Recently purchased a new 08 HO Sportsman 500[Carby version] and I'm wondering if the motor revs to speed are normal for this quad? In high range on a straight hard road it is indicating 90 Kilometers per hour to 6800/7000 revs and at 70K's its indicating a bit under 6000 revs. In low range, at 6000 revs, it indicates 40 K's per hour
Sorry about the K's per hour but in Ozz, thats what we work to. To me, this doesn't seem right and the quad seems to rev high for the forward speed.

Now, the belt is not slipping and everything in there is supposed to be working as it should.

I'm new to this forum and to 4 wheelers so all help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Yes low range is slower than high range.

 

low range isnt ment to be used for fast speeds as it gears down the transmission to have pulling power or to creep along. i would say its working fine and your not used to how it works. you shouldnt be going more then 15 to 20 mph in low anyways or it works the engine harder then it needs to be. imo.

 

I understand low range is only for low speeds, I'm mostly interested in high range as this is where I will be most of the time. It just seemed to me that 55 mph shouldn't need 6800/ 7000 revs as thats a lot of revs for a 500cc engine !!

I am concerned that the 500 is just revving too hard in general and that surely premature engine wear is going to result as well as MPG being higher than what the engine could do if it wasn't geared so low!!

Is it possible to alter the gearing in the 500 to achieve lower revs??

 

Welcome to the forum, Chopper from Oz. You shouldn't even try to go 40 kph in low. 30 clicks <u>maybe</u> but not 40. I wouldn't reccomend running at full throttle in high for long either. Mine will do 70 K at half throttle so I consider that to be a good cruising speed. I don't push it very long at full throttle because it uses twice as much gas going from 45mph to 55 and causes a lot of unnecessary wear and tear. If you put larger diameter tires on it will increase the top speed while sacrificing low-end torque. Going from 25" to 26" tires would be 4% faster, and 27" would be 8% faster. It also throws off the speedometer so it won't show the actual speed. You would have to add 4% or 8% to get the proper reading. You can check with a GPS to verify it.

Frank

 

Thanks Frank. Whats happened is that my dealer told me that the 500 would do 60 MPH and when I got it home, I quickly found out that unless the motor would rev to 7000 plus revs, than there was no way it would do 60 mph so then, I was thinking something was wrong with this 500 so that why the high revs testing was done so that we knew what it would do. Thanks to the answers so far, I believe my 500 is 'normal' !!!
I am disappointed that it does rev so hard as I believe it could rev a lot less without sacrificing too much torque as the 500 's motor is obviously running so very easily to be able to rev over 7000 when 6000 should be top revs !!

Thank you for the going to bigger tires Frank as that could be an option! What revs is your 500 indicating at 70 Ks ??

Another question, has anyone found that revs to speed altered from brand new to run in ??

 

My quad was stolen. I can't tell you how fast it revs, but after the belt gets worn down and it's narrower, your top speed might be closer to 50 mph than 55. I never saw a Sp 500 do 60 mph on level ground on a dirt road, but it might do it on pavement.

 

My quad was stolen

Sorry about that Frank !

 

Sad to say I'm getting used to it after 4 thefts in 2 years. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

High revs can be attributed to the Polaris PVT clutch. My 800 turns about 3,000 RPM at 25 mph and about 5,000 RPM while cruising along at 40 mph. The PVT is designed so the engine is always operating at its most efficient RPM, which means that it will always be revving higher than a transmission where you can pick your gear, like a Honda.

You can change some components in the clutch (springs, weights) so it acts differently, maybe that will give you lower revs at higher speeds. Personally, I would love to make my clutch shift faster so it revs lower at any given speed.