I'm ready to grease all the zerks for spring, it appears that I can get to them all by taking all the tires off and lifting the SP500 up on a stand. Its the first time doing this. Anyone with ideas/suggestions.........any suggestions on putting the ATV on 'blocks'? Thanks.

 

Nope taking off the tires worked the best for me. I think the toughest one to get to was the one on the shaft right by the engine on the right side of the quad. i actually had to rotate the shaft around and come in from the left side of the quad to get to it. Just make sure the grease gun has a flexible hose and you are using a marine grade grease (water proof).

 

MoonMe,

Ah, a much discussed topic. He is a copy of some earlier information I posted during one of the other discussions.

I agree, block it up and take the wheels off. Most zerks are then readily accessible. There are a couple around the right foot brake lever that are not obvious. See the list below.

I jack one end up high, block in the middle, then pivot the machine (by hand) onn the center blocks and slip a single block under the other end. ... or at least that is how I used to do it ... now I use the new Snap-On car hoist ... smiling all the while!!!

Here is the old post:

One of the posts above talked of zerks to grease bearings. There are no bearings on the Sportsman that are greasable via zerks.

2 - L&R front lower ball joints
2 - L&R outer tie rod ends (not on newer units)
2 - L&R inner part of front control arms
2 - L&R front inner U joints
1 - lower steering post (not on newer units)
1 - upper steering post
1 - u joint at prop shaft leading to front
1 - u joint midway on prop shaft (under recoil)
1 - yoke joint in prop shaft (also under recoil)
1 - foot brake pedal pivot point
6 - L&R rear lower control arms (2 outer, 1 inner)
6 - L&R rear upper control arms (1 outer, 2 inner)
2 - L&R ends of rear anti-roll bar
2 - L&R rear inner u joints ('98 and older only)
2 - L&R rear outer u joints ('98 and older only)

This totals 32 zerks on my '98! The newer '99s and 00's should have 6 less, totalling 26. The newer units do not have greasable outer tie rod ends (less 2 zerks), and they have dual CV joints instead of u joints on the rear drive shafts (less 4 zerks). As stated earlier, the newest (2001) units will be missing the one on the lower steering post.

So the way I see it there are 25 on the 2001s.


Other Notes:

I slip grease into my ungreasable inner tie rod ends using a grease needle.

Polaris warns that 3 pumps maximum should be used in the prop shaft yoke.

Polaris recomments that the u joints are filled until fresh grease is expelled from all 4 sections of each joint. This way all water and dirt should be expelled.

Greasing is relatively quick once you figure out how to access all of the zerks.

Hope this helps,

DJ

 

Jacked up, on stands, and wheels off is the *only* way to go.

I have found a really easy way to get both ends off the floor. I use a floor jack under the front end, with pieces of 2x4 between the jack and the frame. First, that saves me from doing a lot of jacking just to reach the frame, and second (the important part) it allows me to jack the front end up real high. I jack it up to the limits of the jack. Then I put jackstands under the the rear frame extensions under the floor-boards (in front of the rear tires. When I lower the jack, the ATV rocks forward on the jackstands and the rear tires come off the floor too (don't let the front end all the way down; only go far enough to raise the rear tires & level the ATV front-to-rear). Place a 3rd jackstand under the front of the ATV as far forward as you can get it, then drop the jack the rest of the way and move it out of the way.

 

I used to jack up my quad and use jack stands at 3 points. One each side under the floorboards and the third one under the rear end. Since then I picked up a quad jack, now life is easy. I just slide the jack under mid section and with the built in foot actuated hydraulic jack pump her up.
A modification you may be interested in, my none cv joint rear axles have been modified so I can grease them without disassembling them. I have a groove machined 2" inside the female section of the axle, then drilled and tapped 2 holes that line up with the groove to accept zerks. After greasing (15 to 20 pumps) I remove the zerks and install set screws.

 

Dave,

OK, I missed something. What are you greasing with this mod and procedure? The older (as in your '98 and my '98) rear shafts have a u-joint at each end that are greasable. Fill me in, where are you getting 15-20 pumps in? That is no small amount of grease.

DJ

 

i grease my sp while setting on all fours, the only fitting i couldn't reach was the one on the drive shaft yoke, what a pain!!!

 

Has anyone ever had problems with zerks simply not taking grease? I had my right a-arm replaced because of that. When I grease my quad I'm lucky and just use a forklift.

98 SP500

 

Polarisz71:

It sounds like you need a Grease Buster. It's a special gizmo that looks like a small greaser for chainsaw bars. You pour liquid penetrating oil into the retracted piston, lock the end onto the frozen grease joint, and smack the **** on the piston, which forces the oil into the zerk at over 10,000psi. This softens & cleans out the hardened, dirty grease.

The Grease Buster can be found in the back of most farm magazines.