Pawn Shop selling this ATV with only 520 miles on it. Winch and original tires with decent tread. They are offering $2800 after a slight talk down. Is this a good deal? Almost no miles on it. Originally thought there were 6000 miles on it and Blue Book Value was saying around 2100 based on age only (read: no millage input). I'm thinking this might be a bit of a steal with the low millage.

P.S. I'm a bit new to the ATV world.

 

What do you mean when you say it has 520 miles but originally had 6000 miles?
Where did the other 5480 miles go?

 

Sorry....the guy misread the millage. He thought it was 5200 miles but missed the decimal point. My Dad (who i'm communicating through) originally said it had "around" 6000 miles on it. Make sense?

 

Watch out for '99 500s, they have the potential for the exhaust cam to wear down requiring replacement - usually due to poor maintenance in combo with poor metalurgy. How does it run? Drive it till it gets hot enough for the fan to come on/off. Check the air cleaner and engine oil.

Here is a site for an FSM: Index of /ORV Manuals/Polaris

Luck! :banana:

 

520 miles is like only 5 tanks of gas. If its Goodyear P-tracker are still in good shape that's very low miles.
My Dads 1997 Sportsman 500 has almost 8000 miles on it now.

 

Thanks for the info. My Dad is the one on the buying end (about two states away) so I'll let him know. He has driven it and says it runs great, but I'll let him know of the exhaust/cooling issue.

 

I don't ride as much as I used to but I averaged around 1,000 miles a year for several years. I've done some 100+ mile a day trips so 520 miles is nothing.

 

well he just bought it so I now own my first ATV! I'll have to get spun up on maintaining it. So i'm a big fan of full synethic motor oil. Do ATVs take special oil (even tho it's a four stroke) or will normal 5W-30 oil work? Sorry for a noob question.

 

You're gonna be grinning ear to ear while riding this thing. Don't get me wrong the 500 has had a great production run and is very rugged, just has to be maintained. Engine oil does need to by full synth, 0-40+, no less. For filters use either OEM, WIX, Bosch but most on here refrain from Fram (poor construction I think).

Many on here like Shell's Rotella T6 0-40, Mobil 1, Royal Purple, Castrol and many other respectable brands including Polaris but it's really over priced and those above do an equal if not better job for 1/3 the price.

Using a grease gun with moly #2 and a long flexible hose grease her up too, then you really should change the trans fluid, front diff and hubs (if your's is that type - see your FSM). You'll find a complete maintenance list in the maintenance section on here, just peruse around, do searches on topics and you'll find most things have been asked before and there are many master references, sticky how to's and other collections of great information. Enjoy!

 

I have the 1999 Magnum 500 (Almost the same except for rear set up) that I recently bought and love it. Bought Polaris service manuals off Ebay. There is one specific one for 1999 year. "1999 Polaris ATV and 6 X 6 Service Manual Volume 3"

Serviced all fluids using Mobil 1 0-w40, Mobil 1 synthetic gear lube for diffs and used polaris demand for front hubs and AGL for the tranny.

Also had overheating issue but cleaning system and refilling and getting all air out of system fixed that. Just fill after front of machine jacked up about 12". I also tapped radiator when filling slowly to release air pockets.

I did remove the valve cover to inspect cam and it is OK.

Good luck!