Hey all! I'm a fairly new Polaris owner and need some help! I was referred here and was told to ask for OPT's help. Well here we go... I have a 13 sportsman 800 and have a couple issues that I could use some help in solving. First, I was greasing the bike yesterday and my front axles are extremely loose in the front diff (in my opinion). I can grab them close to where the joint goes into the differential and can move it like a 1/4" up and down and side to side. The AWD works fine and I can randomly hear a clunk when going over bumps, I assume from the axle being loose. I pulled the axles out and can tell that the spline coupling in the diff is not moving, it's just like the splines are worn out. Is this much play normal? I was going to put new axles in but have been reading that some play is normal and don't want to throw money at it if it isn't an issue.

Second, I was riding it last week and after a few hours of riding all of a sudden my battery light started flashing. I made it back to camp and shut it off and the battery was dead. I charged it for an hour and went back out riding, after a mile or so the light started flashing again, and would flash when my fan came on, then stop blinking when the fan shut off for a while, then it just kept blinking at all times. This time it started to spit and sputter on me and finally died. I had my cables with me and jumped it off another bike and after it started, no more battery light and it was fine for the rest of the day even after it got dark and i used the headlights. I don't have any extra lights or radio, does have a winch and manual fan override switch. I was thinking it is probably the voltage regulator, but since it randomly works I am at a loss... any ideas?

 

You're going to have a little play in the cv joints as this is the weak link in the system. Drive shafts just by there nature have to have a little play,if solid,no give,you could have damage to front diffs and constant front wheel bearing wear among other things.I'd check connections at the battery along with any wiring issues at the regulator. Must be charging at least 14 volts back to the battery.It can be charging but if battery has an open cell, it won't be able to maintain a charge. All the systems including the fan have to have a constant 12 volts to operate properly.I'd also have the battery load tested if the regulator is charging. The battery light only comes on for a reason, when you have a problem somewhere in the system.

 

I went to Cobra Axle yesterday and took my old axles with me and found my inner splines were a bit worn. I had them rebuild both of my axles and bought one of their new ones and it definately took a lot of the play out once I got them installed. As far as the battery, I had it load tested, I have 14.5 volts output at high idle and 12.6 at idle, but that is with the light not flashing...It only flashed when I am out riding and do not have my voltmeter...lol It's just throwing me off that its an intermittant problem. I am going to check all connections next.

 

Under a load or traveling slow with fan kicking on can sometimes take a load on an electrical system,especially if you're at low speeds and it's not charging enough back to the battery. Just check battery and regulator connections along with checking the main ground wire from the battery to the frame and smaller ground wires under the front panel where they terminate.

 

On a 2013! How many miles? I can understand a CV joint and barely that, but the spline that goes into the diff is odd.

My front axles never have been removed once on my 2001 yet.