I am looking at a 2003 Honda Rancher ES 350 2wd. It has been well maintained. Kept indoors etc. It has 5,971 miles on it. Used on the farm. What do you think??? Thanks for your response. Could be a Christmas present for the wife. They are asking $2,000 firm.

 

The bad thing about farm work quads is that they often spend most of their lives idling in a field, sitting there overheating! You think they bothered to shut it off every time they stopped to mess with a sprinkler or something like that??? And if they did, then think of how many thousands of restart cycles it has been through........

We had a farm guy post who had a fleet of quads, and the heads kept warping on all of them. Turns out they just left them running most of the time, and they were all severely overheating.

Another issue is that the ES systems have been problematic, and are currently the subject of a manufacturer recall.

 

http://forums.atvconnection.com/mess...yword2=Rancher
On the other hand....

 

Guys thanks for the response. Any other response would be appreciated. Also,... how about the asking price. How does that fit with what you see or know of. Thanks.

 

sounds like a descent price! does it look good? ride?

 

Man, for a 2wd with those miles, I guess I'll buck the trend and say that I would pass on that one.

I used to do farm work summers, back in college (a while ago) and we ran three wheelers. They were usually wide open running between fields, or spending hours idling a few feet forward, stopping to spray a weed, and idling forward again. They got hot, but held up for many, many years w/o problems.

A buddy of mine just bought an 06 Rubicon from an orchardist, and it has the same hours as mine does but half the milage.

Anyway, the thing likely has more use than it's miles would suggest.