I have a '00 Rancher 4x2 with less than 30 hours. I usually ride it on wooded trails or the sand dunes.

This past weekend I noticed two problems:

1. When riding in 4th/5th gear, I hear a ticking sound coming from the engine area (can't determine where). It doesn't happen all the time, but enough that I am concerned. I've been told it may be the valves, but I just had a local Honda shop do a full tune up two weeks ago.

2. When climbing a moderately steep dune, my Rancher sounded like it started to shift on its own (I was near the top when it started to bog down a little). I didn't notice any difference in power, but it was a "clunk" sound associated with shifting. This happened about 4 times in quick succession before I stopped and decided to go back down the dune. This also happened once before when riding over a whoop trail.

Has anyone experienced these problems before, and if so, how do you correct them? Is it something I am doing?

Thanks for your help.

 

I believe you first problem is in the valves or they might need a little adjustment. I can't help you on the second problem.

Is your Rancher a 4x2 or 4x4?

 

I'd say number 2 is the rev limiter.

 

I took my Rancher to the shop and they indicated that the clutch was way out of adjustment.

Hopefully that's all it was.

Keep on ridin'

'00 Rancher 4x2