As I sit here writing I am sunburned, bruised and tired so you know it was a good day. The problem today was the awd. Its a 2002 sportsman 700. The light is on and it works occasionally (which made the ride exciting, like a good game of russian roulette) I see a wire that goes into the front diff that appears damaged where it goes in. I think this is probably the problem but how do I fix it? I dont see a connection I can repair or replace, do I have to disassemble the front differential to fix it?

 

i have heard of a few bikes getting the wires broke that power the front end. if you cant slice then and reseal them i would guess you have to pull it apart to get to them. just make sure they are sealed real good.

 

ok thats what I figured, I'm not afraid to tackle the job but I would like to know what to expect inside. Is there a bunch of stuff that will fall out, what does the wire attach to? any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

sheepdog has taken his apart a couple of times so maybe he can tell you better. maybe im him if he doesnt respond on this.

 

The wire attaches to a electomagnet coil, like that in a solenoid. No moving parts such as electric motors. Before tearing into it, I'd check to see if you are getting 12V to the plug that connects the front drive to the rest of the vehicles electronics. If the front drive unit isn't getting voltage, then the issue is something else in the electical system. The transmission switch is part of the power control circuit for the front drive unit. May not hurt to check the switch. Does the HLNR indicator work properly? If it is just a damaged wire, you may be able to solder a new wire to it. If you remove the entire front drive unit, you can get to the coil by removing the cover. The coil is pressed into the cover and/or glued in...not sure how easy it is to get it out so you can access the side where the wire is. Heating the cover may help loosen it. The rest of the unit consists of an inner race, outer race, cage and a bunch of cyclindrical rollers. If you dump all that out, you will have a bit of mess.