I have been researching heavily in the 350 -400 class Utilities, and a friend bought a 350 Bruin 4x4 last year, and he highly reccomends it. I'm kind of between the bruin and the Rancher..........Need opinions and experiances.....Thanks! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

The rancher has a better front differential...its a torques sensing type, where the yami has a speed sensing type.
The rancher will probably have a better resale value, but if you take care of them, both will still be desireable when you go to resell them.
The bruin is a belt type cvt auto matic, and the ranchers are still manually shifted. Both types are ok, its just a matter of what youd rather have.
The bruin has a higher tow rateing.
The rancher seems a bit more stable on the trail...the center of gravity is lower, and it feels much more stable at speed, and in tight fast corners. I ride with a buddy who has a bruin, and it doesnt take much of a turn for the inside rear tire to become air borne.
Both have proven designs, and niether should have any surprises or breakdowns.
If you have a chance, test drive one of each, itll make your decision easier.

 

After considerable research, I found some complains about the Bruin having very small welds on the swingarm that start to crack with hard use. Actually saw three reports of this so far on 2004's. This definitly swung my decision to where is was before with the Rancher. I got friends that whoop on them, and pull firewood out of the woods with them several months out of each year, with no problems at all. Thanks for the reply though![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

I have never heard of this problem with the Bruin. Nor have I had any with my own. I can constantly beat it up, and it asks for more. I am very pleased with my purchase.

 

my bruin has been rolled twice and i beat this..NOT ONCE have i ever had any problem whatsoever nor any crackings all i need is a front bumper and my quad will be back to tip top shape

 

i to have a bruin never had a problem with it what so ever

 

My wife has an '05 Bruin, and for the money I think that it is a very good machine. It doesn't have the options that the Kodiak or Grizzly has, but we use it alot with no problems and she does ride it quite hard and does put it through it's paces. Great utility machine

 

no no no
don't get the rancher, especially in ES
i just traded mine in on my raptor, they are pieces of ****
they made me soooooooooooooooooooo frustrated because every time the broke, it was like a 3 hour roud trip to drop them off, and another 3 to pick them up. they broke alot, and i wasn't even that hard on it

 

OK i got a question everyone on the rancher and bruin what has all broke on both quads since ownership ? and 6,000 for the honda id just spend 6,500 get teh kawasaki brute force 650 i know the suspension is a little roungh but bige bore fun and power. id say the bruin is better for 5,000 range

 

nothing on mine.i have a cb radio and a winch on mine and doesnt bother the performance..not that they should lol