Over the weekend we received our first snowfall since I got my SP700. Needing to visit a neighbor's house, I drove the SP700 there and then "took the long way back" through a nearby sand pit. There was about 4-6 inches of snow on top of the underlying sand. We ride there a lot and I know the terrain pretty well.

Overall things were great. But when climbing a couple of shallow hills in 4WD, the handlebars would oscillate left-right. It felt like the front tires were alternately grabbing and releasing the snow. I could understand if they BOTH weren't getting traction, but because it alternated so evenly I'm guessing it's something in the drivetrain. Don't get me wrong - it climbed the hills just fine, but this weird jerking left and right was unnerving.

This is on the stock Goodyear Rawhide Grip tires that came on the SP700. They have well over 50% tread remaining. The ATV does not behave this way without snow; we ride there all the time on the same hills, same slopes, same sand and I've never experienced this before.

Any ideas?

 

if i remeber right my 02 500 used to do the same thing in the snow and not in the mud and it never bothered. i think its the way its designed but i could be wrong.

 

All of my Sportsmans did the same thing.
In fact my last SP, the 500EFI, seemed to do it just a little less that my '05 70EFI.

I think it's just normal.

And yes, very strange...............but in the deepest-of-deep I never got stuck! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Need to put a steering stablizer on it.

 

you are just picking up traction at different times, snow will do that to you because there may be ice underneath or different ground conditions, this is the way it is when both front tires are spinning, you are basically driving with a locker, that is how the polaris front hub works, there is no way for the tires to alternate like a limited slip. don't worry about it, just hold on baby, or let off the throttle a bit. welcome to true 4x4.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]