Dublin: I live at 5500ft above sea level and my 2005 Sportsman 500HO is carbureted. I did have problems with it running to rich after I passed around 6200ft. Took it to the dealer in which I was told they ship these out to run a little rich anyway so they downsized the jet for me. It still ran rich so I pulled the air box lid and replaced the stock paper filter with a K&N. Without the air box lid it runs fantastic up threw about 8500ft. I haven't had it any higher than that.

Other wise there is a nifty little device called a Dial-a-Jet. Put it on the Scrambler 400 but they have models for everything. Cost about $60. Google it. Some mags have done testing with the device and I can vouch that it works. It ties into the carb and has a little dial that you turn to let more fuel or less fuel flow threw the carb depending on the altitude so that re-jetting is not required but I have never had this over 8000ft. Saw some testing in the Rockies where they were over 10,000 and claimed it worked great.

I guess if you can afford the EFI, that is the sure fire thing to do otherwise there are some alternatives that are not too complicated.

 

stay away from the hawkeye, especially the 06. lots of problems and recalls.

 

Sorry, but there have <u>not</u> been LOTS problems or recalls on the Polaris Hawkeye. In fact, I've never recieved a recall notice. There have been instances of broken tabs on the subframes and some jetting problems, mostly on the earlier or modified ones ones.

To put the Hawkeye's life into perpective, it was designed to be sold as an entry level quad. Lightweight, manoueverable, inexpensive, & reliable. I don't think it was meant to jump, wheelie, or smash headon into logs but if you see a bigger machine do it, why not try. Monkey see/Monkey do! Great everyday trail machine, not so fantastic in deep mud.

I sympathize for the guys who's frame has broken, not thier fault, but it would be interesting to see how many broke and how many did. Hey Polaris, are those stats available?

Most/all quads seem to have some defects, so just do what you're doing, ask a lot of questions, separate the BS from the Buckwheat and you'll do great

 

From my point of view if are looking into buying 96-97 sportsman,explorer CHECK rear u-joint driveshafts as major pain in butt to repair! Also Most I've serviced are not greased regularly and if yoke damage then about $315 PER side! Later models with cv driveshafts better choice. 01 and 02 sportsmans are the ones that have most creeping problems. During these years the washer in front of one way clutch went from plastic to brass,suffered lot if wear. My solution to a lot of the creeping was to use a shim from non ebs rear clutch instead! Same dimension and more durable and still allowed .020 on one way clutch clearance to rear sheath.YES I also am not fond of quality of Hawkeye driveshafts among other things!. I have passed this along to WARRANTY(probably with other dealers) and believe changes coming. Other than that JUST change oil and filters reguarly! Especially on 500's if too high viscosity oil used camshaft will bear the brunt! This not JMO,changed too many because of.