theres got to be an easie way to clean my rad fins out , dont want to use the pressure washer but my hose takes me an hour ...more if the mud is dry. i took my shield of but cant seem to get the other screen thing off. lookin for someones trick

 

The only way to truly clean out the sportsman rad is to remove the front box. There are 4 large bolts inside the box and then 8 small screws on the outside of the lower portion of the box. 4 on top and 4 underneath. It is the only way to get to the top of the radiator. Talk about a poor design but that is the only way I know how to do it. I learned that trick from the dealership I go to up in Hurley Wisconsin. Try it like that and you will get the results you are looking for.

 

the real trick is to keep it some what clean on the trail w/ a trail washer before it dries hard as concrete. i use my pressure washer to clean mine out on a wide spray w/ not so close to the fins as to bend them. i agree that the rads. get muddy because of where there mounted but polaris isnt the only ones as my friend had to stop by my house yesterday to use my hose on his brute because it was overheating.

 

Just a thought, because I don't try to get that muddy, has anyone tryed to take there screen off and cut a square out of it and put it on a hinge or take the square you cut out and put tabs on it and put it back on with wing nuts???

 

The real issue with this machine is being able to get to the top of the radiator if you get into the deep stuff. You cannot reach it by pulling out the square access panel. You can get a little bit of the top of it by pulling the access panel within the box and spraying down to it. Bottom line in my book is that if you are gonna run in the deep stuff, you have to pull the box to get it clean. Good luck.

 

good tip mud hog , doesnt take any time at all and it makes it easier to clean the whole front end Thanks [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

on mine i have my winch sticking out where the access panel is and can spray enough water around the winch to get to the top. on my wifes i just take out the panel and have plent of room to spray top and from the bottom to clean it pretty good. the bigest thing is to spray from the fan side inside and around the shroud to push the mud back thru the radaitor. this is where most people get into trouble and dont do a good enough job causing overheating. just because the front looks clean, dont assume that the back got cleaned good enough from spraying the front.

 

Make your own portable pressure washer and clean the quad on the trail before the mud gets dry.
Get a 800 gallon per hour bilge pump used on boats from a marine supply store, ebay, Cabela's, or Gander Mountain.
Wire it up to run on your PoPo ciggy plug. Get some hose for the output end.

Get the wire and hose long enough, say 10 ft wire, 10 ft hose. When dirty, throw the pump in the water, plug it in and wash the quad. When done, roll it up till next time. The 800gph puts out enough pressure to blast out the mud without hurting the radiator.

Simple. I like simple.

 

try it out stendori, it makes the hose down job much qicker , even lets you sit your arm into the fenders and get the rear end , and it only takes a minute to take it of, 4, 7/16 bolts in the top , 4 hex screws on each side above your tires.
hefty lefty how big is a 800gph bilge pump do you want to be carrying that around with you everytime you go out for a ride or do you unload by a stream and do it before you load up?

 

i have taken mine off when i took my rad completely out for a though cleaning. its not really needed to do if you keep right on top of it. if you look at my pics. you'll see a trail washer pump i made up and bring w/ me to wash ours on the trail. well worth the 60.00 i have into it.