Well, I took it apart tonight....

Since it was around 20 deg outside, what was inside of there... was frozen. so that means there was water in there... there was some nasty oily stuff in there, but definitely not what should be in there.

Then I noticed that there was a small pin broken off one side of the shifter ball. this seems to control the shifter from twisting or shifting directions.
I put it all back together with nice new fresh mobil1 oil and noticed that from all the times I had to push the thing forward (sometimes a little more than gently in anger), I had bent the shifter forward a little too much and it would hit the plastic when I would shift.
In the process of gently pulling back on it... I heard the other one break...

I had also noticed the end of the shifter that engages the levers was a little worn also... so off to ebay I go to find a replacement shifter handle [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

-Chris

 

Well, I found some nice strong pins here at work today... so if all goes well, I will just drill 2 holes where the old ones sheared off and put these pins in.

The new part is $70 from Polaris, only saw a couple hi/lo shifters on ebay and they were the whole assembly for more than $70, so its worth a shot to try the pins first [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

-Chris

 

Good news!

I drilled 2 holes and put pins in to replace the broken off pieces.

Now it is better than ever!... I think what happened originally, is that the one pin broke off and the switch came out of the little centering hole on the shifter.
That made it very difficult to attain AWD.

Now that I have replaced both pins, halfway into gear the AWD light comes on! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]... and the shifter feels tighter than ever before.

I wonder if you have the same problem... one of the pins may have broken.

-Chris

 

.......................good for you!!!!! i am going to try taking my shifter apart tomorrow.i guess the best way is take it off the machine compltely before taking the shifter apart?hope i have some luck..

 

Dont be surprised if you have to grind the heads off the torx screw to get them out.I had to do that on 2 of them that I have worked on.Just take one to the hardware store and match it up.

 

The ones on my 99 were 1/8" allens and came out like nothing. Going back in pushing down on the big spring however was a different story [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

When you take it apart, be EXTRA careful around the microswitch. New from Polaris, this is $120 and hard to find elsewhere except as a whole assembly.

-Chris

 

well,i took my shifter apart today,every thing looked good,cleaned everything put clean ouil in and put it back together .still have problem... now the awd light will come oneverytime if i grab the gear shifter and gently push it forward an extra quarter inch and hold it..very aggravating ,...hey chris,what pins are you refering to ? is it the ears on each side of the shifter ballthat sit in the shifter houseing?damn the luck for me cause we have almost 14 in of fresh snow and my xplorer is helpless in 2wd snow....

 

Yes, I was referring to the 2 round pins that stick out on either side of the shifter ball.

Also, are you sure you got the ball at the end of the switch in the small hole on the shifter ball?

If I think of it, tonight I will look through my wiring manual and find out the pinouts of that switch. It might be possible to hardwire a switch in so that you can at least use AWD

-Chris

 

i was wondering that myself,if i could somehow wire a bypass the switch and have the awd light stay on all the time regardless of gear selector location and be able to turn off awd with the handlebar button?i have the extra swicth from the gear shifter i originally had on the xplorer?

 

yes chris , i have the end of the switch in the hole on the shifter ball..thanks