How to adjust valves on the Honda 420 Rancher: 2014, 2015, 2016

Adjusting the valves on 2014, 2015 or 2016 Rancher 420 is a straight forward process.  If you're Rancher 420 has developed a tinging or pinging sound or backfires and has no power it's time for a valve adjustment.  It's pretty common to have to adjust the valves on the Rancher at regular intervals.  You'll only need a handful of basic tools and a feeler gauge to get the adjustment completed.  Watch our video of how to adjust the valves by clicking the highlighted text.  To start with you will need to remove the outer plastic that covers the fuel tank and sides of the newer 420 Rancher, this is all one piece.  I would recommend removing the spark plug so finding TDC will be easier.  Remove the pull start block off plate on the rear of the engine (three 10mm bolts).  Remove the 6mm allen head plug located on the side of the engine near the rear foot brake.  Next remove the valve inspection cover caps with a 15/16 wrench.  Check that you have located the "T" on the crankshaft via the 6mm inspection hole.  The crank can be rotated with a 16mm socket found under the pull start rope block off plate.  You must also make sure you're on the compression stroke and this can be verified by making sure there is just a bit of play in the rocker when you find the "T" mark.  If no play in the rockers rotate the engine another 360 degrees to the "T" mark.  Once you're in the correct position loosen the 10mm nuts on the rockers.  Intake is set at .006 and the exhaust at .009  Take you're feeler gauge and place between the adjustment screw and the top of the valve.  Tighten the screw until you feel resistance on the filler gauge.  Now tighten the 10mm nut back down and recheck.  After completing this adjustment on the intake and exhaust reassemble everything.  Start your engine and let it get up to operating temperature.  If you had a tinging or pinging prior to this adjustment it should be gone now.

How to find and remove the air/fuel mixture plugs on the Brute Force 650

Can't find the air-fuel mixture screw on your Brute Force 650?  This article and the attached video will explain how to locate and access the caps covering the air/fuel mixture screw step by step.  The air fuel mixture screw is located toward the bottom of the carburetors, but can't be adjusted unless you remove the caps or plugs covering them.  Suppose Kawasaki really didn't want folks adjusting on these BF 650 carburetors.  We were able to remove the caps with a dremel and boring bit.  It would be difficult to accomplish this with a drill bit due to lack of space and the awkward angle.  Bore into the plug only a 1/8 inch or less, hold a light on the plug and you should be able to see when you break through the cap.  Be very careful not to go to far and cut into the air fuel mixture screw.  After drilling the hole on the first cap we attempted to pull the cap by screwing a drywall screw into it, unfortunately the hole bored wasn't exact enough for the screw to bite into the plug.  We then removed more plug material and eventually were able to remove it with a pick.  Although the carb located on the front cylinder is harder to access we were able to successfully remove the cap with the screw method.  Here is a link to the: How to remove cap from BF 650 carb video.