OK guys I need some imput.
1st, some back ground. I've only been on an ATV once in my life - that was a neighbors 3-wheeler that was so UNstable I swore I'd never get on one again. I have ridden motorcycles all my live. So a week ago a co-worker says he was offered a ATV from a friend of his daughter, but he was going to pass - would I be interested? I think: instead of getting a go-cart for the kids (belatted x-mas) a ATV would be something dad could ride also (dad pictures 4-wheel drive w/hi-lo range work ATV)! Anyway turns out to be a '97 polaris 400 sport (water cooled) with the trailer included for $500. I don't know a thing about ATVs but I figure even if the motor is blown there is $500 in parts, and the trailer is worth $250!

After much pulling, taking apart, head scratching, and taking off the carb and cleaning it, it runs! And it runs like castor oil out a cat's butt! Scary fast! I love it (too bad the kids will nerver ride it)

Ok here's where y'all can help.
over-all condition on a ten scale (not including the following 2 problems) I would rate a "7". Tires are about half-worn, but eveything else is tight, had to replace lights, plug etc. 1st problem: no electric starter. The starter works but does not engage the "flywheel". If this is car-like I think I can handle this problem. 2nd, transmission. NO reverse. Cannot feel it engage, no grinding , nothing! Forward works except when you are going downhill and decelerating it wants to "kick-out" of gear, lots of grinding, you can't force it to stay in gear, you have to pull it out of gear and completly stop and put it back in gear to go again. If you simply stop and let it comtinue to grind it will "kick" itself back in to gear. I have tried to adjust the linkage but it makes no difference. Whats the call on this one? I am fairly mechanical but I dont know how complicated these trannys are. Should I do work myself, or pull tranny and let a techie rebuild, or bail out completly? any suggestions (except selling it to you so I can "get my money out of it&quot would be apprieciated [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] wolfeman

 

Gee, thanks for all the help

 

First off the starter bendix is most likley the problem, The starter has a water drain which is seldom used and probably caused the problem to start with, Go ahead and pull the starter and order a rebuild kit and a new bendix, It will be alot cheaper to rebild it for around $100 than flipping for $250-$300 for a new one. Second on your tranny, Sounds like you have a smoked reverse gear and probably a forward gear too, The trannys are pretty easy to break down and repair, Ive had one apart on a friends Trailblazer with little effort to cange the reverse gear, Do yourself a favor and buy a repair manual so you have complete breakdown of the tranny and all of the servicable parts. You got a GREAT deal at $500, A clean Sport around here will usually fetch $3000, So dont be afraid to sink a few bucks in making it right, Ive seen trannys go for as little as $25 bucks on ebay so patience might pay off in the long run by hunting through the salvage yards and trolling the classifieds online if you dont have the confidence to do it yourself, Im pretty sure 96 -01 trannys should work from several differant models. If you need any help or parts lists drop me an e-mail, I got a few manuals and I could scan some pages for you or send you the Polaris breakdown of the starter and the tranny, Ive been a pro wrench for some years now and always like to help out a fellow 400 rider[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

The starter is a weak point on Polarises. Describe what it is doing when you press the button. I went through a couple of them during my brief ownership of a '95 Scrambler. The problem that I had was the brushes wearing out and since the pullrope seemed to pull out into infinity, I needed that starter to work. If I were you, I'd pull the starter if you haven't already and examine everything about it. Make sure the drive, armature, brushplate and flywheel were all inspected before buying any parts. The Polaris brushplate I bought costs $45.00. Cross reference this, as I did, with Honda and you can get the EXACT same plate for $16.00, easy to do if the dealership sells both brands. As for the tranny, I never had a problem with mine. Is it shifting into reverse position when you pull the stick back? I'd inspect the shiftlever on top of the tranny while moving the shifter. Hope this helps.

 

Wolfeman,

The first thing to remember here is that this is a Forum, not a Chat room. You can't expect instant answers to all of your questions.

That being said, the problem with the starter is an easy fix. I had mine go out on me last year. The brushes and the bushings in the starter motor went bad. It's a cheap fix for under $100 with labor.

The secondary transmisson is shot. You will probably need most of the internal gears and chains for it. Take it to a dealer that you trust to get it done. While the dealer is at it, have him check out the rest of that machine for anything else that could go wrong.

$500 was still a steal for that machine and trailer. I'm sure you'll love it when you get it in running shape.

Enjoy!

 

A great place to go for parts breakdown, and for that matter Polaris Part numbers is at www.partland.com Gives complete parts breakdown as your dealers computer or microfich