I knew Canada was Great! Now all machines come with 3 years!

 

Well as far as the warranty is concerned I wish I did live in Canada but unfortunately I live in good ol' USA where the warranty is only 6 months and that was over the end of last summer. At any rate I went home from work last night and jacked up the back of the wheeler and tried to see play in the swing arm and could find none. Set it back down and wiggled it back and forth to see if I could get it to make any noise but none was made and I jumped from one running board to the other to see if that made the noise and it didnt so could it be something else where the sound seems to come from either up front on the right side or between my feet on the running boards???? One way or the other I will be checking the bearings before long. Now since I put the 26" Mudlites on and the Dyna CDI I seem to have alot of fun doing wheelies...... Is there any way this could cause damage to the swingarm bearings??? My brother has an 04' Prairie and hes ridden in more muck and water then I have and he has no noise like mine has but he doesnt do wheelies nearly as much. Just an idea. I hope it isnt cause keeping the wheels on the ground just isnt all that much fun. haha Thanks again guys.

 

to my knowledge you are not hurting your swing arm by cdi tires etc... yes mud has a factor however your pressure washer could be your problem. Whne you jack it up If the bolts were loose you would feel it but if the bolts were tight it would seem quite normal. You might want to check your front strut bolts.... I still feel with the info here that it's swing arm bearings ready to go and it will be intermitant at first.

 

I would check your front control arm bolts. Even if they appear tight, give them a quarter turn. This has been seen. Make sure ou also check your motor mount bolts. They may not creak, but are prone to coming loose. The front one at the bottom for sure. If it wears because of loosness, the engine cases may need to be replaced. (worst case scenerio)

 

I had a 2000 Prairie 400 4x4. Last year I had the exact same symtoms...clicking/creaking noise and I could feel it in the floor boards. It was the swingarm bearings. There was no play in the swingarm when I inspected it. I was able to reproduce the noise by pushing down on the back rack and compressing the shock. Anyway, when I took it apart the bearings were completly shot, chunks of metal etc......It was pretty easy to fix. Just remove the swing arm (I removed just the swing arm with the final drive still attatched) get a long rod and tap out the races and bearings from the opposite side. Clean it up, grease it up, tap the new bearings back in and put it back together. Took me about 2-3 hours.

 

On P700 and P650, there are two types of swingarms. They may appear to be exactly same. However, one has several greyish plastic plugs and the other does not. If you are missing any of those plugs, water/mud can easily intrude into the inside of the swingarm and destroy the pivot bearings from inside to out. Even if all those plugs are in the place, they are not 100% water-proof. Like someone said, the bearings don't have to have some play to be considered as bad. If there is a play, then you've been riding on a borrowed time. After servicing the bearings, if your swing arm has those plugs, check each of them and, better yet, seal with RTV if you think they would let water in. Once water gets inside the swingarm, they will stay there for a long time, slowly damaging the bearings.

 

In my case as well it was hard to reproduse the noise and it was very intermitent at first. To make it reproduse the noise pressing down on the rear rack was about the only way to make it do it and at first it would only do it once and then stop. I got about 300 more miles out of mine before it was copletely loose and 100% clear as to what was going on, but that floor board thing is almost a sure sign that, swingarm is your problem.

 

It is your swingarm bearings. I have replaced mine 3x in 3400 miles of super hard, mud/water riding. I got my replacements at NAPA for $15 each side and they come with new tapered races that the factories don't. It is a bitch to press out the old races, but it will make your new bearings last much longer.

ED

 

as for the 3 year warrenty in CANADA that ended with the 04's i ride with a guy that has an 05 team green 700 and it only came with 6 months.
and i say the same about the swing arm bearings.
you should service them at least twice a year if you ride lots and more often if you ride alot of mud.
i just had mine replaced under warrenty.
luckly for me.

 

For you guys from the states out there,for your info the last year for the 3 year warranty on the praire was 2004 in canada,now its down to 6 months just like you guys.Iknow,I own an 04 and an 05.