Many of you may have already been through this. If so, my apologies for redundancy. For those of you who haven't, this is just a heads up for other Rancher owners out there.

I found quite a bit of mud in my pull starter today. There was enough in there to keep the cord from retracting properly. So I made the decision to remove the pull starter unit and clean it out.

After some effort I finally had the pull starter off and was able to hose it out as well as the back of the engine where it attaches. (They sure don't give you a lot of room to work back in there.) Cleaning out the pull starter was more difficult than I had imagined. I finally had to remove the spring and reinstall it to get all of the mud (and sand) out. The thing is, I didn't think I had gone through that much water and mud with it. The unit is new too and hasn't been ridden that much.

If you decide to remove your pull starter to clean it, reinstalling the spring is a pain and not something you want to do if you can get away from it.

Now, with all that said, could one of you more experienced riders out there recommend a mod or technique to keep the thing clean to begin with?

Rich

 

I never have checked mine yet.. maybe i should but, from what i have read in the forums they suggest a bead of silicone where the pull starter enters the housing to form a seal but, will come loose when pulled if needed. I am going to do that real soon to cure any problems before they arise..

 

The best thing you can do is put a bead of silicone around the pull started. That will seal it in its hole. One thing to note is that silicone deteriorates so you will need to clean that application off and reapply somewhere down the road. There is also a drain hole on the bottom that will let mud up in it. I have not messed with that at all. Basically cleaning your pull starter should be considered routine maintainence.

 

The kick starter on the 300 is the best there is, wonder why honda didn't juat put it on all their bikes. I use it once a year just to make sure it works but I've never needed it. The plus side is you probably won't ever need that pull starter on a honda. I have a 350es and I have never checked it out. The thing lives in the mud so it probably
ain't pretty.

TRUEBLUE300

 

You WILL need that pull starter. It is helpful when finding TDC when you adjust your valves, getting water off your piston after you sink it, and you will probably need it to start your quad at some point.

 

TEXMud what you said is right. I got a little carried away there but I sure do love that kickstarter and it's sealed very well. The point you made concerning the valves, how important is it to have them adjusted. It has never been done on my 97 recon or 98 300 and they run great.

TRUEBLUE300

 

TRUEBLUE300, I would love to have a kick starter. That just seems like it would be more watertight. You should adjust your valves per the time frames in your manual. I think for most Hondas its after the first 100 miles and then every 600 miles. I do mine every 300 or so. If they are out of spec will will gain performance my setting them. If they are way out of spec it can tear your engine up.

 

I'm glad I read this post--a month ago I spent a lot of time hosing off a Recon and Rancher after some serious mudding, and there's still grit trickling out here and there. Think I'll stick to the high dry places and the dunes. Thanks to all of you for the info.