Hey guys, I just bought A broke down 1999 polaris sportsman 500 from A farmer for $500.00. The magnets fell apart on the flywheel and tore up the stater. I bought A used updated flywheel with the stainless steel band pressed around the magnets, stater & cdi. after I fixed it, I got A hour ride out of it before it started acting up eg not opening up and no power at A pull. The exhaust lobe is gone on the camshaft and the rocker arm is also bad. This machine also needs both front a arms the hole where the ball joint bolts is egg shaped, ball joints, starter & starter drive, rear wheel berings, driveshaft u joints, A few cv joint boots are busted letting grease fling out of aixles, only one front wheel pulls in awd and both front aixles are good, all 4 tie rod ends are loose, there are metal shaveings in the transmission oil. no guts in the recoil start cover, It has A loose connection in the wire harness, there are times I loose all electrical no speedo lights,awd, or fan but it will run if I sross over the starter selonid. I can get all these parts off ebay for about $1,000. Is this atv worth all this work? Or did I get ripped off. Any opinions will be appreciated.

 

welcome to the forum. hate to say it, but you did not get a good deal a you just found out with all those repairs. the bike being that old is not worth it. you might need a new armture plate on the non working side on the awd drive if it's not working. It's up to ou ifyou wan to have $1500.+ into your bike nd you might still have other issues as ell like bad cv joints where the boots are ripped. chances are if water got into them at some point they are already starting wear out which adds a couple more hundred to the money pit. just my . good luck.

 

Can be a big money pit. You can probably get your money back and more parting out the good engine parts(cases,cylinder, head,),electrical,plastics,etc on Ebay then buy a later model atv. OPT

 

Thanks OPT, I wonder how hard it would be to sell on ebay since there are tons of sellers selling used polaris parts? I have to make sure I dont go in the hole by the time I pay to ship the parts, ebay and paypal fees. It wouild be nice to talk to someone who did this before who could steer me in the right direction.

 

Thanks stendori, I am thinking about selling it or stripping it and selling the parts.

 

I sold about $1000 worth of spare gun parts real quick several years ago. You have to have an account and best to post good pics of individual parts. Fees have change over the years,plus check with your local post office/UPS on shipping prices on certain weights. Craigslist is another place that might be just as good,plus a lot simpler. OPT

 

I will check it out. If this works out and I can sell, what later model atv would you suggest? I need one with little to no history of issues. thanks

 

At least a 2001 500 HO or preferably later if you're after a Polaris and can afford it, plus check any machine out carefully! Leave the older ones alone no matter how clean,mainly for the reason of parts availability on some older atvs. OPT

 

How long does A new replacement camshaft usually last on these older models? with A new rocker arm.

 

If you change oil and filter every 50 hours or so the new cam will probably last longer than the rest of the atv does or until you want a newer one. The choice is yours on this as to repair it (with a bunch of costs and time spent) or spring for a newer one. I had people at the shop have to face this question almost every week on some atvs that were "given" to them or that they got real cheap,etc.. OPT