Ok Guys you gotta help me on this one. I drive a Sportsman 500 with fair rubber under it. We go riding down in southern Ky where the hills are just a tad off 45 degrees at best . I have been riding a few times with one or two of the folks who live there and they all drive Honda's. I have slid down too many hill's but lately I slid down a hill and it was in front of 14 of them all with Honda's and not a one of them slid at all. I usually go at it in low with all wheel drive on which I know does nothing unless the wheels slip while pulling. I'm holding my break in slowly at first but I immediatly start to slide as soon as I start down hill. One of them stopped half way down hill and started backing up the hill just to taunt me. Going up steep hills is just as bad, I'm spinnnig tires and they putter on up. After some taunting around the camp fire that night I was told that maybe it's because Im running too much air in my tires. They are mostly going with 2.5 lbs and i'm running 5.5 lbs on my stock tires. Hell some of them have almost bald tires so I know it's not a tread issue. Help me out here guys to keep my Polaris standing up

 

Weight, tread, and tire pressure all make significant difference. Your likely heavier, less aggressive tread and have harder tires then your cousins wid Hondas.

 

I'm assuming your sliding is rear wheels only? This being the case your problem is a common one. The EBS system works on the REAR wheels only and unfortunately that's the nature of the beast. However there are a couple of way's to descend really steep hills safely. If the hill is very steep I put it in neutral and use the brakes to control my decent. I find this to be the safest of all. Another way is to start down the hill, stop and with the AWD button activated select reverse gear. Now accelerate hard enough to engage 4WD in other words spin the rear wheels which engages the front wheels. Hit and hold the brakes on, select LO or HI range, release the brake and vwalla your locked in 4WD.
The down side to this is 1, the steering is much stiffer and 2, if one wheel becomes unlocked for whatever reason it will pull very hard toward the remaining locked wheel. Give it a try and decide for yourself which is the appropriate solution.

 

I second the reverse option, just don't give it any gas after you reverse it to lock the hubs, or it will unlock them.

 

Try using high range when descending steep hills (or neutral if very steep). That should help you out on the sliding part. The reason the hondas are able to creep down the hills is that the 4wd hondas have engine braking to all four wheels. What happens with the sportsman would also happen to 2wd hondas. Another contributor to some of the downhill skidding w/ polaris is that the front and rear brakes are linked. As you go down the hill and squeeze the front brakes tightly, you are also applying the rear brake. Because of the steep down hill grade, there is very little weight on the rear wheels and applying the brake will cause them to lock up. The same concept is true for 2wd hondas who use the rear brakes to descend hills. Basically, the rear brakes provide very little stopping power when going downhill.

 

You slide because of the weight. Polaris makes their ATVs a bit heavier than everyone elses. It also depends on the kind of tires you have on em. My Sportsman 500 has Giant nubs on the tires for grip. but if ya wear em down they tend to ball out and slide a bit more.