I was sitting down the other day and came up with an idea that I think may work. Could a guy put a piggy back wire leading to your magnet and just have a toggle switch to apply a current whenever your want four wheel engine breaking. Has anyone tried this or does anyone think that this would work without frying something.

 

Krank,
I think what you have in mind is what a lot of us owners would like Polaris to do, however based on what I read in the forums by searching on EBS and Reverse Override, I am not sure that is possible to do at this time based on the hubs/AWD design. Definitely not an expert here, just going by what I read. It seems that the Rear wheels need to spin faster than the front by like 20%, to engage the AWD, that is why you need to get the back wheels to spin while holding in the RO switch going backward to engage the AWD. I have not had a chance to try this technique yet, so I am sure I'll be a little sqeemish when I use it for the first time.

 

I have heard that at the top of a hill, u can hit Reverse override (in reverse with AWD on) and spin the rear tires, thus engaging awd. and if you then continue forward, it remains stuck in AWD, like it does sometimes after shifting from Reverse-froward. I have heard that this makes steering IMPOSSIBLE, however. (I've never done in on a quad with EBS, just with my 400 to make all wheels brake the same.) obviously you wanted an electronic way to do it, but i think this shows that the awd does allow this, even though it is not meant to

 

Not sure it would even work.
The front gearing isnt exactly the same as the rear. The front is like 4.10 and the rear is like 4.11. This slight difference is what allows the front to disengage automaticly, (by having the axles, overrun the hubs.), when awd isnt needed. Even if you wired a direct wire, the axles would over run the hubs and youd have no awd.
If you could , say by mechanical means, engage all 4 going down a steep hill, not only would the steering be difficult ( due to no differential in front, the wheels would be locked side to side), but the front tires would want to turn faster than the rear,and the two back tires would slide all the way to the bottom. It'd be a handful.

 

Anyone ever try this on a 700? Since I've been down some steep rock stuff where 2 Wheel EBS wasn't the best thing I would like to try this.

I wonder if just 4 wheel braking on the steep and rock stuff might be better than letting the 2 wheel EBS do it's job.

 

Tyler711 has it exactly right You can do what he said and it will keep all 4 wheels locked in going down hill. BUT, it is AWFUL for the most part. You cannot steer - even a little bit. Even when you can get the handle bars to turn a little bit, it still will steer straight (because there is no differential and thus all 4 wheels are working against themselves). Unless it was the ONLY way down a hill, I would not opt for it. That is the only way I know to force it into 4 wheel engine braking.

 

Still waiting to try this...... I have read in some posts that guys are going down goat paths in WV. THere is a lot of Steep and very up and down terrain there (very similar where I live). I'd say those guys have the best handle on how good it works

 

this has been floating around many forums,,,including this one originally

it pretty much sums it up

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One of the drawbacks to the Hilliard clutch that Polaris uses for 4x4 is that there is no engine braking on the front tires (only the rear) Here's a little trick.


I wrote to Matt Cowen, the Engineering Product Manager at Hilliard Corporation and asked a few questions about the Hilliard Overrunning Clutch used in the Sportsman ATV's. www.hilliardcorp.com/mcdboc2.php3
First my questions, followed by the response from Hilliard with their permission to share the information:
1) I regularly engage the AWD clutch for 4-wheel engine braking by causing the rear wheels to slip in reverse, stopping, then putting the machine in forward before descending the hill. Will this harm the clutch at all?
2) When I perform the above maneuver the clutch remains engaged, even while powering forward, until I switch off the AWD engaging coil. Is this normal operation for the clutch?
3) Is there a way to engage the clutch prior to wheel-spin, allowing me on-demand AWD?
----
Mr. Anderson,
The condition that you are asking about above is called "wedging". What you are doing is locking the rolls in the reverse profile of the clutch (it is a bi-directional clutch set-up) and proceding in the forward direction thus not allowing the clutch to overrun (which is the normal condition). This in turn locks up the drive train and makes the system steer like a fully locked differential. This condition is
advantageous if going down a steep hill becuase it will only allow the front wheels to move as fast as the drive train. This will fully utilize the engine brake because when going downhill the weight distribution of the bike goes to the front end and that is where you want the majority of your traction.

This "wedging" will not hurt the front gearcase, but it could accelerate the wear of the the drive train components (such as the front prop shaft) because it does completely bind up the system and the bike
will be very difficult to steer. Because of the binding and additional steering effort, neither Hilliard nor Polaris will recommend doing this.

You can get the system out of the "wedging" condition without turning the power off to the AWD system, but it is very difficult and
not always repeatable. The only true, 100% way to release the clutch is to turn the power off and put the bike in reverse. This will release the pressure on the clutch and the springs inside the clutch will return
the rollers back to the neutral position.

To answer #3, there is no way to drive the front wheels at the same time as the rear wheels without the rear wheels slipping. The bike is geared to have a 20% speed difference from the back to the front.
This means that it takes the rear wheel to slip or spin 20% (1/5th of a rear tire revolution) before the front wheel to drive the system. This is necessary to give the bike a tight turning radius and to prevent the bike from automatically "wedging". If the front to rear ratio was 1:1, every time you turn the handle bars even slightly, the front wheels would act like they have a fully locked differential and it would take
you 30 feet to turn a 90 degree turn (like driving a new Kawasaki Prarie with the front gearcase locked). Becuase when you turn, all of the wheels on the bike are now moving at different speeds dictated by the ground speed, and the front clutch would not be able to overrun. With the 20% speed difference, the AWD can be on all the time and it will only be there when you need it. You won't get any of the side effects
of all the other systems that don't allow you to turn the 4wd on and off. Basically, having the front wheels driving the same speed as the rear wheels would be like driving a tank and would be hard on the arms
and not very fun.

I hope I have answered all of your questions and not confused you to much. Browse through the overrunning clutch section on the Hilliard web site (www.hilliardcorp.com) for more info on how overrunning clutches work if you have any more questions. Have a good day.

Thanks,
Matt Cowen
Engineering Product Manager
Drive Train Products
Hilliard Corporation

 

Thanks for your replys guys.