i purchased a 96' polaris trail boss 250 for my nephew. i paid $400.00. it runs smooth and some one wired electric fan to continuosly run. i dont know why it's an aircooled radial head two stroke. anyway my time is limited and i'm trying to get it road ready, it has air in the brakes but no external leak, so that could be a seal or master cylinder then i can bleed them, i'm waiting for a manual on this project i have named "mirical"... when i put it into reverse it drags the engine down then stalls, forward and nuetral work fine. what is wrong or what am i doing wrong. any suggestions would be greatly appreaciated.

 

are you pushing the reverse override button on the left handle bar? it's yellow in color.

 

opps, i found a switch all tapped up when i removed front fender, it looks like it used to be mounted on the left of handle bars. thanks i'll check that. still waiting on a manual for this jem.

 

Air in the brakes seems common.

Just try bleeding them first.

 

if there is air in the brake system, it must have been a leak at one time and sucked air in or some how the fluid got drained. it takes alot of bleeding of the lines to gett he air out if thats the issue. imo

 

the yellow switch hes talking about is on the left hand handle bar on the same button cluster as the light switch and the off-on-off switch. no way to remove just that switch and have it taped up underneath the fender

 

yes i'll go with the "must have been disturbed at one time" i bled the brakes, no leaks, pads all the way around are about 30%, and they work great. between that and the wirers and switch i found wrapped up behind the head lamp/fender area reverse might work. it's the weakend know and i might be able to work on it. thanks for the help i'll let you know the progress.

 

wow, i wonder what this button does. the left cluster has on/off, lights-low/bright,start. a comon switch. it looks like someone wired a kill switch. i'll have to trace wiring this weekend. sorry to bother every one when i dont have a book yet. what is the procedure to engage reverse. aplly brakes move lever to reverse, the problem is not knowing the history of this machine, i'm kinda going from wittness marks. thanks for your help. i"ll keep you posted on project "mirical"

 

you can try just unplugging the rev limiter. if you take the "hood" peice off on the left right side of the frame there is a small black box. undo the black wire from it. see if that doesnt stop the studdering in reverse

 

on this reverse problem, two weeks ago... the previous owner wired a button switch in series with this black wire. my guess was to over ride the rev limiter. any way the shift linkage was out of adjustment so when lining up the shifter with the quadrent it was trying to go forward/reverse "tie-up" causing engine to stall. i adjusted linkage and it shifts great. my nephew loves this machine, thanks for the help