Hey all,

My wife has a Polaris TrailBoss 330.. It is an '04 with maybe 3 hours on it..

I already had to take it in to the dealer because the clutch was bad and it melted the belt.. They replaced the clutch, and the belt. Also the damn thing had to run for about 20 minutes before you could drive it, so they adjusted the carb, and now it starts right up and runs fine.

The problem is.. I was riding it today up and down the driveway to pack the new snow down, and i was going maybe 1/4 throttle.. Every maybe 100 feet it would pop, like a backfire, or a miss...

At higher speeds it seams to run fine... Is that normal? This machine is a real POS, but i couldn't imagine that being normal...


Thanks,

-ThaChad

 

Generally you don't hear of anyone having trouble w/ the Trail Boss, sounds like you dealer just needs to get it tuned in correctly. You got the 1 in a 100 machines that's not tuned correctly, that sucks. If it has a warranty use it.

Good luck

 

Your dealer cant tune it right so it is a piece POS? If you look at all the posts on this site you wont find many problems with the 330 at all. The 330 is a very reliable solid machine. Alot depends on the mechanic working on these machines. Most dealers have kids working on them that dont have the experience. The clutch thing is just a fluke. Sound like it was not aligned right so it tore up the belt. Usually if you have a pop sound it has a lean spot or a valve needs to be adjusted.

 

I have an 04 trailboss that had the same problem with the backfire when I picked it up. The dealer I got it from is about 2 hours away and after 3 times of them screwing with the carb to no avail I finally just decided to do it myself. What I did that finally fixed it was move the clip on the needle down a notch. The quad has been great every since then and I have put like 1500 miles on it with absolutely no other problems. For the price of the trailboss and the reliability, in my opinion you can't beat it. Sorry to hear that you think its a POS.

 

I agree, calling it a POS is because of the dealer and you, not the machine. Just because it isn't setup right doesn't make it a POS. You can look in every forum and find out that people have had problems with jetting. Normally they are setup geographically from the factory, depending on where they are to be sold. Here in Albuquerque, we are sitting at 5200 feet elevation in the city, where i ride is from about 4500 feet all the way up to 13000 feet in elevation, this makes huge differences in how a carb'd model runs. The 500 Sportsman i had I put a dial-a-jet kit in to run at higher altitudes better.

You need to learn how to adjust the carb. If it is backfiring, it sounds like it may be too lean, it depends at what RPM's it is happening or if you are letting off the throttle...take it back to the dealer or learn how to jet it properly.

 

This sounds like one harsh group when talking bad about polaris. But they do have a point. I have three polaris bikes and they all are great. Do learn how to adjust your carb yourself it'll save you headaches later down the road. And most of all don't allways rely and the dealer.

 

Its not that we are a harsh group but as soon as someone has a minor problem they think it is a POS. Yes Polaris has had a bad rep but cmon that was years ago. Polaris is at the top of the game along with other brands. When you buy a quad you have a responsability. You have to learn the basics.

 

Well I am not calling it a POS because of the number of problems we have already had with it with less then 3 hours of use...

I am calling it a POS because the whole thing..

It is extremely under powered, It has no skid plate under the rear swing arm, Alot of plastic parts, that should be metal, like the thumb throttle, brake lever, etc.

There are a dozen other ATV's in the same price range that are just built better, have more power, and would have been a better choice. Unfortunitly my wife and her mother went and bought this thing, though i gave them a list of which one's would have been a great choice, but my mother-in-law being who she is, had the buy one that wasn't on my list just to spite me.. Unfortunitly for my wife, she ended up with this Trail Boss 330.


I am not sayign all Polaris's are bad.. though this being the first one we've ever owend, i can't say i would go out looking to buy one, but every manufacturer has a bad model, some have a few...

Anyway, I figured it was running lean... it is at low speeds.. i don't know if the low speed mixture adjustment (Assuming it has an externally adjustable one) would fix the problem or not... Thankfully they did talk her into the extended warentee, so i'll make it their problem.

The dealer we have is World Of Powersports, it is a HUGE dealer, all the machanics are older, Alot of mx people work there.. They are expensive, but as i said its under warentee and i'd rather pay more and have experienced people, then pay less and take it to one of the smaller dealers where they do have some High school kid working on a $4000 machine..

-ThaChad

 

It sounds like you already have made up your mind that its a POS ... you should just go and trade it in for something else.

 

Well yes it is underpowered but that can be fixed. A rear swingarm skid plate? No one puts a swingarm skidplate stock but one is available. For the price there is no other brand that has one in this price range and nothing else (utility)with the same cc's can beat it. It will pick up speed when broken in. I get around 48mph. There is also mods that can really wake it up. From factory the clutching is very tame and does not let it hit higher rpm's. This can be changed. Plastic thumb throttle. ALL Polaris's have plastic thumb throttles and I NEVER heard of one braking. I also dont want a metal throttle for the winter unless you really want to freez your thumb off.