I'm selling my P.O.S. 02" grizzly. Thinking about SP600 or 700. Someone told me they're no good in deep water/mud. Something about slipping belts and water in belt housing. They can't be any worse than my sputtering, stalling, vapor locking grizzly. Any comments? Also, If the front diff. automatically locks both wheels when the rear wheels slip, when will it unlock? I guess this means you either have 2wd or true 4wd (no limited slip). This sounds OK but what if your on a snow packed trail and the rear wheels are constantly slipping - would the front be locked in the whole time? If that's the case the machine must be really hard to steer. Sometimes limited slip 4wd is a good thing in some situations. I'm just not familiar with Polaris's 4wd system. Any comments?

 

You CHOOSE 2 or 4 wheel drive. If you select 4x4, then the front diff engages when the rears loose grip. They are not like a true locker in that when turning, the outer wheel can still overrun making turning easy. You won't have any problem steering. As far as water in the belt, that was only a problem many years ago. Unless you have damaged the clutch cover or O ring, the only way to get water in is the clutch air intake and that's pretty hard to do. Also, I believe all the new ones have a drain plug in the clutch cover just in case you do get water in it.

 

are you kiddin, there f*k*N awsome bro. they handle mud and water like nothin else. thats if you get the 4x4

 

The 4x4 on my 99 sp works great, but the bike is very heavy 700 lbs. The newer sp's have a drain in the clutch case for water, I plan on putting a very short valve stem on my cover when I change the belt for the first time(Core removed) to drain water. As far as the belt drive I think they are superior to any other belt drive out there.

 

The Sportsman is darn good in water/mud. You pretty much have to stop in water up to the side panals to have water in the clutch (ben there bought the book). Cats are pretty decent also. There stock tires leave a bit to be desired though.

 

All ATV's have their goods and bads, but without a doubt the Sportsman is king of the mud. In the mud, it's weight is an advantage. I live in East Texas with lots of river bottom mud that one can hardly walk through. My 600 Sportsman has yet to let me down. I've been in H2O up to the gas tank and my belt has never gotten wet. I used to own a little Honda 300 4x4 and have ridden my dad's AC 300 4x4 and they do not compare to the mudding ability of the Sportsman. I test drove all brands af atv's before buying my 600 and the Sportsman was by for the easiest to steer while in "True 4x4". It even steered better than some with limited slip.

Just my opinion....

 

They are exceptional in the mud and water. You will not be disappointed with the Sportsman. Ihave had two and will own nothing else. I think the 600 will be my next machine.

 

Without a doubt Polaris rules the mud, I've buried mine a couple of times and always got out under my own power.... add a heelclicker and it's un-stopable. I've also had mine in water up to bottom of the seat and not had any problems, and if you get in too deep hop off and left up on the back it will have enough boyancy to allow you to pull it back before it sinks.

 

I mainly ride my predator. but It was raining real bad so i took my dads sportsman out and i was amazed at how smooth it was for the hole ride. And i took it to water about two feet deep and nothign really happened. The Sportsman is an amazing machine i dont know of anyother utility quads but i sure love that sportsman

 

i ride a scrambler 500 but while i was getting mine serviced the man who owns the business let me ride his magnum 330 4x4 and i put it through a muddy wet hell,it had 27's and some kind of clutch kit and it handled mud and water about 2 feet deep so i can imagine that any sportsman will handle mud and water really easy

did i mention how comfortable it was?

p.s.i went to a mud bog before christmas with some buddys and we were like the only ones on polaris' and the big honda foremans and rubions were getting stuck and the next person to run had a sportsman 500 4x4 COMPLETELY stock and he hit the same mudhole going through forward once and backwards once,so the next bog we went out to yesterday i think i saw about 6 or 7 of those honda riders on magnums and sportsmans and they all did well