Lots to look for when buying used. Of course this is not everything and you might have some more ideas or tricks, and please share. This is just some basic things that could possibly help you.
I have a 2004 honda foreman that I bought new w/ 1028 miles on it. (My snow plow) All original. Because of your videos, I bought a 2" lift and 26" swaplites. Wow what a difference. Thank you.
That 350 is nothing but solid. Own one and just maintain it annually and keep tender on it. Never fails me , don’t abuse it but use it. Son likes it better than his 420 do to the size and handling. Do recommend using startron in the fuel tank year round better than stabil. I do recommend looking at the battery box for mice sign, had to patch some wiring that was chewed from mice on a quad we purchased with about 700 miles on it. Sometimes just sitting can be a issue with the gas now days and it can turn into a mouse hotel.
I have a 2003 Honda Rancher. It's lived it's entire life in the swamp on the MS river. Front brakes are long gone. However, rear brakes have always worked. Finally started to get a little moisture in the drum this year. I pulled the cover off and couldn't believe my eyes. Everything looked almost like new. Didn't even have to change the pads. I pulled out the cam and cleaned it up and put a new seal in there with a new felt washer and put it all back together. I went ahead and installed new cables for the foot and hand brake. I'm the original owner so I know these brakes have never been worked on. I've always checked for water in there frequently and planned to fix it as soon as it started. Took 16 years to happen. Shows that rear brakes can last a while.
Robert Boyd what normally happens is after a bearing starts getting bad movement the seal groves up whatever it's sealing to and can end up causing sealing issues later especially when people ride em till the bearing nearly falls apart then it may never seal right again just making it eat through bearings faster then it should
Great stuff, that's a good amount for someone's inspection checklist. That model with the foot shift is the one to look for, the electric shift adds a layer of electrical components that can be troublesome when you add mud and water. Just a heads up on that Badger, that model uses the same seat foam and seat cover as the Warrior so getting that part of the project finished should be a lot easier since there are plenty of Warrior parts out there.
I live in the country, and for some reason a lot of 4 wheelers are stolen and brought to the hunting ranches around here. So I would never buy a used 4 wheeler without a title. Great video by the way
Gotta be careful. I usually can tell by the seller or try to get a good history of it. Older Honda titles are hard to come by, even tho I got one with this one.
@@Solitude313 the only reason I said anything is I purchased a 700 grizzly for $2500. I ran the vin. Everything was good for a month then he calls me saying it was stolen. I took it to the dps office. Vin was clear. 2 weeks later they came to the house and pickedit up. Reported stolen. It was taken from the guys friend that I bought it from. Never got my money back. So from now on no title, I don't want it.
I own a Honda 300, and it is worth every bit of 2500. They are good quads and you don't find them anymore, so when you do find them, I believe they are normally priced accordingly.
Sorry fellas, the value TO ME of my used atv is the price I put on it, not what someone else's opinion is of what the price should be. With respect, if you don't like the price someone puts on their used quad, just move along.
6:48 i own two of these identical to this one i have replaced both bearing with quality bearings and still and movement in the wheel plus ball joints tie rods it is hard to get the play out of the front wheels. The design is very very odd theres alot of moving parts up front plus the front breaks never usually work on these so if the breaks are working when they sell it is a very good sign too
I wonder with the back rack side being angled down of you could take a 2x4 and a high lift jack and straighten back up? Thats just off the cuff idea that popped in my head.
You'd should've touched up on what to look for motor wise abnormal ticking, one way bearing spinning, and checking for excessive shifter play, i honestly hate when people acid wash cause it ends up making it mud stain worse for some reason and it makes the diffs look terrible after time overall a pretty informative video for anyone that's not wanting to do hours of online research and lastly the thing about the 300s is just how much people invest in there on mine I've changed the swingarm bearings axle bearing front wheel bearings and ball joints, tie rods, clutches gear reduction and new oem style battery that isn't cheap + tons more making where even if I sold it for $2500 I would be taking a loss but I plan to never sell mine i figured id bring that side of the argument up for people in the same position as me
Thanks for the video!! What do you think about a Sportsman 800 EFI 2005??, it looks ok, has 200 hours, Is that a lot of hours? Could be my first quad..so i dont know a lot. Currently have a drz 400 2001
Thanks for the great video great job. I'm looking at buying a 2006 Honda rancher 400 4x4. What is a good price and what should I be on the lookout for? The guy buys and resales, he says that it's been setting for a while but it runs good and nothing is wrong with it. Please advise asap. It has 1109 mills is this good, bad or normal?
Nice Rancher I have a 2000 Honda Foreman 450 that is the same color it has some problems it smokes a lil bit but we are about to clean the carburetor and maybe that will fix something
Im gona give ya a sub because I want to see what comes out of this Rancher. You seem like a person who knows how to take care of their shit.. I have seen a lot of atv trash amd bash vids and the poster crying that their new atv is a POS afteelr bogging it and essentially flooding the engine.
Sadly this one was sold last year when I got the new Sportsman 800. As far I know its still going strong with the new owner. I got a 300 to replace this one recently, and no this Rancher would not turn the tires without a Gear Reduction.
I have a 2007 honda rancher trx400fa. I bought it for my kid. I kinda regret it but... I noticed the coolant reservoir is missing, I don't see where I can refill coolant or at least check levels. Any suggestions?
i got a dirty old suzuki looks like it sat for 10 years. it has surface rust on like everything. dude said it will run with a battery.. sure enough i put gas in it and a battery, it started up runs fantastic lol only real issue it has is the foot brake is completely siezed up.
I’m looking at my first quad for plowing and light trails with family. Found an 04 rancher ES 4x4 with 135 hours and 550 miles. No scratches, dents dings and it’s at a shop that gave it a once over and a tune up. They are asking 4k. By me in CT I can get newer quads with bigger engines but mileage and hours in the thousands for the same price. Do you think 4k is a fair price? I know I could get something new for 7-9k but that’s not in my budget. Looking to keep whatever I buy for years of service.
Great video as always! I just bought an 07 sportsman 500 efi I was wondering if these things would idle under water stock or if the exhaust mod will help. Also what snorkel kit would you recommend?
The 500's are hard to get to do that. Need to open up the exhaust, and turn the idle up a bit. Its just a big canister and to really do it it needs a smaller canister muffler.
Nice Honda Rancher, you might like to check out a 2003 Foreman I have on my channel with only 1090 miles on it and it is super clean. It's not for sale but i thought you might like it
Hi man, your video is helping me out a lot, as I am looking into buying a used Honda Rancher 350. I'd appreciate greatly your opinion on this: I'm considering buying a 2002 Honda Rancher 350 ES 4x4. It seems in pretty good shape, however there are three issues: - Electric shifting is not working - Electric startup is not working - Display is not working It fires right up with the recoil starter. Engine sounds good, revs good. Almost no smoke coming out from tailpipe. However, as the seller is not the original owner (he's a reseller of used ATVs), he doesn't know any possible reason those things aren't working, or since when they aren't working. My main concern is making sure if those issues are normal problems which randomly arise on a fourwheeler this "old", or if rather they are consequence of very poor maintenance and negligence, even of water logging causing those and possibly other electrical issues. Price for it is actually low, so I wouldn't mind buying it and fixing it if they are simple normal issues which the previous owner just postponed fixing. I just don't wanna buy problems and discover that quad is actually in worse shape than what it actually looks like. Thanks for any advice!
The ES functions on those ES rancher quads (it’s stands for electronic shift) are always the first thing to break, especially on one that’s 20 years old. I just looked at a 2002 Rancher TRX350 the other day and those originally came with almost no electronics, so it was still fully functional with a foot shifter. Bottom line is, those issues that rancher ES your looking at are very common problems with that model, and isn’t necessarily an indicator that the previous owners didn’t take care of it. Most of the stuff this guy went over in this video is how you determine if the quad has been beaten to hell by the past owners.
I just got a FourTrax 300 almost mint except the rear part of the seat... everything is new motor trans transfer case...kick start and an electric start...paid 900...was that a deal or no deal...I thought it was a good price but it's also a 99 all original plastics and their nice and shiny...gas tank looks new...
You know there is an old school mopar head on youtube called uncle tonys garage and his "what to look for on used vehicles" parallels what you say. What I mean is the details in an "honest" used cars ie normal signs of wear.. If you see parts on the underside looking freshly painted or undercoated then someone is hiding something. Your mention of acid washing signs would be a red flag the seller is trying to disguise something ie "painting a turd gold". I like how you point out clues of mudbogged atvs and signs. If you see signs of the atv being submerged you have to assume the engine has been underwater. I dont care if people say "its a honda its bulletproof" take of seat and panels and forget that the seller added new tires and reconditioned the seat.. The nooks and cranny will tell you the story.. The places a seller usually doesnt bother with cuz they wana make it bling. Its the same as a shitty powertrain classic vehicle getting a pay and spray paintjob, some autozone chrome valve cover n air cleaner and maybe some cheap reupolstery and selling a piece of shit for $20k. Ie again painting a turd gold..
i would buy a factory carb for 250 before i spent 50 on cheapo china knockoff one thats just me though.. it prob be more like 500 for OEM i would think but i could be wrong
SolitudeCustoms you are exactly right. It’s worth the risk of buying Chinese knockoff parts, that most of the time work great, on a vehicle that’s barely worth a thousand bucks. I have a 2004 Saturn vue I bought for 700 bucks and I refuse to put any parts on it that aren’t from the junkyard or eBay lol
I just bought a 2003 Kawasaki Prairie 360 4x4 with 1,488 miles on it. All the plastic is in REALLY GOOD condition, it has absolutely no mud stains. The 87 year old man I bought it from took good care of it he said he paid almost $7,000 on it, heck it has the original tires on it with about 3/8" tread left on them. the things that are painted are still glossy. I paid $1,800 and it has gun racks front and back and has a Ducks unlimited cargo storage,( horse shoe shaped) it came with two of those, and it has a winch and he threw in a nice table top bandsaw. The quad runs perfectly, it is the most capable 4x4 quad I have ever seen, it has a selectable 2 or 4 wheel drive switch on the handle bar, and on the left side of the handle bar it has a front differential locker lever. Man I REALLY like this quad. What do you think about the miles it has, is that considered average low? Thank you very much for your video and tips.
Virgle Phillips 1488 miles on a quad that old is pretty damn low, much lower than most other quads that age. Sounds like the old man you bought it from didn’t know the value of what he was selling, and you got a damn good deal from it.
“Motor smokes”. Ranchers smoke???? Never a good sign if a motor smokes. Means it’s burning oil. Water can easily get onto these engines if the pull start handle is loose. That’s why the pull start rope is mud/dirt stained.
i bought a beat 450 foreman and restored it back to show room right down to the foreman decals and everything ( which are 48 bucks a side might i add) i went with the disc brake kit, all new shocks, top end kit but i just went once over to keep it as close to stock as i could, but it "WAS" burning a liter of oil in a 5 hour ride, it's got a brand new rear axle and ring gear with one ride on it, rebuilt the diffs, swing arm bearings, tires ,wheels grips , hand guards you name it i have done it, and just when i got her all cherry i bought a brand new grizzly lol, i haven't used my honda in a while but i can't bring myself to part with it, everyone is always saying , sell it why have 2 you can't drive both, but it doesn't owe me anything and it's just like brand new. so i'll keep it.
@@jordanlittle5391 Mine? no you seriously misunderstood, i started off by saying i bought a " BEAT" foreman, it burned oil when it was " BEAT" and i fully restored it. it don't burn a drop now. that's why i can't let it go, i put so much time and effort into it i can't bring myself to sell it.
@@jordanlittle5391 yea one ride before the rebuild i had some guys behind me complaining about headaches from my exhaust lol. so i had to ride at the back.
If you got the time and the know how it's best to just split the case to clean it and clean or replace the oil cooler that way there's no junk in the crankcase if it's been sunk before
Very informative. Sounded great until you got to the brakes. Needing to change the brakes over to hydraulic disc is a big job and a major expense, not to mention a serious safety issue. For my money, I think I’d look for another machine.
With the gearing on these things, you barely need brakes to begin with. The drums do fine if you keep them clean and lubricated. I have never changed one to disc.
I bought a 04 that was beautiful. Runs like new. After owning it for about a month I noticed the Frame was shot. Rusted through. This thing was about to break in half . It's my own fault because I didn't look.
