cool, I am mechanically declined, but I am looking forward to learning this stuff, do i need to get a servie manual for this stuff or will the owners manual do?

 

todays your lucky day, I just rembered that I had the .pdf of that on my computer
I set it all up and then I'll post back with the link

 

well it was more of a pain than I thought, wilburg, can you just pm me your email and i'll just email it to you

 

My take on the deal is this.
$180 will buy you your 25 hour service at the dealer.
or:
$180 and about 3 hours will buy you
Enough fluids for two or three service intervals, a shop manual, a K&N, with enough left over for a couple tanks of gas.

One thing to bear in mind, you need four or five different types of fluid. Oil, tranny fluid, front gearcase fluid, rear gearcase fluid, and I think ADC fluid if you bike has ADC. The owners manuals for my '04 ATP and the wife's '05 Sportsman were a little vague about what fluid went where, and used different terminology for the same fluid on different pages. I don't know if they are better now or not, I haven't actually read through my '08 Sportsman manual. Just make sure you are clear on what goes where before you start.
Q

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: QBall

My take on the deal is this.

$180 will buy you your 25 hour service at the dealer.

or:

$180 and about 3 hours will buy you

Enough fluids for two or three service intervals, a shop manual, a K&N, with enough left over for a couple tanks of gas.



One thing to bear in mind, you need four or five different types of fluid. Oil, tranny fluid, front gear case fluid, rear gear case fluid, and I think ADC fluid if you bike has ADC. The owners manuals for my '04 ATP and the wife's '05 Sportsman were a little vague about what fluid went where, and used different terminology for the same fluid on different pages. I don't know if they are better now or not, I haven't actually read through my '08 Sportsman manual. Just make sure you are clear on what goes where before you start.

Q</end quote></div>

Your Tranny fluid and rear diff fluid are combined , when you change your tranny fluid your changing the rear diff fluid also .

 

I just want to tell you how awesome I think this forum (and you) are!!!

Ok, So I am severely mechanical handicap (I have no idea what pieces are what, I even have my own parking spot near the repair shop) My father never show me any of this stuff.

Anyways, I man'd up and decided that I could do this, so I went to the store and bought $50 worth of fluids and filters, a $20 allen wrench set and went to work!!!

Three hours later and one broken knuckle (war wound) and a brand new set of shiny ********* - I have done it!!! I changed my engine oil (including the bottom thingy), the transmission oil and forward gear case. Let me tell ya, the last (forward gear case) fill plug was a major PITA, it took me about a half hour and a broken knuckle before I got that one off. I inspected my air filter and checked out the pull start reservior. I had previously fixed the throttle cable issue.

BUT, even for the mechanically declined it was a pretty easy job.

I saved $110, not bad pay for today! and maybe the wifey will give me something something for being a man!


Seriously --- THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH for your encouragment!!!

 

If you take a box end wrench and put the Allen wrench ( long part ) through the box end that will give you the leverage to easily remove the plug . Hard to explain but works great try it next time .

 

Yes, my allen had a handle that gave leverage - I had a major problem getting the allen to fit into the hole (dirty) and then it really needed to be wrenched pretty good (I assume that this is because it came from the factory) I tightened real taught using the wrench, I assume next time I won't have that same problem (or I may burn it).

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Spdecat

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: QBall



My take on the deal is this.



$180 will buy you your 25 hour service at the dealer.



or:



$180 and about 3 hours will buy you



Enough fluids for two or three service intervals, a shop manual, a K&N, with enough left over for a couple tanks of gas.







One thing to bear in mind, you need four or five different types of fluid. Oil, tranny fluid, front gear case fluid, rear gear case fluid, and I think ADC fluid if you bike has ADC. The owners manuals for my '04 ATP and the wife's '05 Sportsman were a little vague about what fluid went where, and used different terminology for the same fluid on different pages. I don't know if they are better now or not, I haven't actually read through my '08 Sportsman manual. Just make sure you are clear on what goes where before you start.



Q</end quote></div>



Your Tranny fluid and rear diff fluid are combined , when you change your tranny fluid your changing the rear diff fluid also .</end quote></div>


Doh!

Forgot it's one big unit on the 500, the 800 isn't that way, the tranny and rear diff are seperate.

Wilburg: Congrats on conquering the mechanical dragon! My Dad taught me a lot of this stuff at an early age, like when I was old enough to hold a flashlight for him, and I learned a lot more from watching him screw up.
The big BIG thing to remember when you start tackling the tougher stuff is: "Remember how to put the damn thing back together. "
If I am getting into somthing I haven't done before, like last winter when I pulled down the front gearcase on my ATP I am very methodical during the dissassembly process, I put screws and bolts back in the holes they came from if possible, if not I bag em and label 'em in snack bags, I label parts with masking tape, I've even been known to take digital pictures of stuff I think is going to have me scratching my head. It all pays off when you go to put it back together though&gt; I put the gearcase back together, remounted it, reassembeled the entire front end, frame, springs, struts, bolted the cab back down and remounted the tires in four hours. Took about 12 to get it all apart, but the preparation made the reassembly go like butter.
Oh yeah, The other big thing, Lefty Loosey, Righty Tighty.....

Q

 

Wanted to thank you for posting the idea and steps needed to fix idling problems. My 500efi had the same issue. Was an easy adjustment that fixed my problem immediately.

Four days later we went riding for a week and never had a problem.

Thank you,
Rich