Great site you have here.
I feel like an idiot for having to ask this but I will anyway. I was in Iraq for a year and just got back in December. My 2004 1/2 Polaris 400 sportsman was in the shed while I was gone. Before I left the desert to come back home I asked my son-in-law to get it started for me. He said it wouldn't do anything and that he thought the starter was messed up.
To make a long story short....I guess it's the solenoid that he removed from the machine and he nor I know how the wiring goes back on this thing. Oh yeah, the reason he took the thing off is because it made a clicking noise when he turned the starter over and he'd thought about buying a new one but decided against it.
The thing I'm calling the solenoid is connected to the battery box and has the connections for the battery cables and there are a few other cables there as well. It's these other than battery cables that I can't figure out what to do with. There are two short brown ones that share a single connector and then there is a white/red striped one and gray one. There are the battery cable posts on the solenoid and one more smaller post as well. And a bolt the goes through the frame that he said one of the wires was attached to. I assume that's a ground.
I thank you for any help you can offer me.

 

the two brown wires goto the bolt that goes to the frame, the red/white wire goes to the small terminal coming off of the solinoid and the two big red wires goto the nut terminals on either side of the soliniod..one on one side and one on the other
i dont think that it really matters which side goes to where just as long as they arent on the same one

 

thats sonds right(with out looking). the r/white is to give power to the soliniod tohave the power from the battery to the other red wire to power the starter. im not too sure if it makes a differnce or not but i would think it would.

 

clicky here to see part no. 19.....switch magnetic

 

ok i just pulled out the manual on this and i dont see anything about a gray wire going to the solinoid, but you also didnt mention any other wire coming from the voltage regulator so mebbe the gray wire is the battery charge wire?
if the gray wire is the alternator wire, then it will go on the same terminal as the thick red wire going back to the battery

 

Thank you for your service to this country.

 

Thanks to everyone who sent a reply and to cornbread2..it's my pleasure to serve our country.
I hooked up everything just like you said and it will start now but only with the rope start. I put a brand new battery on it and checked and rechecked to make sure it was fully charged (which it is) but it still only makes a clicking sound coming from the solenoid. What are your suggestions about that? Do you think it's the solenoid or possibly the starter or what? I wish I was more mechanically inclined sometimes.

 

Hats off to anyone that serves for our country! I would start by making sure that there is power being transfered thru the solenoid when you hear it click. Do this with a 12 v test light. Ground the clamp end of the test light and touch the the pointer end to the side of the solenoid that has the cable going to the starter, hit start button and the test light should light up. If it does then follow cable to the starter and test it there, should light up. If it does then it may be the starter. If you get no light at eather spot then it could be the solenoid. I would remove and clean all connections and coat them with dielectric grease or vaseline. Hope this helps to get you going.

 

just a thought but if the test light does get light when you test the end of the cable at the starter then try tapping on the starter with something..not too hard to dent the outshell but just enough to mebbe jostle it around a little bit. from it sitting, the brushes might have gotten stuck to the armature. if the tap trick doesnt work, and you are getting power to the starter, then dont waste money and get a new starter, you can buy a rebuild kit for them online for less than 50 bucks and its not all that hard to rebuild one. but then again if the starter doesnt turn over and mebbe you submerged the wheeler in some water the last time you rode it, then it might just need to be taken apart and get a good cleaning.
im not really saying that this is your problem, but mebbe give you some ideas on where to go to after the light test.

 

Bryan, thank you for your service to our country! You're getting some good advice from the guys here. It "sounds" to me like you have a starter problem. I would only add that when you pull-start it is your recoil rope wet? If it is you have water / ice in your recoil housing which would be another indication your starter drive needs cleaning or rebuilding.