I have a 05, 800 Sportsman. It was time for new tires so I got the Mud Lite xt's with spacers because I got them a little wider. I was riding tonight and noticed the rear right tires was angled in toward center, about 1 inch of angle compared to the front. Later when I got home I took some measurements from the front A-arms to the rear and that right side was pulled forward 1 inch different form the left. There is nothing noticeably bent and the left side seems true. Does anyone think that the extra traction with the added 2.5 spacer might have rolled the frame? Thanks for the input.

 

I seen a post on someone that had a bent frame and he fixed it himself with a porta power this was some 2 months ago. found it Here it is....

Search (bent frame) and look for this post there are pic's of what he found.
08/16/2008 03:17 PM


jokout
Pro Rider

Posts: 440
Joined: 03/02/2008

Noticed after last weekends ride that the front tire on the left side was rubbing the fender and since there has always been plenty of clearance up front this caught my attention right away! Although I don't remember doing anything extreme, it seems that somewhere along the line I did something to bend the frame right behind the rear A-arm mount. When a straight edge is placed along the side of the frame the bend measures 5/16" at the worst point! This has resulted in the left side wheel being pushed back 3/4" as measured from rear axle center to front ball joint center! This is enough to throw the left front into the fender...I would strongly advise 400 HO owners to consider adding a steel skid plate either securely bolted or welded to the frame from the front bumper to the engine skid plate...I did have an 1/8" aluminum skid plate that I fabricated for this area, but it was only clamped on so I wouldn't have to drill any holes in the frame and compromise it's strength, this was probably a mistake on my part!
I'm caught between trying to fix it myself or taking it to a auto frame shop and having it done right...I will probably pull out the Porti-power and chains and take a stab at it...
Hoping no one else has had this problem and again I would suggest beefing up the frame in this area a bit!

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'08 Sportsman 400 HO
Red, 25" Swamplites on Douglas Rattlesnake rims, Pure Polaris deluxe front and rear brush guards, custom aluminum skid plates and stick stoppers, Tusk 50" plow

'06 Hawkeye 300
Green, 24" Carlisle 489s on stock rims, Pure Polaris deluxe brush guard, clutch mod w/12 gm. Rollers, Gorilla 2500 Pro winch, custom skid plate, Plano Cargo Box

 

If the 05 800 frame is anything like the 08 800 I'd be very suprised if you bent the frame, especially without knowing it(like hitting something hard). The above example is a 400, the 800 frame is pretty dang stout. And the way it is designed I would think that you would bend an A-arm or rip the A-arm mount tabs off before the frame bent. I guess anything is possible though. I'd look hard at all the the A-arms, A-Arm bushings(Although I doubt a shot bushing could account for an inch).

Did I read that right a 2.5" spacer? A spacer that wide has to be hard on the hubs and wheel bearings?

 

Yea I put a 2.5in spacer in the rear to get them wider that the fronts. I put on wider tires on the front than I should have. I will be swapping them out for 1.5in soon. There is nothing bent as far as I can tell. I have spent 2 days crawling around all over this thing. It doesn't look like anything is bent but the whole rear set, (both rear tires, rear drive shafts and all rear arm's) is not square to the front. If you look at the rear end straight on you can see the cant in the rear end. Can you align the rear end? I could see no way of squaring everything up. The bushings in the lower arms are shot and I am waiting on new ones but that is only going to take up a little play.

 

Don't think you can align the rear,but to be honest I have never checked. If the whole rearend is canted to the side(as in bothe tires pointing left or right) and the A-arms aren't bent it sounds like it just about has to be a bent frame. Is it eating tires? Are both rears out of alignment the same direction or does one point right and the other left, if the moved under load they should both have mover forward and be pointing toward the center of the machine I would think, and that would point more toward bushings or a-arms? The spacers would put more stress on all of those components due to the increased leverage of the wheel. If the bushings are extremely shot I would think it could cause quite a bit of deflection, remember a little movement at the bushings translates to alot more out at the wheel,not sure if it would be that much though. Have you jacked it up and tryed to move the wheel fore and aft to check for play?