Looking at a 2006 500 ho....front wheels look out of camber. Guy told me its normal with Independent suspension. Is this true????

 

Anybody???

 

Mine Does when ridding a wheelie and because i have a puck lift and HD springs

 

it is from the front springs sagging(week fornt springs) and causing them to camber out. you can put heavy duty springs on or spacers to fix the issue.

 

The specs show the quad to have a camber when new. Not a huge one though. I agree that it is probably that the front springs on the McPherson struts are worn. They are soft to start with. I ended up putting HD springs from Polaris on the front and love the ride even better now.

 

Depends on how much negative camber the ATV has as to whether it is normal or not. As said above, the fix for too much neg. camber, which is not normal, is spacers or HD springs. Hard to believe Polaris hasn't addressed this isuue through the years and switched to a progressive spring rate. The fix is not expensive, $6 spacers or $50 HD springs. Do a search on the subject. This is not something that should keep you from buying the ATV. IMO

 

I did a search of this site and one poster said that they come that way from the factory. Claimed the Polaris sets them at a slight negative camber for a better ride, smoothness, etc.

The bike I am looking at only has 850 miles on it> other than this it looks brand new.

 

It's normal as far as I can tell. My 850XP was that way from the beginning. I read an article about it a while back. I will see if I can find it again. Broadfieldpoint is correct - it is set that way on purpose.

 

I think it's normal also- My 06 800 sp only has maybe 200 miles on it and it sits /--\ with the tire fronts pointing out a little.

So I went to the dealer to look at other ones, same thing.

Then I bought the 300 page Polaris Service Manual (part# 9919820) and this is what it says on page 2.26:

"The recommended vehicle toe tolerance is 1/8" to 1/4" toe out. This means the measurement at the front of the tire is wider then the measurement at the rear of the (front) tire. "

 

my 500x2 had the spring sag which affected performance imo. going around a turn made it feel like it was going to roll and plus steering was very hard. I bought polaris heavy duty springs ($50) and it changed the camber of the front wheels and made it less tippy and easier to steer. best thing I have ever down. I really didn't think my springs would be worn out with 200 miles on them but they are a bad design. especially if you have a winch on the front like I do.

Also with your tires leaning like that you will have premature wear on them.