I recently bought a 99 Scrambler 400 4x4. 1800 bucks and looks like new! I've never owned a 4x4 or a Polaris. I also have no owner's manual. Have a problem and a few ques's. With 4x4 OFF and going from reverse to forward, the machine VERY strongly pulls to the left for a while then quits. It's not the brakes either. Also, when loading into the truck, with 4x4 OFF, the left front wheel began to spin! What could be going on here? I'm not even sure how the 4x4 works on this thing. Apparantly it has a front differential? Also, isn't there a way I can re-wire it to "lock-in" the 4x4 when I push the button, rather than whatever it does now? Thanks for any input and for putting up with my newbie questions!

 

If you do a search, you should be able to find out why you cannot "lock in" the awd. The pulling thing is one of your hubs staying engaged when it should not not be, and that would probably be your 3 wheel drive thing too. No front differential, thats what makes polaris's awd so cabable. Ill look for a few of those threads, and post them when i find them.

Edit: try this one, it might give you an idea: Clicky

 

you need to change your front hub fluid

 

yes,

change fluid or at least check your fluid level. you should be ok when its full.

 

I've never noticed it because I'm always spinning whenever there's a need for AWD, but I read somewhere that the front wheels aren't supposed to lock in until the rear wheels spin 20% faster than the front. Is this true or was I reading about another model?

 

Also, the front hubs are engaged by electromagnets controlled by your 4wd switch. One of the magnets on mine went bad and my one front wheel would engage under high rpm even with the switch in the OFF position. Just something else to consider.

 

Excellent link Tyler, I just learned a lot.

 

The magnets arent really what turns the awd on, they actually kind of allow it to engage. when u turn awd on, the magnets turn on, but u arent in awd until your rear wheels spin. i think that if you dont have fresh/clean hub fluid, or something wrong with your hub, or an incorrectly adjusted one, the awd can kick in when the back wheels are spinning fast enough, even in 2wd. i have heard of people spinning around on frozen lakes in 2wheel, only to have one front hub suddenly engage, damaging their clutch and CV joint. so make sure you change to fluid in the front hubs (pre-04.5 models) however often it says to.