We went riding a couple of weeks age and this guy shows up with his shiny new Scrambler 500 HO. I thought we would have a good time riding trails playing in mud holes and racing across pastures. This bike was very sporty but when it came to water he was helpless. We had a Recon, 2 Blasters, a 300 Prairie, and my 700 Prairie and all would make it through the water... except him. We would have to open the drain and lean the bike over to drain the belt cover. Then he would have to baby it for a little while until it dried up. This water was only about 18 inches deep.
Is this normal or should he look at this problem further.
If this is normal then what a shame cause that could really be a nice quad. Although not as fast, quick, or powerfull as my Prairie 700 it did handle better with less effort.

 

Mine Scram 500 is about 5 weeks old, and thats all i have been thru, is mud and water, rode thru water up to the muffler. Wheels everything was covered, and went right thru it w/ no problems, Havent had to drain nothing yet, only thing i had to do w/ grease everything up real good again. Seems like his machine might have something up w/ it. Doesnt sound like it should be taking in water like that. espically at 18inchs. Hope this helps.

Only thing that i did find about going thru lots of water is that it will smoke very heavily at times, and from the veterans on here, they told me not to worry, its normal , it takes a long time for the fins in the radiator to dry out.

 

SOunds like his clutch housing isnt sealed properly. Replace the rubber seal on the cover. If that doesnt do it, my suggestion is to fill the clutch housing with water and see where it is leaking at. It IS possible that he was going to fast and sucked water in through the intake snorkle. The only time that that has happened to me was when I hit a water/mud hole that was about 2ft deep at about 40mph. I just revved it in neutral for about 5 minutes and was on my way. I have pics of me going through some deep stuff in my gallery. The belt never got wet in there

 

I've had my 335 SP in water up to the front rack with no proublems (I don't even have a drain plug in belt cover). I think your buddy should check and see if there is a gasket on the belt cover or the cover is warped or something and if it is new take it right back to the dealer

 

Been up to almost the seat in water and no problems....I have had to stop for about 2 minutes once after hitting a big mudhole to drain things out but that's the only time I've ever had to so far <<knocks on wood>>

 

Have RookWV send ya pics of some of the crap he has had his in....well both of us hehehehehe

 

there has to be somethin up with his quad,the lady i bought mine from took me through a creek about 1-2 feet deep and it handled well,the belt on her husbands sportsman started to slip b4 anything happened to the scram,we rode in the water for atleast 10 minutes and the only thing it did was smoke but other than that it ran flawless,scrammy's are some of the best trail bikes(thats just my opinion though!).........after about 5 min. of her revving in nuetral i followed her home,paid the scrammy off,and took it home,my best investment so far!!!(being that im only 15)[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]