Is it just me or has anyone else experienced bent steering parts on their Polaris ATV's?

My wife hit a good sized tree while climbing a hill at high RPM with the 91 Trail Boss and
severely twisted the steering shaft. The shafts stops turning where the tie rods connect to steering shaft. The wheels turned with great force from the impact with the tree and caused the shaft to twist.

I was out on the 96 Sport 400 and my left wheel caught a tree root. This snapped the steering from my hands, the 400 veered left, flipped me off and rolled and bounced over landing on its side. I was initially shocked as there appeared to be no visable damage. Yesterday out riding I nopticed the right controll arm, trailing arm slightly bent.

Seems to be a weak area to me. Especially where the tie rods connect to the steering shaft. The force of the impact when the handle bar dug into the ground and flipped the 400 was strong. This too slammed the knuckle into the steering stops and slightly bent it. Coincidence or a design flaw?

I own 2 Polaris ATV's and both are now damaged in the same place. Anyone else experience this? Unfortunately the steering stops are part of the frame and cannot be replaced. Maybe I should slow down...

Any comments appreciated.

Keith

 

Keith,

I really hate to break this to you, but I don't think ANY quad (yes, even Hondas) are meant to take on trees head to head. They just aren't made to do that. Chainsaws maybe...

Seriously though, the reason behind the parts seeming so flimsy is because they are designed to be. Now, before you start get tuned in, let me ask you what would be cheaper to replace a whole frame or just a A-arm? The A-arm of course. If the A-arm didn't give way or the steering stem or the tie rods, you'd find yourself spending a lot more money and time replacing the frame.

FYI- Hot Seat makes a Chromemoly steering stem that just might fit your bill. It says it is stronger but lighter too. No price is listed as yet, but give them a call or visit their website. Hope this helps!

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Mike Chero 97 Polaris Sport 400L/ 97 Polaris Trailblazer 250ES

http://users.penn.com/~hal9000/mikeetta.html

 

I had to take an hour off and go back to re-read the original post.....you really believe that maybe there's a design flaw that would cause components to bend after hitting a tree or rolling a machine after hitting a root?????? Come on, you're kidding aren't ya.....

[This message has been edited by Dave Iskierka (edited 10-13-1999).]

 

You guys are right I guess. What was I thinking? Smoking a tree? Flipping? I just started riding quads last April so this is fairly new to me. I have ridden dirt bikes for years and flipped, crashed and beat on them. I rarely had problems like this.

I never stated that this was indeed a design problem, I was merely fishing for responses.

Thanks for the info on the Hot Seat steering shaft. I am going to look into it. Thanks for your input,now I know what to expect in the future if I flip.

Again, this was the first sign of any extra maintenence on my Sport 400 so I was just inquiring about it.

Thx. Keith

 

I flipped my Sport 400 two weeks ago. I bent the top four inches of my steering post. Hot Seat's Chromoly steering post is 189.00, the stock Polaris is 40.00. Since I dont plan on flipping it again, I went with the stock item. I also bought HDP billet aluminum bushings instead of the stock plastic ones. Topped off with some new aluminum bars, I'm hoping for good weather this weekend to put it all togeather and maybe sneak in an afternoon flying session.

 

I ride w/ Susuki quad racers & Honda 250R & the A-arms wont break off as eaily as the Polaris quads. My friend hit a stump so hard it spun him 180* & threw him 15 feet off of his Susuki which isn't even built as well as the Honda & it damaged nothing, on the quad that is. If it were a Polaris quarenteed the A-arm would have broke off. I barely caught the edge of a tree going about 7mph on my Polaris & it broke the very small weld on very thin metal that holds on the A-arm on so the A-arm broke off. No way would this have damage anything on the Honda or even the weaker Suzuki quads. Just an observation.
I have grazed just twice, objects that ripped the handle bars out of my hands & damaged nothing on the Polaris so there is some strength there. If I would have had the Aaen steering dampner on at the time, it would have not jerked the handlebars from my hands in either case. These dampners work great in these cases. I do agree about wanting the A-arms to break off quickly before damaging anything else but I just wish it were a little stronger I guess.
Jim Maloney 98 400 Scrambler

 

quads are not dirt bikes and you cannot treat them as dirt bikes because they weight a lot more and weight has a lot to do with the damage that the quad receives in a crash.

 

Jim,

I hit a tree with my 85 LT250R and it bent the steering tie rod end. out on the wheel. The A-Arm didn't bend, just the piece on the Tie Rod End.

Suzuki's will bend. Just the A-Arms are stronger I guess. Also, the LT weighs around 300 pounds where a polaris weighs considerably more.

RM

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99 400EX 95 Scrambler 400 85 LT250R