rear differential check bolt ever again!).  Anyway...Glad everything is in working order again so I wanted to let everyone know (especially since many said they thought it would spin out when done right...and it eventually did).  Appreciate everyone's help on this site.

IMG_1297.jpg

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Now you know you can't just say "It's out" without telling us HOW he got it out!

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Ha!  Fair enough.  I thought I implied how, but I guess I did leave those details out without confirming.  He drilled it and then used an easy out.  I will make sure there was no other detail that is important to the story next time I see him.  He said being in the business he’s in, he has seen his share of sheared and rusted bolts so he is well versed in the task.  I think where I went wrong after looking at the bolt after it was removed was he drilled it much deeper than I did initially which allowed the easy out to bite better.  He is confident the bolt never hit the ring gear at any point (by my first attempt way back when I first got into the mess by trying to drill it clockwise).  

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Not sure why you want to remove the bolt. You have a drain hole and a filler hole and a measuring jug....check bolt is not essential. Will it vibrate in further? Doubtfull. But just to be safe get a punch and punch the edge of the bolt and stop stuffing about!

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fact is, honda kinda dropped the ball designing the later models ..the fill plug as at the top, and some run a mixture of grease and gear oil  lol! notice the most die hard honda utility owners here,  prefer the old school machines ... and the general rule on twisted steel (right handed thread)  cap bolt,  is a left handed drill bit, unless there's enough to weld a nut on,  as the extractors / drill kits are all left hand unless right hands are needed. 

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Ghosta- if you are interested in the complete story, read the whole chain to see how I got into this predicament and made a bad situation worse for myself.  General opinion was I needed to get it out for fear it was close to or touching the ring gear.  Regardless- the bolt is out and this is no longer an issue.  I was just trying to bring a close to the topic in the forum and thank everyone for the support.

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Thanks for the thread Reebs.  Your posts have made me that much more careful.  Personally, I have no desire to separately measure the fluid when there's a perfectly good check hole there.

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Thanks for the update and the thread Reebs.  At some point someone will have the same problem and hopefully a net search will bring them here.

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9 hours ago, Reebs said:

Ghosta- if you are interested in the complete story, read the whole chain to see how I got into this predicament and made a bad situation worse for myself.  General opinion was I needed to get it out for fear it was close to or touching the ring gear.  Regardless- the bolt is out and this is no longer an issue.  I was just trying to bring a close to the topic in the forum and thank everyone for the support.

 

Yes I replied not realising there was a second page to this thread so missed your succesfull efforts so all good. But dont be at all hard on yourself for making a mistake...it shows you are out there having a crack...and weve all done dopey things probably a lot worse than you did but dont want to tell anyone.

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