Just bought a new sportsman 500 efi a week ago and would like a little advice on breaking it in. I'm sure there is a break in period so any advice would help. I hate to do anything to mess it up after just buying it. Thanks in advance. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

the biggest thing is to not hold it at wide open for very long and to vary the rpms while driving it for the first say 100 miles. other wise drive it normal and use low range while hauling or while going thru the hard trails. change the oil as the book says and you'lll be fine. imo.

 

Look in your owners manual it has instructions on proper breakin , you don't want to baby it but when i broke in my quads i didn't go over half throddle untill i had over 100 miles on them ; the main thing is to vary the speed during the breakin period !

One thing about the quads with the CVT type belt drives , they're easier to breakin because you're always in the right powerband ; unlike quads with manual shift geared transmissions that you can lug the engine if you're not in the right gear at all time's !

I've owned both so i know that the autos are always in the right powerband , and this helps with breakin and there are al lot of different members on the forums who will have different opinions about this subject ; but the way i've described for breakin has worked fine for me !

So you will have members with different thoughts on how to breakin your new quad , so just have fun riding your new quad ; and be careful so you will live to have a long and healthful lifetime of this sport i love so dearly !

I see that stendori has weighed in on this subject , he has firsthand knownledge on the Polaris atvs ; so i would say he has firsthand experious on the proper breakin of these quads so he would no more about this subject so have a good time with your new quad !.....

 

Agree with above - do not hold it wide open for very long - vary rpm's - low range while hauling or on hard trails.

 

Congrats on the new quad. I wish I had one. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] You should avoid anything where you would even want to use low range IMO. No mud bogs or pulling stumps the first two days for me. But like everyone says, vary the throttle position, and no WOT or very little. There's a lot of excess friction in new engines and they heat up too much if you aren't careful. After the rings are seated and everything is broke in, you can go nuts on it. Have fun.