While I had my 98 Xplorer up on jacks today i noticed that the rear swingarm has a little side to side play in it. Thats not normal is it?
It seems to be loose on the right side where it connects to the frame.
Is there a bushing in there or possibly a bearing that can be tightened?
Anyone else ever run across this?

Andy G

 

Well I would say side to side movement in your swingarm is a bad thing.
Do you grease your fittings regularly.I myself think that polaris should have put better bearing in there swingarm you should look for a good set of aftermarket ones or go to a machine shop and see if they can make a set of good heavy duty ones.
I have not had this problem though because I make sure mine are greased very well all the time because I do not like there setup in this area.
But this is my opinion.
Good luck I hope you get it fixed with no troubles.I could be wrong also maybe polaris allows a little tolerence in there swingarm but I do not think so maybe someone with better info will respond.

Have a good one

 

Yep I grease the crap out of it. It may have been like this for a long time and Im just know noticing it or it may have just gotton this way but what i do know for sure is that i dont like it...lol

Andy G

 

I would think that this would put alot of stress on your chain too moving from side to side a little. Have you broke any chains latley actually you have me curious about mine now.Gezz see what ya started now I am paranoid.........lol
I am gonna check mine tomarrow to see for sure.
this could be the cause of alot of people busting chains if there is alot of them like this out there.
Good luck with yours I will post back as soon as I get a chance to check mine.

Have a good one

 

No Ive never broken a chain. I really dont think its got enough play in it yet to stress the chain much. The more I think about it,every once in a while I get a "pop" noise from the rear somewhere that I never could figure out what it was comming from. I think maybe Ive found my problem know.

Andy G

 

It has happened to mine before you can either tighten the bolt up and if there is still a lot of play in it you can buy new bushings for it to tighten the one on the laeft side i think if yuors is the same as mine you have to take the back plastic off and then the front and back of the clutch cover and then you should be able to tighten it

 

Used to have a '97 Xpress (2wd version of the Xplorer). It had the side to side wobble you mentioned, loose on the right side. The first thing to check is the bolt on the right hand side where the swingarm attatches to the frame. I am willing to bet that it is a little loose. For some reason, the right side bolts are prone to loosening. If run too long this way, it will wobble the hole in the frame out, causing more problems. If the bolt is loose, simply tightening it is not a permanent fix. The reason for this is it is kept tight partly by a lock washer under the bolt head, and partly by a locking nut. The best fix is to replace the old locking nut with a new one, as once they work loose, they will tend to do it again. I would recommend the all-steel locking nut as opposed to the Nylock that is on there now. They have a little better holding power. And be sure to tighten it up good.

 

There are 2 bolts that hold your swingarm to the bike. Each bolt attaches to the transmission at the bottom. The outer ends of the bolts go thorugh the frame and have a pos washer welded on the outside. The washer is probably wallered out (you been jumpin' the bike a bunch??). The way you fix it is you remove the rear brake and countershaft balancer and grind off the old washer. You then get a harmonic balancer washer for a Chevy 350 and use it in the place of the pos washer. Put a 3/4 bead around the washer except where the brake caliper will come into contact. You have to modify the harmonic washer by grinding a notch in it so the brake assembly will fit. You probably also want to replace the bolt itself because it has more than likely fatigued. If you do not fix this you will probably have the same problem a friend had. He let the thing go and one day his chain popped when he was standing on it hard, and the chain balled up and popped a hole in his tranny case... OUCH! Talk about a bitch job to replace the tranny halves.