Went out to play on the rancher yesterday and low and behold the choke was frozen solid. I know about I can take heat and thaw it out but anyone have any suggestions on how to prevent it. I would like to lube the choke assembly and the cable, any tips on how to perform this procedure? thanks,

 

First off , buy a new choke cable. They are surprisingly inexpensive for Honda!! Make sure you get a new style cable. It will have a "gator" or spring around the rubber boot at the ****, where as your old one won't. While your at it, get a low temperature lithium grease , as small a quantity as you can buy cause you don't need much. You will have to thaw your machine , remove the fuel tank and unscrew the plastic choke cable nut from your carb. Careful now, pull the plunger out of the carb, and remove the small spring and plunger from the cable , as well as the plastic nut and rubber boot. If you lose that small spring you will have to buy the complete plunger kit to get it!! Not very cheap. Undo the choke cable at the top , remove , and install the new one. Route them the SAME way.
install the boot , plastic nut, spring and plunger on the carb end of the cable. Make sure the plunger is clean and DON'T spray any weird chemicals on it or it will distort the seal on it. Put a very small amount of lithium cold grease on the plunger seal and try to install in the carb by gently turning , if it won't go let it sit for a day and the seal may undistort itself (don't ask me why but sometimes it works) Most likely it will go in ok. Oh yeah , make sure the bore in the carb for the plunger is clean and dry too. good luck and be cool

 

Good explanation dzzy!! I had the same problem on my 2001 Rancher, do you know if Honda has fixed this problem yet because there have been a lot of people who ask about this in these forums? I plan on purchasing the new RancherAt when it comes out this summer and hope that it would not have the choke freezing problem as my 2001 Rancher did.

 

Red Rancher: Honda's fix for this is the gator spring around the choke **** boot. I think 03's already have this improved cable. Will it work? Time will tell. the cable is too small to lube with a commercial cable luber, but it is possible to lube them by removing the plunger, spring and plastic nut from the carb end of the cable, undo the rubber boot from the **** end. Use a good penetrating lube (I like zepp) and slowly feed it into the carb end of the cable, and blow it through the cable using a rubber tipped compressed air gun. You should see it coming out at the **** end if you are doing it right. Repeat several times. Carefully reassemble and don't get any lube on the choke plunger seal!! All you have to remove to do this is the white airbox snorkel. Do this in the fall just before you get a good freeze. And while your at it pull your front and rear brake drums off, check for water and clean with a commercial brake cleaner. If those brake drums are contaminated with water you ain't going nowhere when the north wind blows, haha. Then change your oil to 5w30 and your new rancher should be set for the New Hampshire winter. If you liked your old Rancher, don't let the frozen choke cable stop you from buying a new one, as it is really a minor detail and the Rancher makes a good winter machine. -20F , a few pumps of the primer, and full choke and they pop right off. Wish my car started that good and it's fuel injected!! Take care Red Rancher

 

a little cable lube wouldn't hurt.....

 

Thanks again for the information and advice. Sounds like Honda fixed this problem with the gator spring, even so I will take your advice and lube the entire length of the choke cable when the time comes. And don't worry I won't let the choke freezing problem stop me from buying another Rancher. I can honestly say I've had some of the best times of my life on my ATV. Can't wait to get the RancherAT.

 

Amen to the great times on a Rancher. They are great machines, you just can't beat a Honda. Anyone installed a 424 select device from Warn yet? I just put one on mine, great modification. I do alot of general trail riding where 4x4 is not always needed except for some hill climbing and playing in mud occasionally so the full time four wheel drive got to be a bit cumbersome at times, especially when my fiance' decides to take off on it, hard for her to turn the handlebars. I highly recommend this mod to anyone looking to get a little more sport out of there rancher.

 

Also, from what I hear, the Rancher comes witha built-in carb heater. Normally, you don't even need the choke. Just turn the key on and let it set for 30secs-1min and start her up.
Note: This is not first hand info, it came from reading another forum.
~Tim