Hey guys and gals,

This was really scary. Changed my fluids in a 2004.5 sportman 500. Had the owners manual and a service manual for the machine. Everything going good..... oil, filter, air cleaner, 3 zerk fittings, trans.... Came to the front grearbox fluid. Drained the fluid (greenish color) Looked in the owners manual...it says replace with ATV Front Gearbox Fluid..... Looked in the service manual.....it says replace with ATV HUB Fluid. Called my local Polaris dealer and asked the service department.... after what seemed to be a vote...the guy came back and said replace with Front Gearbox fluid. I didnt get that warm fuzzy feeling so call the dealer where I bought it from. That service department asked if I had exterior hubs? I told them I dont think so, then he stated put ATV Hub fluid in. OK so to recap I have one book says HUB fluid; one that says Gearbox; one dealer says HUB Fluid; one dealer says Gearbox. So I deceided to go right to source.... I called Polaris. Customer Service answered and I explained the whole thing to her. She looked up my machine by serial number. She put me on hold to go ask the tech. She came back about 4 mins later and stated "put gearbox fluid in it, this will be put into your file".........dont know what my "file" has to do with it. So I asked her OK where does the HUB fluid go??? She said she doesnt know, and why I didnt ask her in the beginning. I didnt feel like trying to explain to her that her first answer prompted my second question. So she put me on hold again to check with the tech. She can back and stated that I should put the HUB fluid in the front gearbox. I told her thats where she told me to put the gearbox fluid not more than 4 mins earlier......."am I suppost to mix the two fluids?" She once again told me to hold on. When she got back she asked if the wires go to the HUB or to the gearbox. I told her they go to the gearbox.....she said then it gets HUB fluid......if the wires go to the hub near the wheels then it gets gearbox fluid.

It is amazing that nobody seemed to know what kind of fluid goes into the front gearbox. (Wonder how many ATV's are out there with the wrong type of fluid in it). Does anybody know about any other conflict in the two manuals? Thanks for letting me vent.

 

OK, your Sportsman has the hillard clutch inside the front gearbox. The older sportsmans (03(?) and older witht he exception of the twins) as wellas all the other 4x4 Polaris quads had exterior hubs. Meaning that the hillard clutch was in the hub that the wheel bolts to. The 600 and 700 twins have the clutch in the front gearbox and in 04(?) they did the same with the other sportsmans. So, the "hub fluid" is what you put in if you have hillard clutch seperate from the gearbox (exterior hubs). And "front gearbox fluid" is what you are suppose to put in the front gearbox if you have the hillard clutch located in there (which you do). However, it doesnt really matter because the hub fluid and front gearbox fluid are the same thing. Synthetic ATF (Mobil 1) can be used as a substitute

 

there is a 2004 and a 2004.5 there is the thing but they sould ask if you have the hubs out side the tire you have the 2004 and it take gear lube in the center if you do not then you have a 2004.5 and the center gets the hub oil