I only have a few miles now. It seemed like the awd was sticking a lot. So I put it on jackstands and here's the data.

1. Put it in low, make sure awd switch is OFF and give it some gas to verify only 2 tires are moving. Then Let the wheels stop and the engine idle.

2. Then Switch awd ON and give it some gas to verify that 4 tires moving. Then Let the wheels stop and the engine idle.

3. Then Switch awd OFF and give it some gas. All four tires are still moving. (not good) Then Let the wheels stop and the engine idle.

4. (awd switch still OFF and override button not pressed) Put it in reverse. All 4 tires moving. (not good)

5. Put it back on low. I have 2wd now. (awd switch still off )

6. Put it back in reverse. I have 2wd now. (awd switch still off )

7. Repeat several times to verify.

My understanding is that when the awd switch it turned OFF, then only 2 tires should move.
What's happening is that when the switch is in the ON position and you want the awd system to switch OFF, you have to:
1. Turn the switch off
2. Then come to a stop.
3. Then Put the quad in reverse.
4. Then put the quad back in low or high and hope you can catch up to your friends.

Based on my understanding of the system it's not supposed to work this way.

Please educate me so I can get this fixed.

Thanks for your experience.

 

OK, I'm doing this all from memory (and that seems to be failing the more I get older...)
I have a 95' sportsman 400 and the AWD is a funny mechanism. The front hub is locked into drive by a cam (which operates very similar to a "locker" diff for 4x4 trucks/jeeps) which binds the drive shaft rotating in the center of the hub. The AWD button activates magnet in the front hub which in turn causes a metal ring to be pulled against it. The ring causes the cam to rotate into a locked position, thus causing the drive shaft and hub to rotate as a single unit. When the button (magnet) is released, then the cam is free to rotate out of its locking position with one caveat - The cam can only free itself if the front hub rotates faster than the drive shaft. Normally this is always the case, unless you are traveling backwards – which will cause the cam to stay engaged.

Try your test again, but prior to step 3: rotate front wheels by hand about two/three revolutions to free the cam. See if you wheels are still locked…

 

once you are in 4WD the front tires need to move about 2 to 4 feet at the same or faster than the back tires to release the 4WD ... when you run in on the jack stands it's hard to judge if the 4WD will release correctly. You can take MX5SC's advice and leave the machine running, switch on AWD run the machine in high or low, then switch the AWD off and turn the front tires by hand, you sould be able to feel when it releases. Also if you pull on the brakes really hard when on the jack stands and the tires are moving in AWD ... it seams to lock the AWD a little more then the normal 2 to 4 feet.

 

I have rode with allot of sp500's and my own polaris xpedition has the same technology.

It seems to me that the only real reliablie test is to run it in awd. Then turn awd off. Run it in low or high
for a few feet. Stop, jack it up and see if the front wheels are still turning. This test duplicates accurately since you want to know if the front wheels are really disingaging when your done using awd. I don't think you can trust moving your front wheels by hand when its up in the air.

If they are not. I would say that you have a problem. I would make sure your front hubs have enough
front hub fluid? The next time I use my atv. I think I will test and make sure my front wheels are still
disingaging like they are suposed to. I never thought about it. -RangerChet

 

The steering was super hard today, so that's why I decided to do the test. I figured it wasn't unlocking the front.

 

I have had that happen to me too ... but only after riding in alot of mud ... IMO once the tires are mucked they will slip alot and even if you turn off the AWD it's still engauged from the drive force of being in AWD but mine has always released after getting the mud out of the tires.

 

Having the same problem with my 04.5 SP 500, it has only 150 miles on it. First dealer I bought it from told me there was some type of "conversion kit" for the new center differential on the 04.5's due to internal parts needing to be "upgraded". For other reasons I had to pick it up before it was actually worked on because after 3 weeks it hadn't been touched, but that's another story. Talked to a second dealer and he said sometimes the speedo can go bad, and the AWD is tied in to it and that can cause it to stay locked in. I have a new fan and radiator on order, and when they come in he is going to do the fan, radiator and AWD all the the same time. If he gets to it this week, I'll let you know what I find out, if you get yours worked out, let us know, I hear this is a pretty common problem with the new center diffs.

 

My new sportsman does the same thing with 270 miles on it. I noticed it when i was on a ice pond not far from where I live and I tried the awd out on the ice. After I engage the awd and drive around for awhile and then stop, all I do is shift it to neutral and then back to low, high or reverse and it takes it out of awd. I have never had mine engage when when the awd was off. I don't think its that big of a deal. It's like having a ford with the auto locking hubs and sometimes having to back up to disengage.

 

I'd like to find a solution to the problem. The automatic nature of the 4x4 system was one of the biggest things that attracted me to the sportsman. I was very tired of having to stop to go in and out of 4x4 with my other quads. I typically like to drive in 2wd since the steering is easier.

Driving with a locked axle on hard pack makes steering very difficult and I doubt the internal components would last too long with that kind of stress. I don't think the internals of the front end were designed to do that.

I wouldn't want to drive around with the front end locked all day, nor do I want to stop and go just to go in and out of 4x4.

Thanks for the responses.

 

im almost positive that your hub is not disengaging because your front tires are not moving far enough then your back tires... let your machine break itself in a little more let it kick in and out of AWD... mine did the same and has gotten better i also changed the diff fluid... go ahead and try that its cheap and easy to do.