A little late to the subject, but I thought you would like to hear from a former solid axle (1998 Arctic Cat 500) to an IRS owner (2004 AC 500). Initially I was pleased because it has greater ground clearance. The ride is actually a little stiffer than the old one, but there is less leanin the turns and sidehills. The problem popped up when I was running it in the snow. It has so many linkage connection points compared to the straight axle that it actually loads up then releases. If you have ever backed up to a stump or immovable object and gave it a pull the quad starts to hop and jerk etc. It took me three different dealerships and a number of visits to the shop to let it sink in that this is the way it is going to be. Apparently this is a phenomenon that Polaris also has. The fix is to put a fair amount of weight on the back rack and upgrade your tires to a mud/snow tire. It also helped to reduce the spring tension because the suspension was forced to the top end of it's travel and would not allow for any give in that direction.

In summary though, I would love to have my old quad back because it would plow through much more snow than this one will and no teeth rattling hopping when running in 6-12 inches of snow.


Farmboy

 

Hey Farmboy,
I would of said your crazy but I've experianced the same thing as you on my kodiak when I was pulling a very heavy load and when pushing a very heavy pile of snow... Didn't bother me but I have noticed the bumping jerk.

 

You guys should have got the 650 like me, its heavier, so you dont have this problem!