having trouble gtting the "bendix" to engage to the flywheel on my 2000 magnum 325....For several weeks it has been getting progressivly worse....Now it almost never engages....Starter spins just fine.Have Taken it out,cleaned,lubed it as per the Polaris Service manual....The gears are not worn.And working it by hand it locks....The polaris dealer parts guy said the "return" spring was the only part he could order,out side of 230.00 for a whole assymbly.As I see it the return spring helps to disengage the bendix once the engine is running....Would it affect the engaging process???Thanks for your help...

 

Hey man, you need to come up around my way sometime and ride man!We have alot of places to ride.

 

RDR,
you need to pull the recoil housing back off and check the bushing up inside of the housing. Also, you do have the shims on the inside and outside of the bendix?.. What grease and how much are you using when you reassemble it?... It doesn't engage the flywheel?... Usually its the other way around, it usually doesnt want to disengage.

 

Bushing inside the recoil housing is good,,,,,there is a bushing/washer on the back of the gear that is closest to the crankcase.....no bushing on the side of the recoil housing....This morning,as usual the starter would spin but no flywheel engage...pull cord started it and rode a couple hours...forgot and shut it off at a pit stop and lo and behold it fired right up with the starter...no problen at all the rest of the day..hmnnn.......

 

oh,just using a very light coat of lithium greese....

 

I think its just your starter drive thats bad. The one way clutch kicks out prematurly. Never had much luck trying to fix the drive, the starter itself can be rebuilt very easily though. I think that you can replace that drive for $130.

 

Polaris makes a special starter drive grease just for this. You might give that a try.

 

Thanks for your time an ideas guys...looks like I'm ordering some special polaris starter greese and a return spring tomorrow...