Hey guys. I'm going through and doing a pretty thorough maintenance on my 05 Sportsman 600 in preparation for a Moab trip this weekend. Not too many miles on my machine, but so far I've just had the dealer do the full service and I've only been changing the Oil and Tranny fluid, (oil twice a year).

Questions:
#1: I pulled the wheels off and was checking the tires, brakes, etc. and noticed that the front wheels are pretty difficult to turn when in neutral. Kind of like the brakes are grabbing just a bit. I can turn the hubs by hand, but they're pretty firm and I'm wondering if that is normal. Pads and rotors are all in good shape.

#2: Do you guys use both kinds of grease recommended for the u-joint and then ball joints? I'm not really wanting to have to manage two different kinds, but will if it is really important. If only one, which do you use. I was originally thinking I'd just use my purple grease like I do on everything else.

#3: Do you guys have any cool ideas for filling the fluids into the diffs and tranny? I'm thinking about picking up a giant plastic syringe to measure and squirt the fluid in.

BTW, here is my maintenance checklist. I'm down to #12

1. Wash filter skin and air box and replace air filter
2. Inspect tires, air pressure, wheels and brakes
3. Replace both spark plugs
4. Drain/fill front diff: Premium Demand Drive Hub Fluid
5. Drain/fill rear diff: Premium ATV Angle Drive Fluid
6. Drain/fill transmission: Polaris Premium AGL Synthetic Gearcase Lube
7. Drain/fill engine oil and filter: Polaris Premium 4 Synthetic 0W-40
8. Inspect belt
9. Check brake fluid levels
10. Check coolant level
11. Charge/condition battery
12. Lube u-joint and ball joints, (still need to do)

I probably need to drain/flush brake and coolant also, but that'll have to wait.

Thanks for the help!

 

My discs drag on both my 500 and 800, so that me be your issue as well.

As far as the grease, I use the regular grease for the A-arms and propshaft. Neither of mine have zerks in the U-joints.

And the plastic syringe is a good idea, a turkey baister with a tube on the end might work well too.

Good luck and I hope you have a great time with no problems at Moab. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I use Marine grade grease,designed for bottom ends of outboard motors and boat trailer wheels which get submerged at boat launches. I though it just made sense for ATVs as well.

 

Thanks for the reply guys.

 

A long time ago I asked the dealer about two different greases for everything and he told me the more expensive one would work on everything. I only needed one kind of grease but it was $$ to grease the whole quad with it.

The checklist looks pretty thorough but not nit-picky at all. Give the wheels a shake while you're down there greasing the ball joints and such. Stand back a ways and look at the toe-out. If you can see it without measuring like I did once, you know something is is whacked out of line. I rarely check my battery cables but do check the strap sometimes. Somebody unhooked one end while I was parked.

 

jumbofrank, thanks for the extra suggestions.

I talked to my dealer today about the special u-joint grease and it took him a few mins to even find some of it in the back. It looked like it was from 1972. He said every seems to just use the Polaris all purpose grease for everything, if they even lube it at all. He said the main reason people use the u-joint grease is when they replace the CV joints, but that it comes with the new joint.

 

You're welcome. I'm still trying to figure out who unhooked my battery strap. That would suck to have it fall out going through the whoops.

 

go figure that one.. of course the dealer is gonna say you need the one that is gonna cost you more money. They will tell you whatever it takes to make a buck! Id have to agree with TLC on this one, i have never heard of doing that before but it makes sense.

 

Waterproof grease in a quad makes lots of sense. One of my friends thought his quad was a submarine. It sat awhile and soaked up water like a sponge.

 

i've used the vent tube in the front diff to put fluid in , most should come with a screw on cap that you can put a piece of tubing on , rear diff and tranny also .