I am pretty unfamiliar with how Sportsmans ride, but my 2000 Sportsman 500 has EBS and when I let off the gas at any speed, it grabs and releases, and grabs and releases, etc. It makes it feel like I'm going to knock my teeth out on the headlight pod. It doesn't creep.

I replaced the belt when I got the machine because the PO said it needed it. I bought the proper EBS belt. I cleaned out the drive and driven clutch assemblies with brake cleaner and air, and it seems to move properly.

The machine seems to go ok, top speed is 49, which seems low, but again, I don't know. Does this sound like a secondary roller issue?

 

Have to have a spider tool to take the front clutch apart.Fiber washer and metal(brass) washer may be worn causing binding when hot,or the one way bearing has small metal strips that hold the roller bearings in place that can get rusted,worn out over a period of time causing erratic operation.Plus hard to really clean without removing it from the clutch unless you make a small roll of cardboard to insert a little at a time as you pull it off to check it out. If you don't all the pieces fall out.Grease the shaft a little and the one way and slip it back on.Replace the one way bearing if the steel strips are rusted out. Also good time to replace the fiber washer and check how worn the brass washer is also. Polaris engineers suggested using the same size steel spacer from back of the driven clutch in place of the soft brass ones. They seemed to work okay,less wear over time. #2 is the brass washer,#18 fiber washer. Both have updated part numbers also so Polaris may have addressed this problem? Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse
#1 is the spacer washer. You can get this at most good hardware stores.Same one used on ebs and non ebs clutches.Just pull your driven clutch and match this washer up.
Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse

 

Thanks bunch, OPT. I'll work on making the tool this afternoon and report back when I crack it open.

 

I took my cover off today and discovered that my brand new belt has a nice big chunk out of the bottom of it. I also discovered that I don't have EBS (?). My primary has a smooth shaft between the sheaves and not the grooved bearing. From what I understand, the EBS setup is grooved?

Also, I have a roller secondary. So, I'm guessing the PO replaced some or all of the parts in there. The cover says EBS on it. There is junkyard writing on the helix.

My secondary has big problems, I think. There is no hole for the end of the spring to sit in on the sheave end. The helix has 2 holes; 1 and 2. The surface that I'm guessing the hole is supposed to be in is mangled/ground down. I think the spring may have been spinning in there and wore it completely down to where you can't tell where the hole was.
I've never seen one of these assemblies, so I know nothing about them other that what I've read here. I've never seen a picture of this area (or how it's supposed to look).

Also, the parts diagrams don't look like my setup. I have a big washer on that surface I think the hole is supposed to be in. Here are a few pics. Maybe someone can make heads or tails of what I'm talking about. My secondary is junk, yes?

Smooth shaft on primary:


The secondary hole-less surface. The photo doesn't show how mangled it is:


The washer that was on that surface. Is this right?

 

Po screwed the pooch so the saying goes by changing out the front clutch to a non ebs one. Your rear clutch is part of the ebs system. Your year model does have an ebs option front and rear clutches and a non ebs clutches depending on model.Look again at the parts list.Does show both front clutches. Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse Again sounds like PO just changed the front clutch out which just doesn't want to work with your EBS rear clutch properly. Others have already tried this and screwed up the rear clutch also. Needs to be one way or the other,not a mix of both styles.

 

I saw that it had both styles in the diagram, but I was just thinking the exploded view doesn't look like my washer and all that in either version.
I ordered a non-EBS secondary for now. I may change the whole thing over to EBS sometime. I don't know.

So, is there supposed to be a hole for the spring on that surface that the washer is on?

 

My on this is that you've done the right thing on ordering the non ebs rear clutch.Make sure you have the 3211077 belt. I've never been a fan of ebs clutches from the beginning.Two many parts,not as simple as the non ebs system. Four strokes already have a natural braking effect and in most cases people liked the early non ebs clutches except on steep declines where you have to keep a little throttle pressure at times to keep tension on the clutches. Actually one of the first ebs clutches came out for the 400 2 strokes and I installed a couple for customers that didn't like free wheeling down hills. The rear clutch assy should already be set up at a 2-2 position on the spring. Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Honda, Arctic Cat & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse Plus the ebs spring is flat,no tabs,no holes.

 

Oh! So the EBS spring has no tabs? The PO put a non-EBS spring & helix on an EBS secondary? What a mess. The guy who had my machine really hacked it up. Ugh.

 

I received and installed my non-EBS secondary assembly today and went for a ride. It completely fixed all the issues I was having. The machine has nice acceleration and top speed and decelerates smoothly. No belt drag or creeping. THIS is how these machines are supposed to ride, I think. Finally.

 

That's what I said too until all of them started coming out with the ebs systems. Don't change this system out. Simpler is better..