[Bluelights601]

Good Evening, I’m new here but had a membership years ago and remember all the help I got from shadetree and I see he’s still here which is great. I bought a 2010 Honda rancher 420. Manual shift 4wd. No digital no power steering pretty basic. Came with msa14” rims and 29.5 laws both new. Question about a few things. What are some things I can check. On site before I bought the bike I checked engine oil, rear diff, front diff oil. Rear chunk and rear driveshaft are new replaced February this year. Some things I missed over how excited I was over the bike. Front driveshaft has a pretty good seal leak and I’m having a tapping that I don’t think it’s valves I feel it’s the timing chain. I have a video of this but I’m not seeing where I can upload a video. It’s not extremely loud like one about to break but it’s loud enough. No high pitch whine upon high throttle yet either. In 2015 when I had my last rancher I did the gear reduction myself and still have that manual that covers this model if these are some things I can fix myself. Also has hmf exhaust, I 100% will have to add a Gr for this bike. The young man I bought it from said it had one but if it does it’s 18% or so and not enough. Overall the gentleman wanted 3300 for the bike and I gave him $2300 cash. Thanks everybody for the advice ahead of time and excuse the grammar errors. My career is an detective for a sheriffs office and I type enough perfection at work.

 

[Bluelights601]

So I haven’t gotten any replies, I tackled the front output shaft. Only issue I’m having is getting the front driveshaft back on the splines I’m not sure how I got it off other then trying an hour. Going back in seems like a whole different deal.

 

[billy5221]

Welcome, did you unbolt the front diff to take it off that allows you to move it forward a little bit to pull the shaft off, it should just slide back on and make sure the rubber oring on the output shaft stays in place when putting it back on

 

[Bluelights601]

Yes sir, thank you for your reply. It’s pulled forward approximately an inch and a half and I need about another 3/4 inch. Honestly the way I got it off I thought I broke something. I pulled the shaft toward the motor it gave me some play then pushed it back. But drive shaft is still tight so I didn’t tear anything up. I left tires and everything on guess I could pull them for alittle more play maybe.

 

[billy5221]

I don't think taking the tires off will help but I would take the left tire off so you can see a little better to see if you can move the diff forward more, also just checking is the shaft collapsed all the way if I remember right the end should be spring loaded. It should work the way you're going at it. Let us know what you come up with.

 

[Bluelights601]

I do see where the top half of it is hanging up. A pry bar may pry it down and give it alittle more but I have it in such a good position I don’t want to push it and damage anything.

 

[Bluelights601]

Also I can see in the rubber where it’s collapsing all the way and I feel it bottoming out.

 

[Bluelights601]

Got a buddy who works on these bikes gonna come take a look in the morning he also listening to the valves or timing chain (the tapping) and said it wasn’t near loud enough to cause a panic yet and we will try adjusting valves first.

 

[shadetree]

front drive shaft has to be compressed to go back in between the front diff and motor front output shaft, tight fit, but will go. the collar at the front of motor on drive shaft will compress the best, then its a matter of holding your mouth just right, and lining it all up to fit back in.

 

[shadetree]

which oil seal at front is leaking ?, output shaft oil seal ?, or front diff pinion gear collar oil seal ?. nm.i looked at your first pic..lol. carefully pry the old seal out, grease new seal, carefully tap new seal back in, very easy.

 

[shadetree]

oh, once you remove old oil seal at the output shaft ?, you will lose a little bit of engine oil, just be ready to get new seal back there !.

 

[shadetree]

I see a snorkel ?, yikes....I don't touch any atv that has that on there..lol. not unless I am rebuilding the motor ?. this just screams '' i've been in deep water '' !!!..lol.

 

[Bluelights601]

Thanks for all your replies shade tree I appreciate it. And everyone. We got it done today. The diff was hitting at the very top I was able to roll it down and pull it alittle farther forward and got it done. Don’t see any leaks. Well there’s two sides to this bike. I know the past year it’s been rode hard and in deep water, but from 2010- end of 2017 it was owned by a 72 year old farmer. I tracked it back. So the past year yes. In my defense and this may sound stupid it was what I was looking for. I wanted it snorkeled. Snorkel is very tight took it into pond and sat it around handle bar for about 3-4 minutes. Not a drop of water in the air box. Changed the oil while doing the seal since some would leak anyway and the oil was good and dark didn’t see any milky mess thankfully. Does everyone use Honda oil? I used 20w-50 wet clutch approved from dads work. Manages local parts store. I can’t remember if it was rotella but I think so.

 

[shadetree]

Thanks for all your replies shade tree I appreciate it. And everyone. We got it done today. The diff was hitting at the very top I was able to roll it down and pull it alittle farther forward and got it done. Don’t see any leaks. Well there’s two sides to this bike. I know the past year it’s been rode hard and in deep water, but from 2010- end of 2017 it was owned by a 72 year old farmer. I tracked it back. So the past year yes. In my defense and this may sound stupid it was what I was looking for. I wanted it snorkeled. Snorkel is very tight took it into pond and sat it around handle bar for about 3-4 minutes. Not a drop of water in the air box. Changed the oil while doing the seal since some would leak anyway and the oil was good and dark didn’t see any milky mess thankfully. Does everyone use Honda oil? I used 20w-50 wet clutch approved from dads work. Manages local parts store. I can’t remember if it was rotella but I think so.

I run nothing but castrol 10w-30, or 10w-40 full synthetic in all my atvs and motorcycles.

 

[Jeepwm69]

Rotella 15W40 T5 or 5W40 T6 works. I don't think I'd run 50 weight in one.

 

[tbzep]

I'm running T6 5w-40 synthetic in all my bikes (two and four wheel varieties). I used to run Mobil 20w-50 synthetic in my VFR's with good pressure (not too high) and no clutch issues. Some VFR guys had a lot of oil tested and saw that the wet clutches sheared oil pretty bad and pretty quick in most cases, so the 20w-50 stayed in the happy zone a long time compared to most oils. I'm not advocating heavier oil, but I doubt it's going to explode, burn, and die and explode some more because of it, especially if one lives in the deep, hot South. Probably wouldn't hurt to change it to something lighter before the next winter season, though.