I just finished installing new magnets. I have power and ground showing up top at connections. Hilliard clutches appear to be ok armature plates look fine. I torqued the wheel bearing nuts to 100 inch pounds as manual suggested and I can not get any rotation of the front wheels in 4 wheel drive. Please help

 

Ok how is the power down at the coil near the strut, it should match voltage up top especially if you are reusing a pair of used magnetic coils, if they are new I see no need to check the wiring at the strut. It will not work correctly at all if the sleeve over the coil is not flush with the inner magnet pole "the part the magnetic coil goes over" (0 to .001" max using a flat edge) a excessive gap between the two will cause the AWD will not engage. I have used the armature plate as a reference and a light or a flat edge checking at 3 points around the sleeve/inner pole on the strut. It is easy to drive the outer sleeve over the magnetic coil too far in which I've done but the sleeve is adjustable in or out to meet specs & just reseal it. You can test the magnets with the hub off, it should take some effort to pull the armature plates off with AWD activated with key on & engine OFF and in gear. The armature plates should be checked for any warpage on a flat surface or excessive grooves. How is the cage and rollers, any rust or burrs on the rollers? Should be easy to rotate smoothly over the center cam "large nut" on axle splines. Is the spacer in the cage free, it can freeze up... Just my 2 cents, sure some others will chime in with some helpful tips but from experience the position of the seal sleeve is very important & easy to overlook

 

Like 79 hugger mentioned coil sleeve to inner pole gap has to be right or engagement can be erratic or none at all. If nether wheel is engaging though it might be another common problem on loosing ground from the connectors down to the coils on these thin ground wires. This is where you might try a better grounding connection also if everything in the hubs check out. I'd splice these in a better way such as shrink wrap rather than a cheesy wire nut like this guy uses in his video.

 

Also it cannot engage unless the rear wheels loose traction/slip, so testing AWD with the engine off, key on and in gear will with the front jacked up will not work just by spinning the wheel, the front axles have to rotate/the rear wheels have to loose traction. It can be tested with the ATV SAFELY and again SAFELY secured and all four wheels are off the ground, if you notice the rear wheels will make several revolutions before the front hubs actually lock. I see the magnetic coil as a braking system. The roll cage in the hub on the axle splines rotate freely all the time in 2wd but when AWD is activated and the armature plate is magnatized to the coil, it slows/stops rotation and the cage rollers ride the ramps of the center hex nut (ratchet out) and lock into the interior of the hub causing it to now turn off engine power via AWD and they retract back with the help of the garter spring and loss of voltage to the magnetic coil or the rear wheels gain traction, as it says "on demand". This is how I perceive the operation, I'm kinda bad at explaining stuff...lol

 

You've explained it pretty well.. If the awd button is on the armature plate is magnetized at all times and the system is just waiting for the axle speed to overcome the wheel speed then the cam in the hilliard ramps the rollers up and lock into the hubs,then kick out when either the axle speed and wheel speed are the same or if the awd button is turned off cutting power to the coil and releasing pull of the plate. That's why I always tried to tell new customers not to have the awd button on at all times,turn it on as needed as armature plates will magnetize quicker if you do. Just like leaving a screw driver against a magnet for awhile and it becomes magnetized. Takes a while for the screw driver to loose its magnetism. Same thing can happen on awd systems on first take off in the mornings.One hilliard can grab from either a magnetized plate or cold hub fluid or a mixture of both. You have to drive in reverse a little to unlock it,then you can go forward normally. Plus does the same thing on the newer centralized system if you leave the awd switch on all the time. A lot of times though what I told customers went in one ear and out the other as they were excited about their new machines and didn't have time to listen to an old mechanic.

 

I totally agree with you on not leaving the AWD on all the time, when I bought my old Polaris it was used by the previous owner in MN to plow snow and stayed in AWD all the time and the plates themselves were magnetized and it did create issues which I fixed, it would be out of AWD and one hub out the other would lock in out the blue, sure enough the plates would pick up small screws. The day I bought it the owner said it's hard to steer and pulls to one side even out of AWD, I knew the armature plates were likely magnetized but I never said, he knocked off a aditional $300, I was looking for a deal

 

I'd take a deal like that too.. A lot of people that aren't mechanically inclined don't realize that a couple plates for around 20 bucks and a little of your time would solve this.

 

Thanks for the replies. I will check your suggestions on clearances. They are new coils and I think I may know where I went wrong. I siliconed between the wound coil and the sleeve instead of just where the sleeve mounts to the strut. Thinking back on that I'm guessing I wasn't thinking.

 

Doesn't hurt to have a little silicone behind the coil to hold it in place on the strut,a little around the coil,but the majority needs to be in the solid strut area to hold the sleeve in place.Wipe the excess silicone from the rear of the sleeve as it's set in place. Too much silicone around the coil could possibly interfere with magnetism on the sleeve face,but may not be the problem. When you have it pulled down have the key on and in gear. Hold the armature plate close to the coil and hit the awd switch. Plate should pull to the coil. If it doesn't, recheck sleeve to inner pole gap,should be flush or close to it. Again if both wheels don't engage it still could be a ground problem.