Hi all,

I just bought a 2004 (not 2004.5) Sportsman 400 real cheap. It has a 6" gorilla lift on it now but all the axles are shot so I'm working on "ebaying" it back to stock.

Here's my dilemma:
I have front axles from an 04.5 Sportsman 700 I had but unfortunately they're 2 different kinds of AWD hubs (04 takes hub fluid but 04.5 does not). If I were to swap the entire hub assemblies and put fluid less hubs on the bike I would pretty much end up with a full time 4x4 bike since 04 engages the hubs and 04.5 engages the front diff, correct?

Does anyone see why this wouldn't be an easy swap and/or why it would damage the bike?

Thanks in advance for any input,

Doyle

 

Better off putting it back stock. The awd in the hubs are more reliable than the early gear cases with the plastic roll cages that cracked. Cost is another factor if you don't have the front gear case, struts,hubs,etc.Plus no Polaris has full time awd! The only difference between the two types is the hubs activate when the rear wheel slips, the central awd system roll cage locks under the same conditions and locks the front drive shafts,but both front drive systems unlock when the rear tires regain traction.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I have the front hubs and axles from the 2004.5. If I put them on the 2004 it would not work? Sorry, just trying to understand and avoid having to buy new front axles if possible.

 

Nope,completely different designed drive shafts. The length,shape is different on each one. Your 2004 drive shaft is designed to hold the hilliard,armature plate, plus two bearings. The centralized drive shaft (2004.5) is machined differently,plus the strut assembly itself is different than yours and you would have to have those to even try to make it work,plus it would just end up being a two wheel drive machine if it did work without a complete diff change... Again just too much diference between the two systems.