Hey guys,

Since I decided on buying a sportsman, What are the differences between say the 97's and 2000. Any major differences??? Thanks again for the input.

-Jared

 

Oh lets see some diffs are the brake handel steel to plastic, clutch covers are different . Rear brake caliper and pads are different, front struts are different brand, air box is different, some wiring ,tie rod ends, brake rotors throtel assyembly is plastic not metal. 4 wheel drive sylector is a switch now, not push button and cv jonts in rear now not u joints. and less grease fittins for starters. o yeah rads are different and fans to. also no air holes in front plastic for clutch intake some frame differences also and hose routings, and yes the front diff is different to plus cv joint gaurd were added in the rear. Starter button kill switch is a one piece part now. there is just a few for comparison oh yeah many new colours also .

 

The 97 has no Engine Braking System (EBS) but the 97 will go down a steep hill faster than any other bike around.LOL

 

The other differences that I know of include a different radiator and radiator fan. The internals to the rear transmission and the front gear box are different. Let's see, it may be easier to state what is the same instead of what has changed. Polaris is steadily upgrading and improving their bikes. This is good for us buyers who are in the market for a new one now, but back to what hasn't changed. The engine has remained the same, as well as the hubs.

 

I was on a 2000 Sportsman the other day and if it was not for the Speedo and 4wd switch I would not of notice a thing different.I down loaded that whole Polaris Sportsman parts manual from there web page ,I think I might as well throw it away now.

 

Grab a coffee ...

The previous posters covered many of the changes. Jaime's post covered a lot but is a bit hard to decipher. Here is a recap of some of the things I know about:

EBS - introduced part way through '98. Some '98s have it, some don't.

Rear U Joints - pre '99 the rear half shafts had 2 u joints in them that required greasing. '99 and up have proper CV type joints in the rear half shafts. This makes for 4 less grease zerks.

Switches - pre '99 the handlebar switches were different. The AWD switch was a push button instead of a slider. They say the new slider is less prone to problem with dirt and water (never had any problems with my push button). Pre '99 the start button was a green pushbutton on the left bar. It was very easy to push this button by accident when going for the yellow override button. The start button is now integrated into the Run/Stop button. I believe you lift it slightly to start the machine. The new switches are backlit.

Rear brake pedal - pre '98 the rear brake (emergency brake) pedal was connected to the rear brake by mechanical means (cable?). From 98 up there is a separate hydraulic system for the rear brake pedal.

Rear Brake Rotor - for some '00 and up the rear brake rotor is cross drilled (vented).

Front Brake Rotors - I believe from '99 and up the front brake rotors are vented.

Tie Rod Ends - I believe there are a few variations here. My '98 has outer tie rod ends that are greasable (but they still wear quickly). The newest units for 2000 have non-greasable joints, but they are much better joints.

Clutch Cover - some 2000 and all older Sportsmans have a black plastic clutch cover. The newest machines off the line have a grey plastic cover. The cover is a tougher material, reshaped, and provides better venting for the clutches (although venting was not an issue on the older models, that I know of).

Shocks - The shocks on the 2000 models are heavier. I believe 2" cylinder bores instead of the older 1" cylinder bores.

Speedo - The '98s and older had a mechanical speedometer with speedo cable. The '99s and up have an electronic speedometer that I believe senses speed from a sensor in the gearbox. The electronic units have an hour gauge built in. The 2000 electronic units have a graduated scale on the speedo. The lower speeds are shown on a more graduated (wider) scale than the higher speeds.

Wiring Board - The '98s and older have a wiring board under the front hood. This is simply a fibreglas board where all of the wiring interconnections are made. On one hand it is nice when modifying the wiring or adding electrical options. On the other hand some are said to have had trouble with corrosion in this area (not us). The newer units use a full electrical harness.

Front Gear Box - There are at least 2 designs of the front gear box. I believe the change was made in '99. Have not heard of any problems with either one.

Rear Transmission - This is best called a gear box, not a transmission. It provides high/low/ and reverse shifting, that's it. The gear box changed at least once, in '99 I believe, to accomodate the sensors for speed and shifting and to get rid of the speedo cable entry.

Shift Lever - The shift lever was reshaped slightly for '00 in an effort to make shifting smoother and easier. Have never had a problem with our older units.

Reverse Rev Limiter - If you don't push the override button when reversing, the rev limiter kicks in and limits reverse speed to something like 6 mph (don't quote me). For '00 they upper the speed on the limiter to 12 mph (again don't quote me). This was a welcome change. The original base speed was a bit low, especially for plowing.

Colors - pre '98 was all olive green. In '98 they introduced red. In '99 they introduced blue (on the new diesel only - bring your earplugs!). In '99 they introduced the Remington Special Edition (RSE) camoflage model (Provided camo cloth bonded to geen plastic, a front rack extender, and a rear bumper, all for $800 extra). In '00 they introduced bright yellow (a'la ChickenMan!). In '00 they produced a limited run of silver units. In '00 they introduced the Ducks Unlimited camoflage model. Similar package to the RSE but a different camo cloth.

Front Struts - As someone indicated, the front struts have been Sachs as well as McPherson. Not sure which ones were used when.

Front Tow Hook - Noticed recently that the '99 in our pack has a front tow hook that the '98 doesn't have.

Rear CV Guards - With the introduction of rear CV joints for '99, rear plastic CV joint guards were added on the back side of the rear a-arms.

Radiators - As mentioned, the rads have changed and the rad hose routing has changed. From what I have heard I am not convinced the newer design is better. Never had cooling problems here on a '97, 2 '98s, and a '99.

Cooling Fan - The cooling fan on the older units has a metal blade. The newer units have a plastic blade and reshaped fan shroud, more automotive styling. Again the design on my '98 works fine.

Gas Cap - The newest '00s off the line have a new style gas cap that doesn't use a cork gasket like the one in my '98.

Body Panel Vent Holes - There used to be 5 or 6 3/8 (or so) diameter vent holes in the colored plastic that covers the gas tank. These were located on the left side in front of the seat, behind the gas cap. They provided fresh air to the clutch cover vent. The holes seem to be gone with the introduction of the new clutch cover.

Throttle Lever - '99 and up have a new throttle lever that is supposed to provide less fatigue. Have never noticed any fatigue on the '98.

Rear Brake Spacer - On the '99s, Polaris introduced a small block of aluminum that fits between the 2 rear brake pads. The block is supposed to stop the rotor from getting chewed up once the pads wear out. Replacement pads from Polaris come with the block.

Rear Brake Pads - the '98s and up use different pads than the older machines.

Air Intake Box - The air intake box was reshaped for the '99 model. The '98 uses wing nuts to hold the lid on. The '99 uses clips and is reshaped.

OK, I have finally run out of ideas.

Summary - major differences would be the introduction of EBS, rear shaft CV joints, and maybe the rear brake upgrades. The rest of the differences I would say are minor in nature.

Hope this helps.

DJ

 

Yep even i can understand that .

 

Are you a dealer

 

Holy Cow!Does Polaris still make spare parts for mine?

 

Deej, looks like you covered pretty much everything there. Just a couple of things I noticed:

>>Speedo - The '98s and older had a mechanical speedometer with speedo cable. The '99s and up have an electronic speedometer that I believe senses speed from a sensor in the gearbox. <<

The electronic speedo sensor is actually located on the right front caliper bracket. The brake rotor has small holes in it that trigger the sensor.

>>Front Struts - As someone indicated, the front struts have been Sachs as well as McPherson. Not sure which ones were used when.<<

All strut type suspensions are "MacPherson", he is the guy that invented it. Sachs is a brand name and was used on '99 and older, I think Fox is the brand used on the new models. The rear shocks were increased from 1 3/4" to 2" tubes for 2000.

>>Tie Rod Ends - I believe there are a few variations here. My '98 has outer tie rod ends that are greasable (but they still wear quickly). The newest units for 2000 have non-greasable joints, but they are much better joints.<<

My '99 had non-greasable ball-and-socket type outer tie-rod ends that were worn out at 850 miles. The inners are the Hiem joint type and are still good. Good news is, the 2000 models have the better Hiem type outer tie rod ends. I just replaced mine with the new design which was a direct bolt on replacement. The dealer told me that '98 and earlier models have a different (smaller) diameter tie rod, so to update them you would need to buy the complete tie rod assembly.