My question to the forum members is...on my 04 Sportsman on both front hubs there is a "allen head" set screw in the hub... I was wondering do you remove this screw and put a grease nipple on and pump a small amount of grease into the hub for lubrication??.

Cheers All, great forum

 

That is not a good idea.

That is a drain/fill plug for the front hub oil. Once a year or so you'll want to pick up a quart of hub oil from the dealer and change the oil as old oil gets sticky over time and can make the front 4wd want to hang engaged after you put it back into 2wd.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but... the oil procedure is to pull the allen plug, rotate the hub until the plug hole is at 6 O'clock, drain the old oil, rotate plug hole to 2 0'clock position and top it off with new hub oil.

 

actually i think i read somewhere its about 4 o'clock

 

Thanks guys...better to ask than to just assume.

 

Could be 4 o clock, like I said...definantly corret me if I'm wrong. A guy at my dealer tossed me a quart of oil and quickly told me the procedure on my way out, like 5 years ago...lol.

 

It is definetly the 4 o clock position that the oil level should be at . I have a 2000' Sportsman 500 and I change the hub oil lots 2 to 3 times a year especially if you submerge the hubs in water lots. A quart of that hub oil will last a long time and is money well spent.

 

Thanks for all the the input....just starting to do my own preventative maintenance, this is greatly appreciated.

 

One other maitenance that should be done lots , especially after going thru deep water, is to grease the ball joints, found near the bottom of the struts in behind the front wheels .Turning the wheels all the way left for greasing the right side and all the way right for greasing the left side.
Also the output shaft coming out of the tranny that is conected to the driveshaft has a grease fitting on it . It is very difficult to get at , you have to roll the bike till the fitting is in a spot that makes access the easiest. I find it easy to get the grease gun on the fitting from the left side and have a 2nd person to check to make sure the grease is going in the fitting and not leaking around it . These two spots are are very prone to collecting water in them when going thru deep water, and you will see and hear the water coming out when greasing them. And if the water left in it will rust the parts inside a wear them out a lot sooner .
Well happy trails [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

try to use a water repeling grease as well if you can. if not make to push out all the water out when you grease it.

 

So using a "marine" rated grease will probably off set any pre mature wear in any of these mentioned places.

Now that it has been mentioned I wonder why (or out loud in this forum) the Polaris engineers dont stress or even have this listed as part of the "PM" (Preventive Maintenance) in the owner's manual.

Go Team Canada ! (World Junior Hockey Championships)