Guys I have an 2004 sportsman 500 I have taken the whole front hub apart several times, I can see what is in there that is electronically controled???? Here is the problem when I put it 4x4 the light does not go on in the dash showing the little 4x4 icon and my 4x4 does not engage ,, but here is the deal the line is getting 12v on both sides the front drive shafts trun but no matter what I do I can not get the hubs to lock when I take it apart there are only bearings and a long thing that loos like a bearing but really wide everything looks fine so what the heck makes the hubs lock and how can I fix this, Thanks for all the help

 

I think the hubs are locked in at the diff on the newer models and I seem to remember that something in the speedometer has something to do with it also. Try a search it may give you an idea what may be happening.

 

it was 2004.5 when they switched to the diff lock

 

If the light doesn't come on, that would be the first problem. My service manual is out in the barn; I'll try to remember to take a look at the awd troubleshooting flowchart later.

 

Thanks guys I fixed it, after taking everything apart, at least everything is all clean and well oiled. Here is what I found. When I measured the output to the front hubs it was 12 volts I measured it to ground, and everything worked fine switch on 12V switch off no volts but here is the thing, I was measuring to ground, when I measured the voltage across the plug unhooked it was only a half a volt,
It turned out I had lost the ground somewhere so leasoon is dont measure for the 12V using the chaisy ground measure acroos the plug, unhooked of course, So I never found where I lost the ground I just added my own ground to the harness where it goes to the 2 plugs
and now everything works just fine , the icon even comes on when I turn the 4X4 on so thought I would pass the information along
Thanks for the help