i bought my first 4-wheeler in june of 2,000 it was asp 500 i put almost 6,000 miles on it before i traded it for a suzuki eiger,i put over 6,000 miles on it.the polaris i put brakes and one carrier bearing on it;the eiger brakes and steering post bushing;i traded for sp400,i ain't had nothing but trouble out of this machine,thank god for the extended warrenty,point being,back when i bought the sp500 you never heard of everybody having so much trouble like you do now,polaris has gotten on the band wagon like everybody else i guess quanity not quality;makes me sick we pay big money for this crab,and you go on a ride and you wonder if you'll make it back without something breaking...............

 

I have a 96 Polaris Sport 400L and I have had great luck thus far. It's just like anything we have to take care and maintain them. Should then be fine.

 

When I would go on a trip, I always had that bad feeling of breaking down too, sense my Scrambler craped out on me a few too many times. That quad was a money pit. And I was always on top of maintenance. I haven't had that feeling sense I got my KFX. I already have over 2000 miles on it without any problem's. Can't say that for my Scrambler.

 

Gunman457,
I feel sorry for you because you are the only one on this site that has had so many problems with your scrammy. So why stay in this forum? Seems like you have NO good information on Polaris and you always seem to knock them. Glad your happy with your kfx it is a great quad. I think everyone would agree that you should just stay in the Kawi forum because your input does us no good here. Just because you have had a bad experience with your scrammy does not mean you have to keep knocking them. 99% of the people here that have scrammys love them. You are the other 1%.

 

Didn't you read what Wayout had to say? FYI I do give a lot of good info on this forum. I don't knock them, I give fact's.

 

I had an 04 Sportsman 400 for my first ATV. It was a good first ATV, it had the smoothest ride and it felt really powerful coming from a little 12hp tractor. I did have problems though. The first thing that kept happening was the boots kept ripping..over and over. Then a bolt in the rear suspension cracked in half. The first time I was about to plow my driveway, the shifter wouldn't budge, I called dealer and they told me to force it, then it worked but did it a few more times I think it might have been frozen but it shouldn't have had that problem. It was just little things like this that in the end made me sell it and get a Suzuki...but don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing Polaris, when I sold it it had 2300 miles on it and it's engine was bulletproof, I think it would help Polaris for them to make their utes 50lbs-75lbs lighter and then parts would be less likely to break, and for them to make better quality parts plus put better protection around their cv boots.

 

no disrespect, but the boot thing seems to be an operator issue, after one tear perhaps you should have installed better protection, it's only rubber. I ride mine like an old lady so boot tears aren't an issue, but most stock machines need extra aftermarket help if exposed to excessive rough stuff. personally, my 04.5 sp600 seems to have plenty of protection.

the rear suspension bolt could have been a Polaris oversight, I can't speculate without seeing the machine.

the shifter resistance could be from water freezing in the black "box" on the tranny, perhaps Polaris could put a better seal there, I don't see a need to get into water that deep, but that's just me.

lighter parts breaking less doesn't make sense to me....you tore rubber boots, nobody makes a rubber boot that doesn't tear. and the bolt, perhaps it needed to be a heavier grade.

bottom line, all machines have their limits and will succumb to a certain amount of abuse, I believe that the Polaris Sportsman is one of the most prepared machines on the market when it comes to hard work and hard riding.

 

this is a polaris forum indeed;but polaris don't break down when they set in a garage for weeks at a time either?? it can't all be good,some of us would like to hear the negative as well as the good... you have to get out here and ride this machines to see how they hold up,things like cvboots ripping for no reason for example thats not rider error it's poor quality,i was just saying how polaris's quality has went down hill,, it's not only polaris it's all companys.. like gunman457 said he's just stating facts,we shouldn't make visiters think polaris is god in the atv world,because they are not, truth is polaris are high maittence,and i've heard that from everybody from dealers to every day people, yes the best thing we can do is keep our machines clean and keep up regular maittance. we like polaris or we wouldn't of bought them,live with it right?? sorry i did not mean to get anybody tail feathers ruffled or cause conflict for anybody.... i've been riding 4-wheelers for 6 years now between the sp500,eiger#1and eiger#2,magman 330,sp400 i have about 30,000 miles in the seat,and have talked to alot of people about 4-wheelers,i lead groups on rides on a occasion aka trailmaster!!! they are goodmachines when they are running,junk when they are not????wayout, out... " lives good "

 

zerowick,i had 5 cv boots on my sp400 rip not because of rider error, because of bad parts,i last ons they installed have been on there for 2800 miles now,mine was tearing not a stick or something putting a hole in them,a bad batch of cv boots my dealer told me , he had the same problem with a lotta machines. wayout, out " lives good "

 

Hey wayout,
That was well said. A lot of truth to that. I'm glad you said it. Polaris is a high maintenance quad. If I said it, then I would be getting slammed and reported to the moderator.