I've got a 2004 700 Sportsman. I bought the machine used with very few hours or miles on the odometer. From day one the machine has always been difficult to shift. When I say difficult I mean it's not real smooth. I also have a 400 sportsman and the shifter shifts between the gears as smooth as can be. The 700 just feels like it's catching on something when you try to shift it. I've changed the transmission oil and it looked fine. Does anybody have any ideas or has anybody experienced this problem?

 

does it shift easily with the engine turned off. If so, u have a EBS brake issue, or engine allignment is out. if it is still hard to shift with the engine off, it is in the shift drum in the trani, the have been burred up right from factory on some.

 

Also if the idel is turned up too high it will be hard to shift if at all...

 

Ok. I've got the problem fixed and just wanted to provide a little info in case some one reads this with the same problem.

I checked idle speed and it was fine at 1130rpm according to the shop. The atv was creeping while in gear and that supposedly is indicative of a clutch problem. Basically it's trying to engage before you give it the gas making it harder to shift. It did shift quite a bit easier when it was off so I took it in and sure enough they said the clutch needed a shim. Polaris' shims are basically spacers and there is a brass spacer that the tech said should be about .3mm and was .1mm.(I'm guessing on the mm part point is it was worn). He replaced the brass spacer. It took the mechanic 1/2 an hour so the repair basically cost $40. He went on to tell me that it was just from wear which I highly doubt. I bought my machine with 300 miles on it and it had the problem then. It has about 700 on it now and the problem was the same at 700 miles as it was at 300 miles. I know Polaris has a six month warranty and then a one year warranty on final drive. This machine is less than a year old and it wasn't warrantied. I really think Polaris falls down in this area. They seem to not want to warrant anything. They claimed it was from normal wear but I'm not pulling anything or plowing or anything like that. With their logic you would need to take your machine in to have the spacer replaced every 300 miles. Obviously this was a problem in the manufacturing process and they just don't want to pay to fix it. Polaris makes awesome machines, I think the best, but their customer service sucks!

 

your dealer is full of crap!!!! I have worked on polaris atvs for 12 years, never have I replace that 3mm spacer due to wear. Ive never seen one wear out. My shop doesnt even stock that item. There has either been someone in there before u got the bike, or somehow a wrong part had been installed at the factory. by the way, good will warranty (waranty out of the registered time) will only pay parts, u would have still had to pay the labour, and the piece is about 4 dollars canadian.

Dont bad mouth unless u know the whole story.

 

I bought an 06 800 last December and it has been hard to shift from day one. I brought it back and the mechanic claims he took out a shim but it didnt help.I have about 500 miles on it now and its getting increaseingly harder to shift so im takeing it to a differant dealer tomarrow to get this thing fixed once and for all.(Hopefully)
Mine is very easy to shift when the engine is off.

 

Hey rmkcac700,

I appreciate your response trying to get my problem fixed but I don't appreciate your response about bad mouthing Polaris. As I stated, I think Polaris makes the best machine out there but their customer service sucks and I will stand by that. My dealer is my link to Polaris and as you stated he's full of crap regarding this repair. However, he is representing Polaris and that's what I'm being told. I bought this machine at 300 miles and it had that problem. Sure someone could have worked on it before but if that was the case it means it even had a problem before 300 miles. When you spend $8,000 on something it should have a little more longevity than that or the company should stand behind it. That's my point. I've had other issues on other machines that the dealer couldn't take care of and when you call Polaris at their main office they really don't give a flip either. I will say again, I think they make the best machines out there but that doesn't mean they can't improve on other areas. If you take the time to look through some posts you would see that I'm not the only one with this issue and some of them have had this issue since day one.

Maybe you should heed your own advice and keep your mouth shut until you know the whole story. I don't know how it is in Canada but down here it's free speech.

 

rmkcac700,

After reading your post further you go on to say that some pieces have burrs on them from the factory and or the factory might have installed the wrong part. So fixing that would be good will warranty? It sure shouldn't be. If they have something that is burred or wrong from the factory then they should stand behind it and fix it. Why should I pay labor because Polaris didn't have proper quality control? This machine is less than a year old and their warranty for final drive is one year. I guess that part fell under the 6 month warranty but regardless, if it was a problem from the factory they should have stood behind it. The dealers are how Polaris' customers relate to Polaris. You've said yourself that my dealer is full of crap and there are other postings where people have "no confidence in their dealers". So if my dealer is full of crap and what he told me is wrong did I get good customer service? How is the customer service for the guy that posted he purchased a brand new machine with the shifting problem and the dealer he bought it from couldn't fix it so he has to take it somewhere else? I guess in your eyes that's good customer service? I took my first machine in for a 25 hour oil change and the dealer changed my oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, spark plug, gear cases, etc. and charged me $250. I asked for an oil change. When I questioned him on it he told me that was what you were supposed to do even though the manual suggests you just check alot of those items at 25 hours and replace annually. Do you replace all of those fluids and spark plugs on your machine every 25 hours? I called Polaris at their corporate office to get clarification and was told that service intervals were up to individual dealers! How's that for customer service?! They side stepped the issue and put it back on the dealer. I couldn't even get them to tell me what they recommended for service intervals. In addition to all that, I know some people who either have or still do work for Polaris at their corporate office in Minnesota and they will even agree with some of these comments. I admire you for feeling so strong about the company you work for and I think my Polaris machines are awesome. I just really think they could do a little bit more to improve their customer service. That was the point I was trying to make and that's the point I will stand by. If it was just that one "story" that happened to me I probably wouldn't have said anything but it's multiple occasions for myself and plenty of other people. So I've got the full story and several others.

 

lastly , all polaris atvs unless otherwise sold specially have 6 months warranty, and not 1 year on drive. only 6 months total unless u purchased extended warranty. also, Its too bad people here cant just deal with their repairs without winig feeling that the world is out to screw them.
so long

 

Duckhntr,
Does yours shift as easily when its running as its does when its not now that they fixed it? As i mentioned before , i took mine to a differant dealer today and they claim that the alignment etc. was ok. Both dealers agree that it should shift easy like it does when the engine is off , so whats the deal and why cant they figure it out. Are these mechanics actually trained by Polaris or what?
They did change the belt and it did help momentarily until the slippery coating on the belt wore off.
Speaking of customer support. A couple of months ago i called Polaris to let them know about my problem , they did call me back but the guy knew nothing about fourwheelers so it was pretty much a waste of time.
Speaking of quality control , this last mechanic said that 4 out of 10 quads come from the factory with clutchs out of align.