I'm looking for a new 4 wheeler, and i found locally a Polaris 400 for $1800.

I want a reasonably fast quad with 4wd, and a scrambler seems like a decent choice, a manual would be preferred, but I can live with the auto trans[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img].

I'm just wondering if there is anything I should look for or be weary of with the scramblers, its a '96, and I haven't been able to look at it yet.

Thanks for any replies.

 

the 1996 does not have concentric drive, which could be bad under certain conditions.

 

but other than that, it seems fine..the scramblers are AWESOME trail machines, and decently fast..you wont be disappointed with the scram!

Welcome to the Forums! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Thanks! I drove my cousins trailblazer and it moved pretty well, i liked the eargonomics, nothing really put me off about it at all.

What do you mean by concentric drive? And what conditions should I worry about? I've gotta do some readin up on all this, but its kinda hard to find stuff on these old(er) quads other than the forums.

I'll mainly be riding trails, and mud. I've got some room to really open it up, but I wont be riding long open trails too much.

Thanks again.

 

The 400 is a great machine and easy to modify for more speed. I have the 2000 2x4 with concentric driveline. I beleive this refers to the relationship of the front to rear sprockets being in alignment so that the tension on the chain stays consistent throughout the swingarms travel.

 

There is a wealth of info on this forum on the Scrambler already. If you want to know something you can do a search and probably find just about anything you want to know. But don't hesitate to ask if you want. Just trying to help you find info faster. Welcome to the forums.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Not saying the quad is not worth it, but there were many improvements made later on. First is , they went to a front drive shaft and one rear chain. That 96 will have three sets of chains. They went to concentric drive. This means the front sprocket (for the rear drive) and swing arm travel in the same plane or concentricly which keeps the chain at a constant length. ( it's not truelly concentric, but for the purpose of the amount travel the swing arm has it's close enough). That does not mean the 96 is bad, but these were significant improvements.

 

hey,there is nothing wrong on the '96 scrammy,i got one of the first built back then in april '96,,,still some good old days.
the '96 was the first year of the new jug with 83x70mm stroke,,
it was lighter,at 490lbs with 4x4 that one is a nice one,,you can have a '96 4x4 at around 450 lbs or so if you remove some stuff,the fact is concentric drive system add a lot of weight,sacrifice handling too,the '96 is the more versatile scrammy.

the concentric is just to keep maintain a longer chain life and sprockets,you wouldn't
loose any speed because of that,just make sure the chain is well
screw in all the time.overall i think the best 400 ever are the '96
and the '99 sport and scrambler,the newer have just some more fit and finish on them.

 

Check the rear swingarm pivots. The left side in particular had a tendancy to loosen up.
Be sure the steering is tight, and if not, see where it is loose
Be sure the brakes work, including the rear foot brake

 

Thanks guys.
Ok, so the '96 does not have concentric drive, which means I should basically check for proper chain characteristics more often to ensure good life? Also, does the 96 have front chain or shaft drive? and say I break my rear chain, I assume it would be fine to drive back in FWD?

Im mostly worried about ruining stuff by drivin through mud and water crossings, I have a creek running through my back yard and a pond behind that, so I will be seeing a lot of water/mud. I doubt i'll be jumping it much, and my aunt has a cottage with a lot of room so whenever i go up there i'll be doing some more wide open stuff, but I dont need too much speed to be honest, I just like reliability.

Thanks for any input[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]