Ok, heres my problem, after exhausting troubleshooting with my AWD, I finally decided that there was an internal problem, so I tore it apart and found the armature plate was bent and has uneven wear. So get a new armature plate, right? Umm, no. I thought I had a 2006 sportsman 450, but now I'm not so sure. The armature plate in the 2006 diagram looked nothing like mine, so I decided that I should look at the 2007 and sure enough it looks more like the one I pulled out. So, which one do I need, the PN 3234101 or 3234407. Build date is 5/1/06. Or does it matter? I'm lost right now.

 

Sounds like you got caught in the proverbial mid year change over that Polaris sometimes slips over on people! I've had this happen before too. Here is the 2006 armature plate that shows it's been updated to the 3234101(#26),Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse BUT on the 2007 gear case(has two) if it's built BEFORE 7/24/06 it takes this armature plate.If your plate looks like this(#5 3234407),this is the one you'd need. Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse
Plus you can always enter your 17 digit vin# here and it will tell you most of the info on your vehicle. http://www.purepolaris.com/en-us/Ran...earch-VIN.aspx

 

Well, that doesn't really help much. Truthfully, neither of plates don't look at all like the one that I pulled out. The one I pulled looks like the one that is in the parts diagram for the John Deere parts I found elsewhere on this site (MIA10656). So I guess my question is, what is the difference between all these armature plates? Will any one work or what? By the way, I checked the VIN and it is in fact a 2006.

 

Are you the original owner? If not then someone could have used JD parts if it was repaired before.. If in fact you do have the 2006 and not the 2007 model,then I'd stay with the updated 3234101 armature plate. Changes were almost a constant thing on these gear cases,from armature plates to input covers,clutches,out put hubs,etc which would end up changing the whole replacement gear case number.

 

No, I'm not the original owner, but somehow I highly doubt that the last owner used JD parts since here on Kodiak Island Alaska, there isn't a JD dealer, and I just looked up the parts online and while the armature plate is $18, shipping is another $64. Such are the trials of living at the end of the world. So Monday I'm going to just buy the one for the 2006 at the local Polaris dealer and hope it works. Thanks for your help.

 

Ok, so I replaced the armature plate and my four wheel drive still doesn't work. I'm baffled. I disconnected the connector under the handlebars, and tested the resistance of the coil, and it's reading 25.5 ohms, which is a little higher than it should be, but shouldn't really affect the operation of it I wouldn't think. There is 13.3-14.5 volts coming from the other end of the harness. If I connect a spare battery to the demand drive side of it, the 4wd works, but connected to the bike, it does not. Any ideas?

 

This may or may not be your problem,but sounds like you could have a harness ground problem,short, or breakdown if you're able to hook up the front diff connector with an isolated battery and the awd will then work. You might try jumping another ground wire from the harness ground to the frame.Plus don't over look the awd switch itself and switch harness wiring .You can jump the ground wire from it to another good ground and see if you have awd.You should just be showing battery voltage from the harness connector,12.5 to 12.8 nominal, unless your meters off a little. Seems like ground problems plagued a lot of Sportsman 500s also.Several videos on what people have done .

 

Alright I'll try that when I get home. If that doesnt work, is there any reason that I couldnt just put a switch on the headlight pod that is wired straight to the 12+ side of the battery, then onto the harnesses + connection, then just run the - part of the harness to a ground? or is this something that there are safety functions involved with that I don't want to override?

 

Don't try it that way! Limiter is built in the speedo(and also ecm module if I remember correctly) to keep awd from engaging at too high engine rpms/speed. Also not sure on the 450,but try jumping the brown/white wire to brown in the speedo connector to see if it engages the awd if nothing else works.

 

OK, so heres where I'm at now... I watched the video and figured I'd give it a try. Im not sure what other wires he was talking about but I took and ran a piece of wire from inside the connector's brown/white wire to the ground and then 4wd worked. switch on, it came on, switch off, it goes off. Problem now is that the indicator on the speedo doesn't come on now, and in reverse it stays engaged without using the override switch. I might try jumping the brown/white straight to brown tomorrow and see what happens. Either way, at least I'm making progress now. I was looking at a wiring diagram for this thing and I cant help but wonder if I just have corrosion where the - wire connects to the frame..Oh, and where the hell is splice #1? Something else to look at tomorrow I guess. Anyhow, off to bed. Thanks for all your help so far OPT. I really appreciate it.