I heard it was possible, if you threw or broke a chain on the Scrambler, instead of being stranded, you could drive w/ it in 4wd & only use the front wheels digging in to get you back to safety. Well, I had an opportunity to experience this first hand last Friday when hitting a rock w/ the rear sprocket which broke the chain in half. I parked at the farthest Timberline trail head & I was in the middle of the Marienville loop. During the week days there is no one on these trails to help. So I used only the front wheel drive to go more than 20 miles back to my truck. Thank goodness I had installed the Aaen steering dampner because w/o it I'm not sure I would have made it because of how violently the front wheel bit in & jerked my body around like a wet noodle. The dampner seemed to help quite a bit. As a side note, this was the smoothest ride I've ever experienced & I could safetly loosen up my grip w/o fatique & w/o fear because of the dampner. It worked great except for the tendency to dent in your rims because you just want to hit big rocks going fast all the time & you dont feel a thing. Any way, it was quite alot of work to hang on for this 20+ mile. What a terrible ride but a great work out. Do any Scrambler riders carry any x-tra chains & tools w/ them? I order the PRM chain guard, new chain & front sprocket since it was worn anyway.
Jim Maloney 98 400 Scrambler

 

You said Marienville loop, is that near Kinzua Dam in Pennsylvania?

 

Jim, I had my chain break while climbing a big hill. I was about 3 miles from my house when it happened. I walked all the way home got the truck and trailer and came back and got it. I struggled to push the Scrambler 500 up hill onto the trailer. When I got home, I sat on the atv and rolled it down the trailer and then I looked down at the AWD switch. I flipped it on and it drove fine even without the chain. I wished I'd looked at it before the walk. <IMG SRC="http://forums.atvconnection.com/ubb/redface.gif">

 

Jim, after my recent "expieriance" I carry an extra chain & master link.

Same thing happened to me as Steve. I was out by myself, and went off a jump and when I landed the chain snapped. My fault, I didn't have the tension right it was too loose. Anyway, I walked a ways and got the Sportsman that was sitting at camp (everyone was out hunting, I was riding, hehe) and found a friend to ride with me down to it. Towed it back to camp and that was it.

Then I had to move it about 4ft and turned it out and put it in 4wd without even thinking about it and moved it a few feet. Then it hit me, why didn't I do this beofore!

Similar story. One of mmy wires came loose and I lost all electrical. I walked home, got the Sportsman, and towed it back to the house WITHOUT a rider on it. Every down hill it tried to pass me, but luckly there was only one and it was small with a open flat area after it. A usual 2 min to the house ride took me 45min!

I get home and see that emergency back-up pull start. I try it, it works. Frustrating...

 

"Myscambler": I guess my question is, where & how do you carry an x-tra chain & what tools do you carry. I want to carry this stuff I think but didn't know how to safely. I actually didn't remember the 4wd button immidiately. My first instinct was to try to fix the chain & after a half an hour it hit me about pushing in the button & felt like a horses butt for not thinking of it first. Live & learn.Thanks
Jim Maloney 98 400 Scrambler

 

Jim, I have the back rack on my scrambler and a nice polaris water resistant bag that covers the whole rack. What I should carry with me and I will as soon as I got a nice fat paycheck is: 1 extra o-ring chain already cut to the correct size, large plyers to adjust chain tension, socket to take off belt cover, 1 belt, 1 pvt cover gasket, pack of tire plugs, 1 can fix a flat and cold beer in case you break down and have to work on it. You can work up a thrist real quick working on the atv on the trails. I am glad I had two Newcastles with me when I had to walk home last time in the 90 degree heat. These things would have saved me two long walks home already. You can put a belt on or a chain or in under 30 minutes. Then you won't have to leave it. This should be all one needs to carry to fix the most common breaks. \ When I do carry stuff in my bag I put a beach blanket in the bag to hold everything in place, then I zip it shut and lock down the two straps on the bag to hold everything even better in place. I also carry a come-along in the bag to pull out the other riders. If you ride by yourself you need some kind of self recovery item like a come-along just in case.

Later, STeve

[This message has been edited by myscrambler (edited 09-24-1999).]

 

Had similar experience had a cv boot tear that didn't know about.We were in MOAB second day of week trip,I had my 500 sportsman.Left front cv joint went out probley 10 miles back in.Anyway took u-joint an shaft off rode rest of week in 3wheel drive,only had trouble once left wheel down right in air couldn,t get traction.Just pulled it over an ejoyed rest of ride.Try that with limited slip you would be sh## out of luck.

LATER COB

 

its is funny that i am reading this now. yesterday while at my hunt club i lost the master link out of the rear chain while in 4x4 and notcied a heavy steering problem. when i realized that i had lost the rear chain i started walking back to the campground(2 miles away)something went off in my head and i realized that i was moving along fine before i realized the rear chain was broken. i hadn't walked but about 100 yards when i went back and "tried" it. It took a while and the steering was tough, mainly on the paved roads, but it was easier than walking.(never realized i was this smart,haha). I was a little concerned if this would harm anything so that is why i took it so easy.
p.s. please read my post on needing help adjusting this new chain. thanks

 

A similar experience happened to a friend of mine. He was riding with us on his new Explorer 400 when he went around a corner and lost power to the wheels. We found the chain but not the master link, which had broken. He said it steered awful with only FWD but he drove it to find a new master link.

------------------
FloodRunner, on the Wisconsin River

 

Yep, for some reason Polaris released a number of rear chains with BRASS MASTERLINKS.If you have a brass masterlink change it soon to a replacement steel one and you will eliminate this annoying breakage problem.

[This message has been edited by Odin (edited 09-30-1999).]