Help please. I have a 2008 Sportsman 800. It has a rattle sound that comes from the front end when turning at higher RPM's I looked at the heat shield and that is fine. No noise from there. I have the front end taken off trying to find the rattle. The quad has 475 trails miles on it. Any suggestions please?

 

check to see if exhaust pipe is hitting the motor, about half way back, my 06 was doing that

 

No its clear of the motor. Almost sounds like its coming from the drive area in front but only around 25-30 mph on turns only.

 

Rev it and watch your vertical fairlead rollers..on my 800 with the Polaris winch they would vibrate and spin when the engine was revved..took me a little while to find that noise..lol...it was down right irritating rattle type noise though. I pulled them apart and greased them then when I put them back I snugged then a little tighter than they were originally,just enough so they would spin from the vibration,just make sure you don't tighten them so tight that they do not spin when the cable is pulled against them.

Edit-just noticed you said it only does it on turns..I mis read..thought you were saying turning at higher RPMs..so probably not your problem..

I'd go over it carefully and look for anything loose up front, loose hardware,jack it up and check the suspension,differential ect as well..

 

If you have a stand where you can elevate the wheels off the ground,then go through the same routine as when you heard the sound. Pay particular attention to the front drive shafts when you turn, and see if the shafts have any "slide" in them going into the front gearbox. If so, you might have a clip that is out inside the gearbox.

 

Its not the fairlead rollers, thanks for the idea. As for the front drive shafts both of them have very little slide towards the front drive train. I was told this is normal. I did lift the quad off the ground with my lift and ran it but was not able to get the sound while she was up in the air. As soon as I took her down and tested it then the sound came back at around 25 + mph when turning only.

 

Check if you have excessive play when you wiggle the front wheels from the side. Could be wheel bearings, ball joint,or tie rod ends. I seem to remember having to change all three on my 05 800 early on when I first owned it.

 

Since you say "only when turning", it leads me to think its your cv's. Like others say check everthing up front.

 

Seams like I got most of the sound away. I did some sound proofing to the shield on the left & right side of the radiator as well in several other places. I thing what is left is coming from the belt system. Again mostly during turning around 25-30 mph.

 

i know this may sound strange, but if you read the post above about the drain plug beware if you havent already changed the fluids that the plugs are being ground down by the internal silent chain and does cause a sound that i noticed on my 08' until i fixed it which some of my noise went away. just an idea.