I bought my 350 rancer brand new in 03. never had the valves adjusted like they told me to do after 2 tanks of gas. 4 years later and alot of riding, plowing snow, beating the snot out of it. no problems. Is there any advantage to checking the valve lash. i dont hear any clatter. runs great. any other honda guys out there not check the valve lash? just wondering if maybe i could gain some horspower by tearing it apart and adjusting it.

 

It's just generally a good thing to do, preventative maintence wise. You won't likely see any power increase, though.

 

I have been wondering the same thing. I have around 4400 miles on my rubicon and the valves have not been adjusted since the first valve change and still runs great. My dad said that I would notice a difference. He said it would make it run smoother. I just don't know if it is worth it to take to a dealer or going through the trouble of doing it myself. I don't like to do things that complicated.

 

i never even did the initial valve adjustment when i bought it new. seems to run smooth. any other opinions on this?

 

well if its not done, it will make a alot of clacking in the motor, on the 350 motor's the valve lash gets loose not tight which is good as if it got tight a power dropped would show up. i have seen some bikes with 2k-3k still within the speck's. i have done it 3 times (and it s a pain requires removing the gas tank and valve cover off the motor. i personally will no longer do it (5200 miles) it seems to make 0 difference for my bike or the other 5 honda's i've done it for, except in the case of quieting the motor down