Does the "cold weather" main jet for the Sportsman 500 HO also help out the low speed idle circuit or is there a separate pilot jet for that.

 

Any opinions or experience?

 

I'm gonna try to give you some opinion b/c I know it can be frustrating when noone answers your question.

I dont know anything about sportsmans, but I'll tell you what I "think".

From my slim knowledge of thumpers, you should'nt need to rejet in the cold unless it is "extremely cold" If its feeling sluggish and you think it would help, it never hurts to try, just be sure to check you plug before the change and after just to be safe.

If its blubbering at idle, bump the idle up a little. I am keeping my mouth shut on the pilot jet. I would hate to tell you something wrong. I am a 2 stroke guy myself. Good luck and hopefully someone w/ a little more exp. will give you a hand.

EC

 

Follow the book from Polaris on sizes, the pilot will not need to be changed. Somthing I have run into is that most 4-strokes come "fat" from the factory, it's not uncommon to drop 5 or 10 on the main if you are keeping the rest of the bike stock, this will lean it out a fuzz. If you are doing any mods than toss out what the book says, you are now into trying to find or keep the relation between each mod and the jetting so they all pull in the same dirrection. Somthing else to mention is the cold air, it's much denser in cold weather and you get more air atomizing with the fuel, also alttidtude plays a role in this. These can be very missunderstood subjects when it comes to jetting. Good Luck.

 

After fiddling with the idle screw and fine tuning the choke, I found that adjustments to the pilot jet were not necessary. With the idle stop adjusted properly it will hold engine rpm high enough so that the engine will not die with the choke applied. To start mine I use full choke and no throttle pressure on the tumb lever. When the engine starts I position my hand on the thmb lever just in case the engine rpm drops slightly, which it usually does not.

After the motor runs for a little while and the idle begins to get ragged I drop the choke down to the 1/2 stop and things smooth out. I then continue idling the engine or drive it away.

I have noticed that these 500 cc engines will start well with the recoil starter if the battery does not have enough CCA (cold cranking amps)