Loving the site, lots of great info on here!

I just bought my first ATV, 96 xplorer 4x4. It needed a lot of work but I got it really cheap. I'm working on the front wheel drive stuff now.

The strut bearings were shot as were the hillard clutches (one exploded it looked like). There was a combination of wheel grease and mud in these things! Well taken care of needless to say! The hub activator on one all wire was pulling out!

I want 4x4 but am not going to be able to spend the dough to buy all the parts needed. Has anyone ever made these things full time 4x4?

It looks like I can weld the wheel bearings to the races and it when tightened the hub should be locked to the drive axle. My other option is to weld the torn apart hillard clutch to the inside of the rotor.

How hard would it be to steer in full time 4x4? Any other ideas?

Thanks, John

 

Welcome! Dont know of anyone making a kit to go to fulltime 4x4. don't think I would wanna steer it even if they did. Good luck and happy trails!

 

Without power steering I think it would be a real bear to ride it.

 

dont even think about doing that. The front wheel differential is geared lower then the rear in order for the polaris hilliard clutch system (basically a one way clutch) to operate correctly. If you could somehow get the front diff the same ratio as the rear then it wouldnt be a problem.

The front wheels only have power when the rear wheels are slipping or spinning faster then the front wheels (due to the speed overrun of the one way clutch). When the rear wheels are not slipping the front wheels are free wheeling. If you lock them all together without that clutch the front and rear wheels are going to be fighting each other as they will be trying to turn at different speeds.

 

ahhh, haven't thought about the different speeds from front to back. Maybe I can equalize the difference with tire size?

 

Should be able to correct speed with diff with front tires sames size as rear. Will still be a handful and I would bet you'll regret it after all the work you put in to it.

 

Got to work with it some last night. On the left side, I cleaned it up really good, got all the wheel grease out and reassembled to see if that side would engage and it did so it looks like I only need the RT side hillard clutch and strut to make it work like it should. I think I will try to repair it properly!

I know it says use polaris (or type F) fluid in the hubs, but does that also go for the strut bearings? Or do you pack the strut bearings with wheel grease?

 

the tires are the same diameter already, dont confuse the diameter with the width difference... the speed difference is in the internal gearing of the front and rear diff. He would need to run like a 27 inch on front and a 22 inch on back.. not something thats going to look nice or perform at all.


the front hubs are filled with the hub fluid or type f fluid only. if there is grease in there thats probably why its was messed up in the first place. May want to check the seals on the back of the hub if there was mud in there also.

good that your going to fix it properly because your going to be spending more on new tires to try and equalize the ratio then it would cost to replace the hilliard. then your going to have a funny looking atv. should be able to find a used hilliard for less then a hundred bucks on ebay.

 

Up through 2000 something the front tires are larger than the rears to keep the the front hubs overrun by just a little bit. The drive line turns at the same speed. Newer models run the front end slower and use the same size wheels.

 

well i have a 94 sportsman 4x4 and the tires are all 25". remember its a safety thing, polaris does not want the front hubs to engage at high speed as it would make a very dangerous steering event. The gear spread has to be wide enough to ensure the front will never engage until the speed of the rear wheels over runs the front.

Stock gearing the front wheels on my 94 and my 2005 800 turn slower then the rear when all 4 are spinning. Dont know what else to say, but in my experience all polaris hilliard clutch setups have a lower geared front diff, not tires.

What changed after 2000 was that polaris went with a central hilliard instead of being in the hubs.

Polaris would never use special tire sizes to engage the awd. What if you went out and wanted to buy new tires, your awd would act up. Manufacturers wouldnt make special sizes just for polaris as other atvs wouldnt work with them (locked 4x4 systems)... I dont know where you heard that info, but its something ive never heard or seen on the polaris atv's ive owned.