Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Honda Rancher Squeak?

this is our 4th Honda Rancher that has a squeak in the drive train somewhere that we can NOT find and is very annoying.We call it the 6,000 mile squeak! we have sprayed scilicon on everything we saw that looked like it moved and it still comes and goes. Well,lets say comes when you go to your hunting spot!

anybody know where it is at?

please,helpful advice only and no "should have bought a Polaris" or other crap. Just trying to find a squeak

Remove the upper and lower shock mount bolts, slide the brass bushings out of the shockabsorber, coat with moly or marine grease and re-assemble. Should take care of it. Spraying lube on the shock mounts without dis-assembly does not work. Not all of the shock mounts will have the brass bushings, you'll have to look and see which mounts are rubber with a metal sleeve, and which ones have the rotating brass bushing.

i will definately give that a try this weekend thanks alot.
it has to be on the front end! i put a little jag of oak wood picked off the trail and it quieted it down. It seems like a rotating squeak? like rubbing on one side of the revolution? It has been driving us nuts for a very long time and we cant find it? I sprayed everything!

applying the front or rear brakes don't have any effect. Its a rolling squeak.

Check your wheel bearings, i've had to change mine 3 times over the last year and half. This time I put some aftermarket bearings on them so hopefully they will last a bit longer. Jack the front end up and try spinning the wheels, they should turn freely.

If you don't know how to check your wheel bearings, while it's jacked up, grab your wheels and try to shake them from side to side then up and down, you should have no movement, if you do, bad wheel bearings.

What he said.

I bought a new rancher in 2001 and within the first 10 miles it developed a squeak in the front end. I took it back to the dealer and the guys just shrugged and said it was because I had rode it in too much mud. WTF? It's an ATV, it's main purpose in life is to be ridden in mud! I got a service manual and started taking the front end apart, when I took the shock mounts loose all the bushings were dry, the manual said they were supposed to have been lubed from the factory with moly grease. I greased them and haven't had a squeak since.

My Honda Foreman S developed a squeek in the front end when moving. I could duplicate the sound by bouncing the front end standing still. Was not loud, just annoying.

One day I loaded some large stones in the front box to fill in a hole on a creek crossing. Squeek ceased and has not returned in over a year.... What can I say?

I had a rolling high pitch squeak in my 2000 Rancher that was pretty freaking annoying. Dealer told me it was dirt in the brakes. He cleaned them up and it dissapeared. He told me to hose her down more often. the squeak came back a time or 2 but went away. I do think there was dirt in there.

wheel bearings and shock couplings. weekend project amd i will report back. thanks alot.

Sounds like I need to check my shock bushings on my Foreman too.

WOW, i feel almost stupid all i thought you ever did with a honda ATV is put gas in it and change oil and tires!

i greased the shock studs and they were dry and the brakes and seal i should have taken a picture before i cleaned and relubed the seals with marine grade grease! WOW again.
i think that'll do it!

taking the wife out for a sunday birthday dinner then i"ll do the rear after that!

i took it for a ride and no squeak whatsoever, thanks alot! now i can get back to hunting

What about the wheel bearings, did you check them??

yup, no movement at all and still holding up and not squeaking! what a relief!

this one only has 8k mi and i think it was the outer edge of the front brake seal as there were black marks on the edge and was dryest and not the whole way around such a simple thing to do too?

That's pretty amazing that your wheel bearings are still good after 8k miles, mine only has a little over 3k. Once my first set went I started going through them about every 6 months. I even changed out the knuckles on both sides which included the bearings and they still didn't last, a piss poor design by Honda IMO. Hopefully this last set I put in (sealed) will last a bit longer than 6 months.

no problem and squeak still gone. this one running fine!

we just got another farm vehicle, Honda 450 Foreman and with 1800mi and the steering is HARD to turn! looks like ball joint bearings siezing on both sides to both of us? can Zerks be drilled in the top and bottom and free up? that is our current thought instead of replacing? if so what size?
next project! on chain hoist now.

They are easy and cheap to replace, i've done both sides on mine for the first time since I bought it in 04. You might also want to check the bushing and bearing on the steering stem, which is something I need to do as well. Here's a link to a site that has a ton of info on Honda atv's.

http://www.hondaforeman.com/index.php