Greg,

One other question: Which bolt is it that breaks? Is it one in particular or all of the 4 lower rear a-arm bolts(randomly, of course)? I'm just wondering if the rearward ones are bad about breaking or if all are bad. I'll check with a place called Construction Bolts to find out if there is a harder bolt than grade 8. I'll let you know my findings tomorrow. I want my bike to be in tip top shape for the ride at Dover. We have some Hondas going, and those guys really give you a hard time if anything at all goes south on a polaris. I also want my bike to be in good shape because of the amount of riding we will probably do.

 

I don't konw if it is coincidence but it seems to always be one of the bolts on the rear of the rear bearing carrier. Mine broke just after unloading at Marshal. I didn't even get out of the campground. (Or at least that is when we noticed it)

GregI would carry an extra bolt, lock washer and washer. This seems a little extreme but you can buy this for $3 and put it in your dry bos just in case. I have just seen to many brake and I imagine you guys will be catching some air. This has to be hard on them.

I think the reason they break is when the bushing gets old the aluminum spacer inside the bushing wears down allowing the weight of the bike to ride on the bolt. This is my guess. Most bikes that I have seen this happen to have benn 1998 models or older with some where on the aluminum.

Greg

 

with the bolt breaking in the lower control arm, I had this done to me way back in the woods. but when I got home we took it apart and found out that it broke in the axel carrier. what I did was drill a whole in it and chissiled it out. then just went to polaris and got a new bolt, it was a harder bolt than the factory on my 1997. it was altimatly a cheap repair(about $1.50), why was yours 300 bucks, not hard to do it yourself. these are all my theories and hypotises on this ordeal:
1. Bushing might be worn out creating slop in the bolt,
2. yes a harder bolt is stronger but more brittle, so it wont give as much, it will just break instead of bend.

Sorry for the mistakes, its 3:45am here.

hope I could help
Muddog
97 Sportsman 500

 

If you are riding and the bolt breaks and you don't notice it imediately, the bushing will back out and all the weight is on the opposite bushing. It can result in a bent lower control arm and if the added pressure snaps the top control arm bolt or the rear one, it and you are on the throttle trail riding or in the mud it will trash the spindle yoke and lower slide yoke.

Spindle yoke $60
Lower slide $60
Ujoint $15
Lower control arm $60

Thats about $200 there and you may have to replace the upper control arm and replace any lost bushings and bolts. If you can't do it yourself, you may also have to pay labor.

Greg

 

Greg,

Yesterday, I called construction bolts, and he said that there was one bolt that was harder than grade 8. However, it was only marginally harder. Do you keep your bike greased really often, and if so, what type of grease? I'm wondering because I've been using Mobil 1 synthetic grease, and greasing mine about every other time I go mud riding. If it's not greased properly and often enough, maybe that could cause the aluminum spacer to wear, thus causing the bolt to brake. I don't have an answer to the problem if you are keeping the bike greased often with a good quality grease. I also wonder if Polaris has already addressed this problem. I know of a guy that has over 6,000 hard (not extreme) miles on a sportsman 500, without this problem. I'm just going to keep mine greased well and hope for the best.
As far as the radiator goes, I took off the front rack, front celstran bumper, and couldn't see how the radiator could come out of there. Are you talking about removing the metal part of the front bumper that has the grill welded to it? I would really like to get the radiator out of the bike to clean it real good and inspect it before our ride. I know it sounds like I'm probably overdoing it for the upcoming ride, but I can see a little crud in the back of the radiator that I can't seem to wash out by spraying the front. If I go through the trouble of removing the radiator, I may as well go ahead and take a stab at replacing those bearings. Are the ones from the factory made with metal seals? If they're rubber/plastic seals, they can be removed and replaced after the bearing is cleaned and repacked. Thanks in advance for your reply. Also, I had to retighten all the oil line fittings on my bike. I've had two of them to have a small leak of engine oil. One on the front of the engine, and the other underneath the engine. It was only by winching the front of the quad up vertically to grease the bike that I noticed the one under the engine leaking. It wasn't a fast leak, but it had leaked a tablespoon of oil or so onto the skidplate. I just tightened it a little and it quit. Thanks again.

Waylan

 

what is starter freeze?

 

Walexa,

I spoke with a Polaris Tech yesterday. From what I under stand he is the best around. He said even though the bolts that come from Polaris are grade 8, he says they are poor quality. He says when one brakes and you have to drill it out, you can tell that the metal is real soft. He reccomends you go to a specialty fastener shop and replace them with a good quality grade 8 and you will not have this problem. He says he sees this all the time. This dealer sells over 300 atvs a year.

To remove the radiator, remove the radiator cover that goes from the bumper to the skid palt and then remove the brackets that connect the bumper to the upper part of the frame. These can be done by removing the bolt that goes from underneath the wheel well and comes out under the hood. There is only one bolt on each side. Once you have done this the rest is easy.

The origional bearings have plastic seals. If the grease has washed out of the bearings with the seals, imagine how fast this will occur once you have removed the seals. Also, if you have the new one piece fan with the plastic blades, I don't know if this applies.

By the way, I am buying a 2000 new Yellow Sp500 this week and selling my 98 Sp500.

Greg

 

I think that the 2000 Sportsman 500 is probably much better than your 98, and even my 99. Polaris has changed many components on that bike from what's on my 99. New rad, cooling fan, rear brake rotor, some components in the rear tranny and in the front gear box, better material for the belt cover along with more bolt fasteners holding it together, range selector box, cv joint shafts(and maybe more cv stuff, but I don't know), etc. Also, the rear drive, like mine, doesn't have u-joints on the rear-end. I think for people who maintain their bike well, this is not much of a plus due to replacing them with cv joints. You know what I'm getting at. As long as the boot doesn't get torn, you can probably get better life out of the cv joint(maybe). However, there is a risk of tearing the boots that doesn't exist with the u-joints. Anyway, you will probably be extremely happy with your new sp500.

Later,

Waylan

 

My starting motor freezes in cold weather. Water somehow makes it into the housing and freezes when it gets cold. The bike will still start with the cord and the warming engine thaws the motor.

The Rust Check displaces the water and therefore does not freeze as often.

 

Greg,

I'm not talking about removing the seals and leaving them out. All I would do is remove the seals to clean and repack the bearings. The seals should snap back in and you're back in business. My fan is the type with the plastic blade, but it's not the fan that's in the bike you're fixing to get.