So I finally made my mind up and bought a 420! I picked it up on Friday. All the dealer had in camo was a 420FE and I got it for the same price as the FM which is great and the thing freakin screams, but here's the question. While my brother was riding I noticed a whinning that sounds just like his Honda Civic when it's in reverse. It's sounds like it's coming from the 4wd diff. Is anyone elses doing this? is this normal? Before I take the bolt off to make sure they put fluid in it I figured I would ask. Thanks in advance for the help.

 

I wouldn't worry about any "whining" until it is fully broken in.....provided is does have oil in it.......

 

I Purchased mine on Tuesday, I have not noticed any whinning when I am in reverse. I will listn closely when I go riding on Monday and reply back.

 

Was wondering how the whinning was going my buddy is looking at getting one of these or a can am 400

 

The reason manual transmissions in automobiles whine when they are in reverse is because the reverse idler gear is a straight cut gear, that is no spiral cut to the gears. I would imagine the same is true of the rancher.

 

The whining stopped after about 3 hrs on the machine.

This past weekend was the first time I really got to test the limits of the 420 and I LOVED IT. I ride light/medium trails with the occasional creek crossing, hill climb and mud rut and in the tight turns of the trails, I was amazed at how sporty it felt compared to my 05 Rancher 350 that I sold. In the creek it had plenty of low end power and grip.

Jumping hills (yes, I tend to treat the machine like a sport quad sometimes and a utility quad others) the suspension was much smoother than my 350 on the landings, but yet still supported a heavy load (I'm 5'11" - 220 lbs).

The 4wd was easy to steer and came in handy more than a few times.

Another thing I noticed was that I really never used 1st gear. In the mud and even steep hills 2nd gear was plenty powerful and gave me a little more speed than 1st. It seems to me that 1st gear is for crawling and pulling only.

I can't speak to the Can Am, I have heard they are great machines, but I've never ridden one. This 420 was an awesome ride and the power and response really seemed to pick up after riding hard all day. Afterall, this was my break in ride. I will say this, if you buddy is looking for a deep mud machine he may consider something other than the 420. With stock tires, I got this thing stuck a few times. It is not a big bore, mud monster! Don't know if that helps.

I am taking it in this weekend to have the valves adjusted (no problem, the dealer just suggests doing that early) and I plan on changing the front and rear gear oil and doing the 2nd engine oil change tonight if my Maxima order comes in. I'm interested to see if I have excessive metal shavings in the 4wd and rear end oil after giving it a pretty hard workout this past weekend. I hope this info helps.

 

Which Maxima oil do you have coming??? Don't switch to a synthetic until it is fully broken in.....I usually do at least 10 hours on petroleum oil before I switch.

I do the first valve adjustment at 20 hrs.

 

ReconRanger,
I have read a lot of your posts and I appreciate all the good advice!

I bought the 10w40 Extra and the 75w90 gear oil. Is the 10w40 what I should be using? The ride last weekend was the first really hard riding have been able to do. I have about 18hrs on the machine right now. When I bought the bike new it already had 2 hours on it so I tried to ride it hard around the woods behind my house and then changed the oil with Honda oil and filter at about 6hrs. Since then I have riden it fairly hard including last weekend. I have three more quarts of Honda oil so I could change it once more with Honda oil before switching to synthetic? Should I go ahead and use the Honda oil up and switch to synthetic the next change, or does it matter? What about the gear oil? Is it safe to switch over now? I called the dealer and they said that 18hrs is fine to adjust the valves. What do you think? Again, thanks for all the advice you give. It's really helpful with a new machine.

 

Love the new 420 fuel injection, No choke and no worries!

 

Whats the top speed of the rancher ? could it keep up with the brp my buddy does 55-60 mph