Hello all!

I am new to this atv forum and for that matter new to atv's. I have a question for you experts out there. I just bought a 2001 Honda Rancher 4x4 ES and noticed the other day that the bike has a wicked vibration from 40 mph- top speed. The bike is completely stock. It has never been rolled or in an accident as far as I know. It only has 341 miles on it and it looks new. Does anyone know what is causing this vibration or is this normal for an atv at higher speeds?

I also noticed when the steering wheel is straight the right front wheel is out of alignment. The wheel is toed out and -5° camber. Any ideas on how to fix this alignment problem?

 

a few thing could cause vibration at high speed,

are you riding it on pavement when you notice this ? is the vehicle in 4x4 drive ?
first tires, check preassure set it about 4 PSI, \
also if the ATV sits for along time tires tend to get eg shaped.
next check the rims , lift up the front and back axle with a normal automotive type jack and spin the wheels, look for bent rims.
if all ok , check your front drive shaft/ CV joint.

out of all this , i bet it will be just the tires.

as far as toe out , 4 wheel drives have a pretty large toe out , the wheels want to go outward. it looks wierd when you look at the front wheels from the front.
specs should be out lined in your manual, if you do not have a manual , let me know and I look it up.

 

Thanks zsebi.

Like I said before I am totally new to ATV's and I read the tire sidewalls and it said not to exceed 36psi so I inflated to 30 psi on all four corners. Will over inflating the tires cause the wicked vibration/shimming? I tested the atv on hard pavement with stock tires. I do have a users manual and it say 4° caster angle, not sure what this means? What is the procedure to adjust camber and caster?

Thansk for your help.

 

30 PSI is a lot in ATV tires. get it back down to 3 PSI.
my rancher calls for 2.8 PSI and say max is 3.2 PSI
I would reccomend an ATV specific tire gauge , I think mine reads from 0-5 PSI keep it in your tool compartment.

caster and camber are not adjustable unless you buy different control arms or sometimes called "A" arms
toe is the only thing can be adjusted.
I did not see toe spec in the manual , I am sure some one here has service manual which tells he specs.

toe out : ?
this is how your tires would look if you stand up on the pegs and could clearly look down on the front tires. \ / (not as drastic)
meassurement is not easy
... draw a line horizontally- axle hight on your rim

need to meassure between left and right rim edge, front of the axe and behind the axle
the difference between the 2 measurement is your toe setting
my 4x4 rubicons spec was 1" +- 9/16"
the rancher can't be too far from it.

 

Thanks again for all the info.

I will get a tire gage specifically for ATV's. I will do the procedure that you described to check toe out.