i was thinking of sealing up my pull start on my rancher so water and grit can't get into it. i've never needed to use it because elec. start has never failed. i was going to silicone the seam and the hole where the cord is (with the cord in it). if i ever had to use the pull start it would just be a matter of breaking the seal when the cord gets pulled. just an idea, so what do you think? good or bad? thanks - dana

95 300 trx 2x4 w/ a fried warn winch now
00 rancher es 4x4 still stock

 

I was thinking the same thing for my Kodiak. I tried to pull start it the other day, for the hell of it. After I pulled it out, it would not retract. I took the cover off, and was quite shocked at how much crud made its way into the housing. I cleaned it really well, WD40'd the snot out of it, applied a coating of marine grease to the housing, and put it back together, it works like new.


I think your idea is a good one.

 

Go ahead and do it, just make sure you can still use it. Last weekend I left my es in first gear with the ignition on and the battery died. The only way I made it out was to use the tool kit shift lever to place it back in neutral and pull start it.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]

 

thats what i did to my 4x4, but like you said, electric starter never has failed, nor the battery. Machine is now 5 years old so its likely for the battery to go bad soon.

 

I think it's a good idea, especially if you ride in mud and water a lot. I thought about doing the same thing to my 450s but I just haven't gotten around to doing it, although I haven't had any problems with the battery going dead.

 

If you ride in mud you should always do this. There is also a drain hole on the bottom so some stuff will get in that way. Cleaning it should be a routine maintenance thing for you. That pull starter is tied directly to your engine so you do risk getting stuff in your engine if the seals blow inside there.

 

thats why i asked about sealing up the pull start, because of the seal inside the the pull start area. i sealed mind up last night. i used the hight temp(copper) silicone. i filled in the little drain hole in the bottom so nothing can get up inside the pull start and i sealed up the hole where the cord is. i good dab of silicone around the cord where the handle should take care of it. just work some of the silicone around the cord to fill the gap where the cord sits inside the pull start. once it cures it should be water tight, maybe some more on the outside for extra hold and seal. whats good about the silicone is that if you need the pull start, the silicone will give pretty easily. then you just need to reseal it later. i'm also going to add an extra layer of silicone around the outside of the pull start just incase i didn't get a 100% seal the first time when put the pull start back on. later - dana

95 300 trx 2x4
00 rancher es 4x4

 

The cases getting HOT HOT wont melt the silicone?

 

Before sealing it, you might consider the comments of Greg Hall (Tech Connection) concerning rear brake drums. Because they are leak so often, he claims that it is better to keep the drum open (by removing the drain screw) so that captured water can drain rather than becoming trapped behind the seal.

 

That's a great idea! I never considered anything like that. I think I'll seal mine too on Recon. Thanks.