Project Rancher
Follow the progress of my "new" 2000 Honda Rancher 4x4 as it goes from "rough" to "ready" in just 8 days. At first the plans were to patch it up over the next few weeks and ride, but with annual Climb ATV club's annual "Smack Down" ride just 8 days away I decided to jump in with both feet and turn this not so much of a beauty into a beast. I've nicknamed it "Orange Crate" but according to my wife it should be more like "Divorce" :)
Starting Point (Wednesday
March 23, '05)
I bought this well used bike from a guy
for $900. It smoked like a freight train, had a hole in the side of the front
differential that I could put my fist through, had beat up racks and front
bumper, a rear basket welded on with homemade mounts, no brakes front or rear,
worn out wheel bearings... well, you get the idea. It was pretty much complete,
and the plastics were still in good shape. The motor had been completely
rebuilt, but still smoked for some reason. The owner took it on a ride (smoke
and all) and scattered the front differential. Thoroughly ticked off, he simply
parked it inside the shop where it sat about 3 years until I came along.
Stripping It Down
(Thursday March 24, '05)
First thing to do was to remove the
plastics to see what was hiding underneath. Besides some mud, a little rust, and
lots of grinding scars where some former lift kits and winch bumpers had been
removed it all looked pretty good. Even though the photos don't really show it,
the front bumper was bent up and had been butchered a bit by a grinder. The
front rack was decent, but the mounting brackets were bent and the rail that
stands up across the front was bent. A little straightening and paint and it
should work fine. A couple of vent lines missing or plugged off, and you could definitely
tell that this bike's been in some deep mud. One front fender brace had been
ugly welded to the frame.
Stripping It Some
More (Friday March 25,
'05)
The rear basket (which I can't stand
anyway) had been welded to the rack with about 6 feet of welds. No amount of
grinding would have ever separated the two with either one of them being useable.
Besides that, the rack had homemade ugly brackets coming off of the rear that
were welded to the frame on both sides and the front mount had been welded to
the frame on the right hand side. The only way to get the rack off was to cut it
off with a cut off wheel. Once that was done the rear plastics could be removed.
I removed the carburetor, exhaust, and cylinder and took the cylinder to the
machine shop and ordered the piston kit.
Front End Work (Saturday
March 26, '05)
Here you can see the damage to the front
differential unit. I did some looking and located a new "factory
overrun" differential for $300 which was a bargain compared to a unit from
the dealer. I removed the busted unit, did a little cleaning and sanding on the
frame and front suspension and covered it with gloss black from a rattle can.
Not that it's going to stay black and glossy for very long, but it looks good
while sitting in the shop. I replaced the front wheel bearings with sealed units
from "All Balls Racing", and installed the new front differential.
Front Brakes (Saturday
March 26, '05)
The front drum brakes on Hondas really
suck. They always fill with mud and you constantly have to replace the shoes and
seals. I installed one of Xtreme Products disc brake conversions on the Rancher
to eliminate the normal brake problems associated with these bikes. The system
is a bolt on design and requires no press work or fabrication. It only took
about an hour to install and they really grab when you pull the lever. They have
incredible stopping power and bite on the first pull every time.
