hey my buddies 2000 4x4 es rancher stopped shifting the other day as he was riding it, shifted up but not down. it does try to shift down but it wont accualy change gears. there aren't any error codes and they tried all the rocking back and forth and everything it simply won't shift down it's stuck in 5th. anyone had this problem?

 

Yep, a friend of mine had this exact sounding problem. It turned out to be a broken shift fork in the tranny.
I believe his bike was a 2000, or 01, and Honda went good for it. It took them 11hrs of labour to change it, so it was a good thing they did cover it!!!

Best of luck with it,
Thunder Chicken

 

If it won't shift w/ the emergency shift lever, you have a mechanical failure. There was a product update on the gearshift plate on the early Ranchers. The plate would break and won't allow the machine to shift. Remove the front engine cover to access the gearshift plate. You will need to remove the change clutch lock nut to move the clutch far enough to remove all the external shift mechanism parts. Thats the first thing to check on a Rancher when it won't shift manually.

 

my 00 had the recall first year i had it broke out in a ride but mine would manul shift down and es shift up. but no reverse.