hi guys first i would like to thank all of yall for all the great info i have been reading over the last month.

i recently aquired a 2000 sportsman 500 and have another on the way

one of them had some major problems valves tapping and the cam worn flat.
the question i have is i made the decision to have the dealer put a Aaen performance 500 ho update camshaft in it. is this a bad idea i have been hearing conflicting things.
i have also heard that the 00's are bad about wearing the exhaust lobe flat. Are there any other problems that i should be aware of or be looking for. The worn down machine has 810 hrs on it and a bunch of miles and has been beat up (its at the dealer right now so i dont know exactly how many miles). here is the matience list that ive done for it so far. if there is anything i am missing please let me know

Spark plug replaced
Changed oil and filter
Changed transmission oil
Changed front differential oil
Changed front hub oil
Changed air filter and washed pre-filter
Cleaned out gas tank and replaced fuel filter
Changed breather filter
Greased all grease zerts
Fixed engine grounding strap and ignition ground
Checked brake pads
Greased gear shifter
Adjusted valves
Replaced camshaft with Aaen performance H.O. update camshaft
Replaced rocker arms
Cleaned and adjusted carburetor
Greased bendix
Replaced brushes in starter
Replaced all vent tubes
Fixed 2 prong connector under hood for front left 4 wheel drive
Replaced worn motor mounts (3)
Replaced speedometer sensor
Replaced U-Joints and shaft from transmission to front differential
Checked transmission for correct operation and drive belt
Battery Replaced

 

looks like you have about everything covered. where is the bike from? just wondering if it was ran alot in colder climates. this could be the cause of the cam failure and its not just on the 200. have seen this on almost ever yr of the 500, with the exception of newer bikes because of less time on them. say in the last 2 yrs anyhow. another cause is long periods of idling and not changing the oil and filter often enough. the exhaust lobe is usually the one to wear because of both springs putting pressure on the one lobe.
i would say if you take care of all that you listed, then you should have a pretty good machine.

and welcome to the forums

 

the bike is from austin, texas off our ranch (not even close to a cold climate lol). unfourtantly i can tell you for fact that the oil and filter were not changed nearly enough and the bike had been idled for long periods.

 

so its not good to idle these things?

 

I had the same problem with the camshaft on my 1999 500. I was told that they had some bad shafts during those couple of years and if you were fortunate enough to have it go out under warranty it was replaced if not tough luck.

 

its not good to let them idle for long periods of time. take a bike with many hrs or miles on it and in this case one that didn't get regular oil changes. oil pressure is controlled by tolerances in the motor parts, as these parts wear the pressure will drop. with a very worn motor at idle it may not have enough pressure to supply enough oil to the top end, which can result in cam failure. if a bike was used say for farm use, where the owner would get off of it and leave it run while doing something, the bike may set and run for a 1/2 hr or so. that is hard on them. 5 or 10 mins here and there doesn't hurt anything.

and like big dog said they did have a few cams in the early ho that failed. most happened early and without many miles.