Hey all-

I just bought a used 2006 Sportsman 450 from a dealer. He said the machine rides perfect and has no known problems and the recall work was already done.

It has 551 miles and looked like it's in great shape, but when I got it home and went to ride it a bit it seems to have a shimmy in the front end especially in low gear/speed. When I go a bit faster it goes away. I haven't tried high gear yet. I contacted the dealer and he said all Polaris's have a vibration to them. This seems like a bit more than just a vibration tho.

There are NO rear brakes on this machine either - do I need to bleed something out? Shouldn't the brakes last more than 551 miles? The fronts are fine. One last thing -I rode it real easy for about 3-5 minutes in 80-85 degree weather and the fan kicked on. Is that normal?

Thanks.

 

I put about a mile on it his afternoon and if I put it in High gear, it doesn't vibrae/shimmy at all. Weird. Seems like a good machine so far. Still no brakes tho - I emailed the dealer to see what he wants to do. I'm certainly not paying for it.

 

are you saying theres no rear brakes because nothing happens when you use the foot pedal or the hand lever?

the foot pedal is really a bad design. they have problems keeping the system air tight. but the hand lever should work like a charm

 

I rarely if ever use the foot pedal... mostly because it doesn't do much when depressed.

 

I've heard the rear brake needs to be bled all the time. Even though the front brake accounts for 70-75% of the ATV's stopping powere, the rear brakes are a necessity on my property due to the fairly steep hilly nature of the terrain.

Besides, part of the issue is that the dealer said the machine worked perfect, but there are no rear brakes at all. The pedal just goes down without even slowing the machine down.

 

I have a 2006 Polaris Sportsman 450 mine has the same vibration but i never use low gear since i put mud lite XL tires on it. when the atv sits for a while the rear brakes will need bled.... once you get them bled every few weeks just pump the brake a few times and that should help so you dont have to get them bled very often. I have never had a problem with my atv i got it when it had 200 miles on it and now it has 5000 miles.

 

I got two 2006 Sp 450's and no real issue other than Thre PDM Black boxes.....on mine and my wife just had the recall done once.
as for the shake in the front.......Some say that tire SLIME may cause this .Don't know for sure never did use it.......But they say it may settle at the bottom and throw the tire off balance if it sits too long and hardens there.......Caper.....

Good luck with the 450's like both of mine.........

 

You can try jacking up the front and spinning the tires. You might have a tire out of round or a slightly tweaked rim.
Also how agressive are the treads on the tires?? An agressive tire will cause vibrations at lower speeds on hard surfaces.

 

Thanks for the advice - I took it to my regular mechanic and it turns out the right tie rod was bent. It needed to be serviced, but all in all he said it's in very good shape. I just got it back last night and will ride it this weekend.