Hey all,

I'm getting ready to trade in my lemon of an Eiger. I'm not looking to buy anything any more than around $5,200 +- OTD. Coming from a manual shift Eiger, I'm really liking the 07 Griz 450, but those are running for over $6,000 (at least right now). I guess another Eiger would be in that price range, but I just assume step up. A Vinson is a thought, but none of the dealers around here have any.

So that leads me to the Rancher 420. I sat on one at the dealer and really liked the way it fit me. But, the low ground clearance concerns me. As it is, my Eiger hits bottom more than I'd like. I have a new set of 26" Mud Lites that I was going to put on the Eiger to get a bit more ground clearance. How will these do on the Rancher? I've seen a few people on here already have 26" tires on their 420. But, I've also read one person who said it destroyed the handling. Can I get some more feedback regarding 26" tires on the 420.

Thanks!

 

I put 25" Holeshot ATR's on the 420 for a brief time......what a mistake! Made it handle poorly. The front end really fought me in 4wd, and it had a lot of bump steer. The whole ride really felt clunky!

The Rancher is a nice little trail machine....that's all! That agile razor sharp handling is the Rancher's best feature. You stick huge tires and rims with a lot of offset on it, and you are going to ruin the ride. If you need a monster mud bogger, then you need to step up to a bigger machine.....

 

reconranger,

Yep, your the one whose post I've seen before regarding the larger tires. I actually don't do any mud bogging. Just trail riding. But, they are often pretty rocky trails, and that's where I'd like more ground clearance. I probably would use the stock front rims and just buy a set of rear rims. (I know there must be a reason, but, I don't understand why Honda would use different size rims front to back) I know there are several others whose sig shows them running 26" tires. Just want to hear how their bikes handle.

Thanks

 

I think the problem with the Rancher not having enough ground clearance is simply an imaginary problem of "numbers", and nothing more. The little Rancher scoots throught the rocks better than any Jeep. This is the stuff I ride, and the Rancher handles it with ease. Are your "rocks" worse than this: http://jeep.off-road.com/jeep/articl....jsp?id=330535

That said, again it wouldn't ever be my pick if I was a mud wallower, but it is a superb trail quad and it will handle anything out there! Just because you have a pair of 26" laying around, doesn't mean they belong on a Rancher!

 

now i love my honda, but it does have limitations ground clearance is definitely one of them.

maybe for rocks you would be fine, but in the picture below, i could barely break trails where a kodiak walked through without a problem. mind you we both had 25" tires

Clickyy

 

What do you have on your 350 for a skid plate??? I run the real slick plastic Maier skid, and it acts like a huge ski. The quad floats along on top of the snow, and that keeps the frame from digging in and getting you stuck. I have ridden in 6' deep snow....no big deal, just floating along on top better than a sled!

I do have to say that snow is the one place that my Holeshot ATR's do excell!

 

i run stock skids, but the snow in the picture is close to 18" high, 6 inch is fine for me, but i drag my frame across the snow, skids will not fix this, the snow gets so deep it actually picks up the quad, i lose traction to the wheels due to me be being lifted .

now to be honest. i have never seen a quad float through snow, between all the snow im pushing in the front, about 3 inches OVER the tires and my frame forcing it under me, my tires loose grip, personally i don't believe a 550pound machine will be able to float on snow and be able to propel forward with any normal atv tire. thats why snowmobiles use belts, a ton more ground contact allows them to float, maybe your snow is different them mine, but our atv's in pa have to touch ground to be able to move, we simply spin till we bury frame lookin for ground. in our area' gc gets you were you need to go in snow.


just to give an idea of that day, it was more to prove a point we could ride in it, it took us 5-6 hours to go 8 miles. that comes out to like 1.3mph. a grizzy 660 with 27's was breaking trail, then an artic cat 500 with 27's, then the kodiak with 25, then finally me, reason for switch ups was overheating. liquid cooled bikes were overheating in under 10 minutes. no air flow, snow packed front ends, and WOT was the reason. i even came close to overheating many times, i never threw a light, but the fan would never shut off. we had to stop several times as all bikes were not cooling down. this was a place for snowmobiles not atv's.

BUT we had a great time, and shut up a few people

btw recon, i recently lost down hill engine braking, it appears to be the one way clutch gone, part ordered, should be replaced in a couple weeks. just lettin ya know in case you see it