Hey all. I may be purchasing an '04 sportsman 500 here soon. (If I have anything to do with it). But I'm just curious to get some feedback on if there are any "quirks" with those engines, and how hard they are to work on. I enjoy doing my own maintenance, but I don't know how accessible everything is on these quads. This will be my first time owning one. Thanks in advance!

 

The 500 has been around since 1996 it built in Japan by Fuji Industries and is very reliable. They had a soft cam issue in the late 90s that was corrected.

My only advice is seal the pull rope handle in place because water will find its way down the rope hole onto expensive parts that like to stay dry(Guaranteed). I use silicone to seal the handle in place over the rope hole.
Stay with full synthetic 0w-40 oil, we have 7500 miles on our 97 and I have almost 4000 miles on my 2001.

 

I met a chap from canada with a 2-up 05 or 06 500 and he has 18000 miles on his, all he has done with his is replaced the clutch ( drive and driven ) engine has not been apart and he rides double for most the miles