I'm not saying es is flawless, but its rate of failiure is much less than some people may persuade you to believe. Yes the manual will be more reliable, yes there are fewer parts to break. But the es is an excellent system that is more reliable than any other non-manual transmission save for possibly the hondamatic in the rubicon. Looking at the manual trans on the 02 and 03 vinsons you could easily say the es is more reliable than some purely manual transmissions.

I have had an es rancher underwater in extreme heat and cold and never once has the es system failed. Even full of sand it works. I have friends who own these machines and have had similar experiences. I know that there will be issues, but I want to present a fair view of them and let the buyer understand that they are far from commonplace and that a VAST majority of riders are very happy.

 

My Rancher is a pretty good machine, but not perfect. The jetting was wrong from the factory and Honda wouldn't fix it. $50 later on a dynojet kit and it runs like it should have. The brakes are a joke....marginal at best. I have the manual shifter, don't really see the difference between moving your foot or your fingers. My wife has no troubles with it. I do like the size and weight.....quads don't really need to be little Jeeps. I would say the top speed is around 50.

 

I love my friends Rancher ES 4X4. A lot of times, when we go riding, we may trade machines for the whole day, because we like each others quads so much. Like reconrider said, it is the perfect inbetween quad. It is a great quad that you can throw around and have fun with. You drive the quad instead of just hopping along for a ride like with a huge quad. I have had so much fun on that thing.

 

I have a question about the Rancher es seeing you guys are discussing this bike already. I am also considering buying this bike as well. My only concern is the brakes. I will be driving the bike also in the winter in Northern Ontario. Has anyone had problems with slush, snow or water getting inside the drums, in turn freezing the braking system where you cannot move the bike? I have had a few people tell me this has occured on different quads with drum brakes. I love the bike and the engine I've had an 1986 350 years ago, and you couldn't stop it. The bike just kept asking for more. It did everything I needed it to do. Getting me in the field, to pulling moose and deer out of the bush. I know they are reliable, just concerned about the braking system, any info will be great.

 

We have 2 Rancher 4x4 ES's and have had no trouble with the ES. The reliability has been great. This size machine meets our work needs on the farm and provides good recreational riding capabilities. It is also lighter on the check book than the larger machines. We are pretty boring users since we don't race, climb steep cliffs, or abuse them in deep mud or water. But we do enjoy moderate amounts of mud and ride the creek when it is low (i.e. no deeper than the tires).

Another reason we bought the ES was that we let several of our friends ride them who have NO experience with cycles or ATV's and it's easy for them to quickly learn to drive them. I know that the automatics would be easier but that's another $1,000 that I don't have to spend.

 

Touchy subject here.......LOL

 

Allycat

I work on ATV's for a living.
We are a farm ranch community of around 60,000 population in the city I live. Many smaller town surrounding us. I also service the railroad ATV's ( Honda ) for our area. All of these units are used and abused in all possable situations. Especially the Railroad units which are overloaded with replacement brake shoes for the rail cars. Many Ranchers are also used around here for recreation as we live along the "big water" here in North Dakota.

Here is what I have observed on the Honda Rancher ATV in all three situations.

The earlier electric shift and manual shift models did have a poorly manufactured shift arm within the transmission. Since has been updated with a more stout arm for durability. The folded teeth on the arm catch pegs protruding from the star wheel on the shift drum. Occasionally one of the folded theeth on the stamped arm would bend making it near impossable to shift in one direction, since the arm only travels so far, and when one is bent, it could not catch the shift drum ' star wheel ' to shift it. Honda has corrected the problem.
Amy other issues with electric shift can generally be traced back to a faulty angle sensor, but most likely a bad connection from corrosion or viberation at the connector. In the event the electric shift may fail, there is a supplied lever in the tool box to shift the unit as you would a manual shift model, so you will not be left sitting, stranded.
One of my railroad units I service is an electric shift model and has over 30,000 miles on it, trouble free !!! ( other than normal wear items like brake shoes, spark plugs etc...) I normally don't see many shift problems with units used as recreational units, an occasional star wheel spring tension arm pivot bolt coming loose, but not a problem to be concerned about. In near 500 units serviced, 2 have had this happen that I have seen since 2002.

Drum brakes are drum brakes. They have been around since day one and the same problems happen with them as the problems with drums always have... The Rancher is not a real heavy duty, multi-purpase unit, but is used for one constantly. If it were the brakes would prolly been upgraded accordingly. Normal wear and lack of maintanance have been the biggest harm to all the units I deal with. The farmer ranchers in our area will use these ATV's to do tasks most people use tractors for, and the lack of brake concideration goes with the territory. Breather lines torn off and or bailer twine wrapped in a wheel ruining a seal normally arre issues I deal with in the destruction of brakes. Give moisture a way to get in and it will do its dammage. And it does. Rear brakes when abused the way they are around here will have problems sticking from moisture getting into the rear brake shoe pivot shaft and seizing it and making the brakes disfunctional. Same with the foot brake pivot, moisture gets inside from a torn seal and makes them seize. Most of the farmers are useing river crossings that have these problems. Same with brake cables, moisture and rust, once the cable has been damaged. Front brakes have simular problems when unattended to. They have dual adjusters per wheel and if a seal is broken, moisture will get to them. Most front brake problems I see here are they simply are not adjusted so they will work as the shoes wear.
The railroad units handle the brake issues way better than the farmer rancher units do, as they have more issues pertaining to over loadeding and heat. ( My air lift has a heck of a time lifting one of these units fully tooled and loaded with train car brake pads ) Most front brakes only need be adjusted on them other than a wheel bearing going out and ruining a brake shoe. The rears on them stand up well for drum brakes and their loads, but streatched brake cables and an occasional wheel bearing going out from overloading cause most of their rear brake problems they have other than normal wear.
Recreational units brakes stand up well around here other than a damaged cable here and there and unadjustment on the front shoes. they really do not come in with brake problems when used for this reason. They come in for normal maintainance, oil changes, air cleaner service, leaky tires, accessory installation etc... not a lot of problems.

How good your Honda Rancher is, is as good as you treat it. The bike is totaly technical far superior to the old '86 Foreman 350 in so many ways, engine platform, chassis design, driveline, and cosmetics, for user friendlieness to technitions to work on, you would never go back in time .... to 86 again. LOL

Hope this helps, they can take the use and abuse, with low dollar per hour operating expences.

----- Gimpster -----

 

Gimpster-Wondering what kind of oil you run in the vehicles you service? And, what weight do you use in winter, there in the frozen north?

The question arises because the owners manuals on all Hondas autoclutch bikes only recommends GN4 (dino oil). If you look closely at the fine print on a bottle of HP4 (synth blend without moly), there is a note that says: "...not recommended for all types of vehicles. Especially vehicles with automatic or centrifugal type clutches." The assumption I arrive at is that HP4 is for some reason to "slick", and will make the clutch slip??? If the difference between GN4 and HP4 is the synthetic, does it follow that the logical assumption is that you SHOULD NOT RUN SYNTHETIC in a Honda autoclutch bike??? Personally, I play it safe and just run GN4, so I don't have to worry why.

Just wondering what your take on this is? There are posts from people running full synthetic oils and even car oil in Honda autoclutch bikes, with no apparent problems (at this time).

And, why do you think 5 magazine test bikes have had ES failures? You would think Honda would check over these bikes REAL WELL before they ship them out for testing, wouldn't you!

 

We normally service units with 10w-40 GN4, unless otherwise specified by service manual, service bulletin, service letter, or customer preference.

Oil seems to be real touchy issue with many users of this forum, so I can only post what I FEEL is right. I am not a real big fan of synthetic oils, other than their use in differentials, which I feel is a good choice. I also am not a believer in changing weights of oil in an engine for different seasons. My honest opinion on oil weights is to break an engine in on the oil you are going to use, and use that oil brand and weight for the units lifetime, whenever service is required. The only issues I have seen with the 10w40 oil has been in cold weather, under freezing temp. One is milky oil from condensation from severe engine temp changes. Like pushing snow when it is -5 degrees, then leaving the unit outside after its use. The other issue is while attempting to start the unit after sitting outside in temps around 15 degrees or lower, (Remember I am an American so the temps are not Celcius ) and the unit will crank over extreemly hard. Take a look at the temp range of the GN4, 10w40 and 5w30. You might want to run the 5w30 if the unit is mainly used more in colder weather months than warmer months. On my own units I run the 5w30 and set my valves .002 in. less than spec. ( More top end performance )
Now on the other hand I have certifications with other brands of ATV's which recommend the use of their brand of synthetic 5w30 year - round. Like I say, oil is a touchy subject, and leaves me wondering if the manufacturers even know what is best. LOL

I could write a book on what I think of the Magazines tests, but I feel I would end up making them, and all the manufacturers very, very angry with my 2¢, LOL


----- Gimpster -----

 

I have 05 Rancher es i got used from honda dealer one issue i have had is shift sensors that go bad normal item to fail it is manufacturer fails qc that is from honda. Top speed i have pulled 55 to 60 mph playing with my horses and i use mine for farm work. I play around with carb to get most out of motor. Other then sensor issues no real problems. The shocks are crap and stock tires where crap too. I went with ITP set of tires.