Is it possible to wire the 4X4 on an Explorer so it is full time 4 wheel drive when needed? I am considering purchasing this machine. When rock climbing I would really like to be in 4 wheel drive before the tires slip. Also any Explorer owners out there? How do you like your machines? Thanks for any help!

 

Polaris does that for you,you just press the 4wd putton on the handle bars in and your in true 4wd.
When the back wheels slip its like 1/16th of a turn and the front wheels will ingage it's hard to notice.If you had it rig to be in 4wd all the time it would be uncontrolable like a Suzuki with lockers. You can have full time 3wd with a differential front end ,but one wheel is free wheeling and has no power going to it to keep the bike controlable.

 

If you were able to make it so you didn't have to slip the rear wheels to engage the front, wouldn't the front wheels still "ratchet" forward independant of each other? The way I understand it is that they are directionaly locked. Meaning one wheel can still rotate faster then the other wheel, but not slower. So if you came to an obstacle that one wheel would have to go over that the other one didn't, it will allow the one wheel to rotate faster so it could go over the obstacle without forcing the opposite wheel to rotate at the same speed. I might be wrong about that, but I thought that was the way that it worked.

Rick

 

Hmm sounds likes its time to get a real machine like a HONDA then you dont have to worry about their crappy 4-wd systems

 

Hey 01450es
I don't own a Polaris.But i have done my reading and research on the Polaris 4 wheel drive system.Polaris has the BEST 4 wheel drive set up thier is.The one Honda has doesent come close....BOB

 

King,
The Polaris AWD set up is innovative, but I think your wrong about it being the best AWD system. I'd vote for the Traxter before a Polaris. The Traxter doesn't need electricity to function.

Rick

 

BK, You Cant do it electricaly. The 4WD switch only enables the 4WD system so that if the rear wheels do start to spin faster then the fronts they will engauge by mechanical means. You can not do it mechanically either. When the system is engauged, In 4WD, one full turn of the rear tires does not equal one full turn on the fronts, it is more like 3/4 turn on the fronts. The system relies on the rear tires spinning faster then the fronts to stay engauged. When in 4WD and hubs engauged the fronts are connected to the rears, but the rears are not tightly connected with the ground. its hard to picture, but if the fronts were engauged at all times they would be constantly fighting the rears until the rears lost traction..... GJ

 

BK,

You just identified one of the short comings of the "true" 4wd system that Polaris makes. I have not heard or seen any posts on making this a full time or locked feature.

If there was a way then there would be a Polaris in my garage now. To many steep hills, called mountains with rocks & other nasty stuff to ride in. I need to know that my 4wd is engaged & working.

 

2700 miles on my 2000 SP 500, and the amount of time I had the AWD switch on was minimal. The selective feature sure makes it nice when riding on terrain where full time 4 wd is not required. Like crossing your lawn and not tearing it up because the front wheels are locked in drive. If you don't really care, get a small bulldozer and try driving that in circles around your yard, and then for fun try a skid-steer in your garden.

 

Hey BK~
For what's out there, the Polaris 4x4 system is probably the best for the money. If you want to spend about $7k bucks, go get the Traxter. But for at least a grand less, you could get a machine with twice the capability. A 450ES or a grizzly couldn't touch where a Polaris could go just because of their 3x4 system. The amount of rear wheelspin is so unnoticable that it will feel like full time 4 wheel drive. Just keep that little button engaged and you won't have to worry about not having power to all 4 wheels.