Rancher 420 ES front end clunk

[Jeni Lynn]

2012 Rancher ES-- only when driving in 4x4 when I get to about 15-18mph there is a loud clunk in the front end and a hard downward jerk. Its almost as if its trying to downshift itself. It doesn't do it in 2 wheel drive.  I have checked the angle shift sensor and applied dielectric grease to it, changed the front end differential fluid (the old still looked good and clean) checked and adjusted the clutch. Hopefully someone can give me some more ideas. 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Jeni Lynn

[Frank Angerano]

Have you taken the differential cover off and inspected everything ? Also try to get the bike off of the ground (all four wheels) safely and put it in 4wd give a little throttle maybe you can listen in and see what’s happening.   

[Jeni Lynn]

haven't taken the cover off yet. I read on a different forum to check the psi in your tires that it could put stress on the front end. Mine were very high so I let air out to put it back at Honda Specs.  It seemed to help a. little... but now its more prominent when I'm slowing down.  

 

[Frank Angerano]

Unfortunately your going to have to go through all of the components of the drive train to see what’s going on. Inspect everything, drive shafts, universal joints etc. 

You could be doing more bad then good by running it.  I don’t think that the tires would do that but what I would double check and super important is the size of the tires.  If the fronts are severely worn out it could cause a problem because 4x4,s must have all four tires rotating at the same time.  So if one set of tires are worn out the tires essentially become smaller and rotate faster then the others. That can screw up the 4x4 

last thing I would recommend is double checking all of your motor mount bolts, shock mounts and bushings etc. make sure nothing is jumping/banging because of a broken or missing bolt.  

[Jeni Lynn]

ok thank you.... i'll get on that and let ya know. Thank you

 

[Frank Angerano]

Your welcome.

I hope it’s something relatively simple.

Any questions you might have ask away.

Also post some pics as it makes it easier to visualize  something with a pic to help you out and don’t be shy there’s no such thing stupid question related to a quad repair. 

Good luck and yes please keep us posted.  

 

[Conner ozborn]

I believe frank is right, best way is to just start going through all the components for things like front and rear end sounds

[cam21smith]

On 6/2/2019 at 5:41 PM, Jeni Lynn said:

ok thank you.... i'll get on that and let ya know. Thank you

 

Did you find any solution? I have a 2020 that does the same thing.