We purchased the foreman used with 300 miles on it and around 41 hours on it now it currently has 500 miles and over 93 hours on it and we are not sure when it had the last service since it was not documented in the owners manuel. Do you think it is time for the next service. We always have just road it in mud and i took it hunting with me for two weeks.

 

It might be good idea. since it's winter now it would suck to get stuck out in the woods now.

 

Prevenative maintenance is the key to longevity of any machine. No more expense than it is to service it, I believe I would and then you can keep up with it from there. Last year I bought a used Rancher 350 2wd . Kids had ridden it for 11 months before I purchased it and told me it had never even had an oil change! First thing I did was to service it, 2.1 quarts of Honda oil and an oil filter, no big expense. Since they had never changed it I decided to check valve tolerances..They were right on the money! Honda is very very tough from what I have seen. I have 60 hours on my Foreman now and did my first oil and filter change on it..I am not going to worry about the valve adjustments unless it looses power or gets noisy. I asked the dealership technician now much did the valve clearances change during the break in period. He told me he hadnt ran across one yet that needed to be touched. He even admitted that they hardly ever even check them anymore, yet you get charged for it.

 

Maybe the dealership I work for is just old fashioned, but if you get charged for VC inspection, we actually do it. Once in awhile you run across one that's out of spec. Granted, Honda's maintainance schedule probably has you doing the inspection more often than is really needed, but they should still be checked once in awhile. Any slight change in performance or noise may not be noticed as it happens gradually.

 

Glad to know some dealerships still do care and have techs with pride in what they do. You are surely appreciated! I used to be a service manager and it was sure hard to find good techs that were interested in being the best, instead of just a paycheck every week! Paychecks are great, but the pride of knowing that you are one of the best is alot more rewarding isnt it!

 

Thanks for saying that TRIPLELSTROKER. We do have a pretty good crew. I have nearly 20 years full time experience, not counting several part time. We have two other techs, one with 15 years full time and the "new" guy has 4 years under his belt. Yes, it does make the day go faster and better if you actually do your job. Dealerships do get a lot of "bad" publicity in these forums, some of it no doubt rightfully so. But I also know there's a lot of darn good Honda techs out there.

 

Ive read many of your posts dzzy, and Ive got alot of respect for you and what you know. If I ever have a problem with my foreman...Ill be bringing it to you. Thanks for your advice over the years.

 

Again, thanks for saying so hondabuster. And I gotta say you always have a practical reply. Realizing you do your own work, if you ever have an issue you think can be warrantied, bring it in and I'll go to bat for you. That goes for any friend of yours too. I don't care where they were purchased. That's a way cool CT70 by the way.

 

Thank you for your reply on the service question! This has to do with service too and any help would be appreciated. DZZY i saw that you are a honda tech and maybe you or anyone can stear me in the right direction. I was riding my foreman out a old creek bed/ logging road and i crossed what i thought was a big "rut" but it was a a tree with mud over it. The reason i also found out it was a tree the front diff plate got pushed in a lil bit common on a lot of hondas from what i understand but the left (throttle) side CV boot protector which is i believe a hard plastic got pushed up against the boot i road it for about 2 days like this. then saw it didnt look even wtih the other one when i was down there washing it. i pulled it off the boots and now it is almost back to the normal position which the protector came from the factory. Do you think that protector did any harmful damage and should i take it to the shop and have them do a full maintence on it or just change the fluids myself.
Thank You.

 

Inspect the boot all the way around for tears, or cracks. If there are any, you will want to replace the boot soon as possible. If there are none, it's OK. Although replacing fluids is never a bad idea, you can also simply check them for evidence of water contamination. If you see any that have a whitish creamy look, definitely change them out. It's very easy to change differential fluids.