my recoil on my rancher es is stuck out and wont go back in. im guessing its from riding through mud. but how do i fix it? will it hurt anything if i go through water with it out?

 

I don't know what kind of recoil mechanism the Hondas have. I have a Yamaha Kodiak, and it did the same thing. On a Yamaha, you are able to remove the unit, without getting into the internal parts of the engine, it just slips over a spline. Anyway, I was able to remove my recoil unit, flush it out with clear water, WD-40 the snot out of it, and re-install it. It worked better than new.