Hi all. I'm new here and just bought a 2000 Sportsman 500 with 95 hours showing and 874 miles on it. In very nice shape. First problem with it is when AWD is on, the front tires don't engage. I took it out in the snow and when accelerating, only the back tires are spinning. Fronts just roll. Yes, the switch IS on.

It didn't come with any manuals and such, so I'm kinda blind till I get one. Any help would be appreciated.

Also, what would you recommend for a good self service/owners manual for this machine?

 

Here's a pdf manual you can use,plus first thing I'd do is change the hub fluid. The manual will show you how,plus if that doesn't help try this.Index of /ORV Manuals/Polaris/Sportsman/1996 - 2001

 

Thanks. That sounds good. I'll get to work on it and report back with the results.

 

OK. I finally got some oil and removed the caps on both hubs and neither one had any oil in them???? I cleaned them up, put it back together and added oil. I checked for play in the bearings and found no noticeable movement in them. You think I'll be fine with this? I haven't ran it yet.

 

Make sure your have the correct amount of oil. I let the excess oil drain out of the small filler hole at between 3 and 4 oclock position.

This guy drains the oil out of the hub caps, I just drain and fill using the small filler hole and leave the caps on.
If your speedo does not work the AWD will not unless you do the bybass trick in above video.

 

With fresh oil, the front still doesn't engage, though the speedo DOES work. After watching the video, just checking to see if I understand it right that it's the two smaller brown and white wires coming from the bottom of both connectors that I'll be cutting and splicing back together with a ground wire to the frame. Hate to start cutting if I don't need to, not knowing for sure if it's a grounding issue.

 

Yes it's the two small brown/white wires in the two connectors. Just connect them together with a larger wire and ground it to the coil mount where the other browns terminate or to a good frame ground free of any paint. Make sure first you verify you have 12 volts (when in gear,ignition switch on) to the two small gray power wires in the two connectors before you do any splicing.

 

OK. I checked and had 12v in both grey wires. I did the splice and went out and hit the snow and I did have all 4 going. I came back to the shop and noticed smoke coming from the spliced area. After looking, I found that the small wire harness/wires going down to the left front hub, sitting on it, was melted. Some of it was definitely prior to me getting it. So, I'm guessing that there's an issue with that hub somewhere.

I'm all ears.

 

Never mind. I was going to post some shots of the problem, but I'm not allowed to yet.

 

May have to remove the wheel and hub to see if strut coil wires have shorted. Hopefully the short is before it goes into the coil itself. If not,the hub strut seal sleeve will have to be removed and possibly a new coil and sleeve installed. Item #15 and #13. A manual is highly recommended if you have to do this as the new sleeve must be siliconed flush or no more than .001 out from the face of the coil. Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse
1996-2001 pdf manual.Index of /ORV Manuals/Polaris/Sportsman
Plus there are some You Tube videos that can help on disassembly.