Well fellows, I sold my '99 Sportsman 500 to a friend of mine, and went and bought the first 2001 Xplorer 400 to come off the truck at the local dealership. It has the new brakes, steel brake lines, lower steering stem support bearing, gas cap, radiator/fan, etc. I love it. It does not have the ride my sportsman did, but it does feel lighter and is a bit snappier. I can pull a wheelie on it in low. Fellow Xplorer owners, please give me any info on your own experiences/problems with Xplorers. Good or Bad. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the club!!

My 96 has been good to me. After yours is broke in switch to synthetic oil . . . the bule smoke will all but disappear and she will run a little better. I also stuck in a K&N filter and Boysen Reids. Cheap upgrades that show results.

You are a lucky man! I am saving my coins for a future 400! There is one in our riding group that has been flawless and is an unbelievable mudder/swimmer/climber. Just keep a clean air filter and grease your machine when yopu swim it and it will last.

Can anybody tell me how often the chain needs adjusting under normal circumstances? Also, how much slack with the concentric drive system before you adjust it back to factory specs? Is there an initial chain stretch that occurs, then adjustment is few and far between? I ask this because after less than 20 miles, mine had about 1" slack(factory specs are 3/16" to 3/8" slack), and I adjusted mine back to specs. Thanks in advance.

Waylan

I just picked mine up about two weeks ago and I love It, I wanted the last one with the headlight pod cause I like the pod. I also had yellow plastic with 96 Decals put on it. Check it out on the post below. You will love it!!

Walexa,

You mention a new lower steering support bushing. Do you mean Polaris is doing away with that miserable POS, sorry excuse for a lower steering bushing nightmare? If so, what is the new one made of? What kind of tie-rod ends are on your new machine?


Thanks

Walexa,
I also sold the 99 Sportsman for the lighter [110lbs lighter] more nimble Xplorer.It is really quite a bit faster than the Sportsman,especially after it is broke in.Keep the chain adjusted and oiled on a regular basis.Use Polaris synthetic gold injection oil.I had to replace the front brakes at around 350 miles,but that is because Polaris standard pads are JUNK.I reinstalled Polaris SEVERE DUTY pads,they will double the life of the standard pads.I also installed a KN air filter,soon I'll be adding a clutch kit.Good Luck,=====Bill

The new lower support is now a ball bearing, mounted in a metal bracket that bolts to the frame in place of the plastic bushing. The lower support bushing on my sp500 seems like it had a metal bushing in the plastic piece, and it never got any slack in it, but a ball bearing is much desired over any bushing. The tie rod ends are the heim joint type, with rubber boots over them (which I filled with grease). I've already adjusted the chain because it had about an inch of slack in the top, and Polaris specs for the concentric drive are 3/16" to 3/8". After very little riding, it has about 1" of slack again. Is this normal? Should I let it get to about 1.5" of slack before adjustment, or should I constantly keep it at 3/16 to 3/8"? I know that a chain that is not pre-stretched will have some stretch initially, but I'm wondering how much before I don't have to adjust it very often. The bike is awesome in almost every way. Like I said in my first post, it doesn't ride as well in the rear as my former sp500, but that is expected. I have the rear spring on its softest setting, and the rear tires at 3psi per factory recommendations. It's still a bit rougher than the sp500. I know because the guy who bought my sp500 is a good friend, and has left the bike at my place until a later date. I've taken both of them simultaneously over the same terrain, and quickly realized why the sportsman is said to ride like a magic carpet. However, I'm a mud rider, and have had the sp500 overheat. I believe these overheat problems may be a thing of the past with the smaller 2-stroke. Has anybody had any problems with the Xplorer overheating? I used some logic in trying to solve the overheat problem:
1) The Xplorer has a 121 less cc engine
2) The Xplorer has a 6.9 vs. 12.2 compression ratio
3) Both bikes have the same radiator
Using these as comparisons leads me to think that the Xplorer would be much less prone to overheat, and I've heard this from several people.
A couple of months ago, I went to Arkansas on a ride. My sp500's radiator was completely clean, and there was a Sportsman 400 in the pack. I don't know the condition of his radiator, but from the looks of the bike, I wouldn't think it would have been as clean as mine. My radiator fan kicked in about every 10-15 minutes, and his only kicked in about every 1.5 hours. That's a huge difference, considering we were on the same terrain and riding pretty much the same. Again, any info anybody can give is greatly appreciated concerning my new purchase. Thanks again in advance.

Waylan

I'm also wondering how often to adjust the chain. On my y2k Trailboss the chain always seems to loosen. I'm having a new one put on right now, under warranty (Polaris didn't even argue)!!! Should the chain stretch on every ride ???

Bill,

Polaris has supposedly made a major improvement to the braking system itself on the 2001 models. I know this isn't any good to you, except for future purchases. Anyway, the polaris service guy at the local dealership say Polaris thinks that the problem with short brake life may not have been entirely due to poor pads, but rather to them using rotor material that was extremely too hard. On my bike, the rotors were gold-colored(which quickly wore to a silver at the pad contact patch), and the pads appear to have a grey color to them instead of the gold sintered metal look. I'm not that good with colors, but that is what they look like to me. This new setup is supposed to offer 5 times the brake life, so we'll see. I've already asked this question a couple times, but since I know you have one, maybe you can answer it. How often do you have to adjust your chain, and how much slack do you allow it to have before readjustment? Thanks a million.

Waylan