Hey guys,

I just joined this forum and there is lots of good info on here! I just recently bought an 08' Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI in the Boardwalk Blue colour and i'm really happy with the quad so far. I have allready added the following accesories: Polaris front brushgaurd, rear bumper, blue handgaurds, heated grips and thumb warmer, rear work lights, 2500lb winch and the glacier II plow with 60" blade. I've got 7hrs on it and i just changed all the oils, and i couldn't believe how black the front diff oil was after only 7hrs (one month) of use! I used the correct LT fluid and i plan on changing it again in another month... Is it normal for the oil to get that dirty? Maybe it's just the clutches for the ADC breaking in?

I just have one question for you guys running the Polaris front brushgaurd on the 05' and later 400 to 500cc Sportsmans. In the instructions that came with the brushgaurd, it says to use the following bolt holes that i have red arrows pointed to in the picture below, and it says the 700 and 800cc sportsmans use the bolt holes that i'm currently using... are the instructions wrong because when i use the bolt holes that it says to use on my 500 the brushgaurd sits to low and blocks the lights and looks ugly. so did Polaris mess up on the instuctions or did i do something wrong? I think my brushgaurd looks perfect using the bolt holes for the big bore models.... what is the difference in the front end compared to the 500cc and 800cc, because i can't see no difference in the pics i've seen.

The winch cable also clears the brushgaurd by about 2" on the glacier II plow setup, so thats a bonus.

 

First of all welcome to the forum...Secondly something definitely looks different in that pic compared to my 05 700...Either they changed the mounting brackets or where they connect to the machine.....Alot of us guys here either had to modify the plastic under the headlights or modify the flange itself to allow the brushguard to sit high enough to use the rear holes like you have yours connected now...But I'd say use which ever holes you like...I'm not sure what the differences are as to why there's 2 sets of holes....

John

 

on my 800 im using the holes you are. i thinm in some cases it pushes the bumper further away. im w/ john use which holes work for you. as far as the break in yes, sometimes the wearing parts will make the oil fairly dirty for sure.

 

Welcome to the forums 08SP500EFI. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I had to do the same thing on my 06 500 x2 the holes that polaris said to use with the 500 did not work they blocked part of the headlights and made the brushguard set to close to the unit and it looked horable. I did not have to do any trim work on my plastic either

 

Welcome to the group!

Regarding the front diff fluid being dirty, I've had the same experience with my 800. I've drained and added fresh fluid four times in the last month or so, and it seems that it is finally coming clean. I suspect that is takes a while for the ADC front diff internals to fully wear in. I didn't have this dirty fluid problem with my non-ADC 500.

 

Thanks guys for all the replies.

One other thing i forgot to add... All the washers that came with my front brushgaurd were 1/4" so i had to get some 5/16" washers for the other six 5/16" bolts as well and four new longer 1/4" bolts that hold the brackets to the frame, because the ones that came in the kit were to short causing the locknuts not to grab... other then that everything went togather perfect and the brushgaurd doesn't rub anywhere and looks like it's sitting properly on the quad, so i'll leave it be and ignore the stupid instructions!

 

its sad to see that polaris hasn't changed their hardware contents in 7 months. I had the same problem with the washers but my bolts fit they just twisted off so i got a better grade of bolt.

 

I have the same brush guard. About a month after I got it, all the nuts and bolts started to rust. My buddy has the same (Polaris) brush guard and his are rusted also.
Why would they make such a nice product..charge an arm and a leg and the cheap out on the hardware?

 

I actually had to drill out my washers to get them to fit! Also, when my buddy was screwing around on his X2 he hooked the front of my brush guard with the front of his by the headlight rim. When we pulled them apart, the cheap *** bolt actually stretched out and apart!!!
I have since went to Fastenal and bought all new stainless steel hardware and painted them black.