I am considering buying a 2004 400 Rancher. It has 383 miles and 63 hours. It also has a 2" lift kit installed but factory rubber. The asking price is $3800 including loading ramps but, may get it for $3600. It is very clean, runs good, and looks like it was taken care of. The guy doesn't seem to be the ride hard type. I guess my questions are, is this a good price, do the miles/hours jive, and what are some of the things that I ought to do as far as preformance, Where should I start. I used to race motoX and three wheelers back in the day "1987 and before". This is my first 4 wheeler though, I have only owned Harleys since high school?

 

these 400 have very bad/sluggish transmissions. if you just intend to put around the trail they would do fine, but the are not very good for any type of mudding or extreme conditions. i also dont think its a good price, you can get a left over 350 rancher for around 4000, out the door, and this is a much more capable machine.

 

The price does seem a little high. NADA shows a TRX400FGA4 FT RNCHR AT(*) as having a low retail of $2735 and a high retail of $3595.

Like mykool said, I would see what you can get a leftover for. Our local Honda dealer was selling 06 Ranchers cheap and offering a free winch to go along with it. I would shop around first...

 

Thanks for the advise guys. I was under the impresion that the book value was close to 4000 and had read an article by ATV offroad.com that the 400 was a vast improvement over the 350 being a bigger engine on the same chassie. I have been kind of thinking of going after one of the 420's anyway and saw an Eiger brand new in cammo for just a little over 4000. Not sure which I'll chose now, but the wife didn't like the fact that the guy didn't have the title in hand and was going to have to get it from the bank. She pointed out that I already own a 50 model harley that I haven't been able to get the title on yet and have had it for 2 years. At least she's letting me look at newer more expensive guads now. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

CAn you apply for a lost title for the Harley? I have had the same problem befor and it was rather easy to get a title for it. There is just a vin check they do to make sure it is not stolen and then you got to do some paper work.

 

The Rnacher 420 is a superb little machine! I would take an old Rancher 350 over the 400AT. I am betting that the 400 AT gets discontinued at some point in the future....

 

Dennis: as far as the lost title your kinda right. Here in tennesseee the lost title form has to be signed by the last registered owner. I know who he is and may have to go find him and get it done, but my riding buddy who sold me the bike is the dummy that lost the title and I'm trying to get him to go get it done for me since he knows the guy personally. It's been in the shop having a major remake/ rebuild since I bought it a year and a half ago anyway, but it's almost done now and I gotta get the title one way or another pretty soon.
Reconranger: I'm new to all this so I'm still wondering why the 350 is better than the 400? I keep hearing that, but I thought they were both built on the same fame and everything. Why would the smaller engine be better.

Anyone: are FM, TE, TA, or TM all 2WD's what do the letters stand for, cause I'm finding some of them pretty cheap new. What about an 06 TRX500FE? Is it a 2 or 4wd? $4799 new.
Thanks for any help cause like I said I'm new to the quad scene and what about the Suzuki's, Yahama"s and Polaris'izzz as far as quality I want a 400-500range 4WD no preference at to shifting or auto. HELP/CONFUSED

 

Any automatic is going to be less efficient than the direct drive of a manual gear-on-gear transmission. Those extra cc's, get eaten up by the tranny. Don't fall into the trap of believing that displacement is anything close to the whole picture....

 

supercooper -

FE is four wheel drive electric shift
FM is four wheel drive manual shift
TE is two wheel drive electric shift
TM is two wheel drive manual shift
FA is four wheel drive automatic
FGA is four wheel drive GPS automatic

----- Gregg -----

 

SuperCooper -

I owned this machine for 2 years and got rid of it! I am not a performance junky or a hard core atv'er by any means. I was just looking for Honda quality in a machine that I could use to plow snow, take hunt'n, ride with my friends and tool the kids around the yard with the kids. The fit & finished was superb. You can search on this sight or do a google search. The auto tans on this model sucks! It works great if you are traveling over 7-10 mph but is another story under that. I won't pretend to be an expert but this I do know. At speeds under 7mph in auto mode, the machine is boggy and has no power. It is like starting a car in 3rd gear rather than first. You have no initial power. I have been stuck more than once because of this. In the ESP mode, is worked great. But I bought an auto to drive it in auto, not to be swiching back & forth from Auto to ESP (manual). With the new 420 out, the 400 rancher AT has had a shelf life of 3 years. Why would Honda be getting rid of something this fast?? There are much better machines on the market.