Demand 4 WD Problems
#1
Hi All,
I've had problems with the 4wd on my 99 SP 500 that I haven't seen mentioned here by any one else. The right front stopped working and when I took it apart (out of warranty) I noticed the bearing cage was broken and the spring that holds the bearings in was broken. I bought the factory repair manual...very expensive but being a mechanic I knew I would use it. After lots of trouble shooting it turned out that there was a bad connection in the speedometer that caused the 4wd to jump in and out, and power was lost to the hubs. I won't go into the technical why's but trust me all the power goes through the speedo on the 99 models....not so in 98. My dealer agreed on the diagnosis that this ultimately caused the hub to rupture and Polaris went good for a new speedo and hub parts. After 1 month the left hub shattered and the dealer again said it was no doubt a fault of the original speedo problem, that the hub probably was cracked earlier and again Polaris went good for the hub parts. I had to supply the labour and parts shipping (very inexpensive) and the job is easy to do with the manual.
I haven't had any more problems and hope everything is going to be fine now. What I will say is that Polaris stood behind their product 100 per cent, even after the 6 month warranty was long gone and for that they have my loyalty forever. Not a hard choice I know because they make the best product by far.
I've had problems with the 4wd on my 99 SP 500 that I haven't seen mentioned here by any one else. The right front stopped working and when I took it apart (out of warranty) I noticed the bearing cage was broken and the spring that holds the bearings in was broken. I bought the factory repair manual...very expensive but being a mechanic I knew I would use it. After lots of trouble shooting it turned out that there was a bad connection in the speedometer that caused the 4wd to jump in and out, and power was lost to the hubs. I won't go into the technical why's but trust me all the power goes through the speedo on the 99 models....not so in 98. My dealer agreed on the diagnosis that this ultimately caused the hub to rupture and Polaris went good for a new speedo and hub parts. After 1 month the left hub shattered and the dealer again said it was no doubt a fault of the original speedo problem, that the hub probably was cracked earlier and again Polaris went good for the hub parts. I had to supply the labour and parts shipping (very inexpensive) and the job is easy to do with the manual.
I haven't had any more problems and hope everything is going to be fine now. What I will say is that Polaris stood behind their product 100 per cent, even after the 6 month warranty was long gone and for that they have my loyalty forever. Not a hard choice I know because they make the best product by far.
#4
Gtbud,
Glad to hear everything worked out. Always good to hear they supported you.
On the manual issue. You mentioned that it was expensive. The Polaris master service manual is, but there is a Polaris manual specific to the Sportsman that is quite reasonably priced. It covers the Sportsman 500 from '96 to '00 and the Sportsman 335 from '99 to '00.
The part number for the Sportsman manual is 9915686. It was $40 Canadian here in Ottawa.
Which manual were you refering to?
DJ
Glad to hear everything worked out. Always good to hear they supported you.
On the manual issue. You mentioned that it was expensive. The Polaris master service manual is, but there is a Polaris manual specific to the Sportsman that is quite reasonably priced. It covers the Sportsman 500 from '96 to '00 and the Sportsman 335 from '99 to '00.
The part number for the Sportsman manual is 9915686. It was $40 Canadian here in Ottawa.
Which manual were you refering to?
DJ
#5
#6
You're right, the AWD switch and AWD light do go through the speedo. (I have by-passed the speedo after countless hours of tracing wires. ) I got reduced to two-wheel drive; 5 miles from the truck on my '99 SP500. And wouldn't have gotten out of this bind but had an Xplorer and Grizz on hand when needed. (I am not a great electrician). My Speedo had quit awhile back but my hour gauge was still working. After I'd lost AWD, I had noticed my hour gauge wasn't working either. Bottom line is my AWD is no longer going through the SPEEDO, and never will again.(made a jumper) Something as critical as AWD should be less electrically complicated. Great Post. Ride'em Hard Polcat
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