Going to look at a used Polaris 50 tomorrow. The front end is wrecked (plastics broken and gone), and the owner doesn't know the model year. First, where is the VIN on this thing ? Can I look at the VIN and tell the year and model?

 

Vin# should be on a small metal plate at the front.The first two numbers like 01,02,etc will be the year model.All the early 2001-2003 model 50's were Scrambler 50s. 2004 was the start of the Predator 50.

 

Thanks OPT !!!!! They're all 2 stroke aren't they ?

 

All the early ones were. The 50's and 90s. 2007 (I believe) the four strokes came out and the two strokes were discontinued.

 

Thanks again for the info !!

Well I picked it up. I think it's an 04. It says "Predator 50" on the side, and the plate says it was made 3/10/03. It needs some work. I know it needs clutch work, tether, battery, front bumper and plastics. The owner also said it had started to cut off after about 15 minutes of running, and has to sit about 10 minutes before starting back up. I saw several people having similar problems while researching the bike last night. Even if it needs a new top end, I'm ok with that. My first order of business is to fix the clutch and see if I can get it started. I'd like to block off the oil injection, but haven't found a block off plate yet. Does someone make one ? Oh yeah, need a service manual for this thing too !!!!!

 

Oil pumps on the little ones were reliable on these atvs and I never had to replace one. Sounds like either your loosing compression when it gets warm and then will die untill it cools back down OR you could be having a stator getting hot and ready to go south on you. These were the two most common problems on the little ones. The manual says compression should be at least 115 psi. You might want to check this first. If lower could be ready for a new top end. Complete cylinder,piston and gasket kits are available cheap!If compression is decent the stator resistance specs needs to be checked out.

 

OPT,

How do I check the stator ?

What's the output supposed to be on the stator ? You think it puts out enough juice to add headlights?

 

This is stator specs if you don't have spark:Pull the black wire from the cdi first and see if you have spark.This eliminates a kill circuit problem. From the black stator wire check it against the white/red should show 450 ohms resistance. Black to black/red should be 800 ohms,black to yellow/red 0.5 ohms.black to white 0.6 ohms,black to ground 0. The manual I have is a 2001,but stators are the same on the 2 strokes. Rechecked and shows a 70 watt alternator.I've had people install small lights on them with no problems.

 

Thank you !!!