A friend of mine bought a Predator 500 recently. Nice bike, rides very good. Has a couple of extras. I ordered brake pads for it, but the rear pads donīt match the ones on the bike. every site i have looked, the front and the rear pads are the same. This bike has bigger, 2 piston caliper at the rear. What model does this come from? Maybe earlier Predator?

This one is believed to be a 2003. Canīt find the VIN number anywhere. Frame has been painted red. And it has a couple of underbelly protections also so if the number would be on the lower frame tube, it is hard to see. How do we determine the year of this bike? Where is he VIN supposed to be?

Also rear hubs are different than what i find online. He has the original hubs and wheels with it, the hubs have stripped the splines... These hubs are smaller, 4 studs, approximatly 3 1/16 inch apart.

My friend had the oil changed in a local shop, and now the clutch slips. I said it to be because of the oil, regular 10W40 4 stroke oil. NOT with JASO MA. He thinks discs are shot. i told him to buy good oil and try that. What do the experts say?

 

Left lower frame behind the a-arm is where the 17 digit vin# is supposed to be. May be ground down? If you find it 10th digit is the year model. Shows to have the same caliper for the rear as the fronts. If you can't find pads for this thing,you might get a used caliper on ebay(if it's a 2003) T8533 Front Left Brake Caliper Polaris Predator Outlaw 500 2003 2007 1910689 | eBay Oil could be the problem,but only way to tell is drain it and replace with jaso rated oil. Any specific good synthetic will work or even oil such as Rotella T6 5w40.If it still slips,then probably needs new clutch plates.Plus who knows what hubs and wheels po may have installed. Here's a good place to find oem part numbers if needed.Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Polaris, Suzuki & Kawasaki OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse Or the Polaris Parts Catalog. http://parts.polarisind.com/Browse/Browse.asp

 

So I changed the oil for JASO MA-2 spec oil. Can't say it to make much difference on the clutch but it was raining, couldn't accelerate very hard...

About the brake, could it be an aftermarket calliper? I found out the Outlaw 450S has dual piston front callipers but not the same as this.

 

That's what I'm thinking, an aftermarket caliper. Thought possibly they were able to use the front caliper on the Outlaw also,but since you say it's different..

 

So without a visible VIN, how do i determine the year of this bike? Are there any special differences between model years? It has no reverse so it is an older model...

Or do all Predators have the same clutch discs?

 

Friction disks show to use the same part number on 2003-2007 models according to the Polaris Parts Catalog.You can get them on ebay,amazon,etc. Clutch Friction Plate Fits Polaris Predator 500 2003 2004 ATV 8 Plates | eBay

 

how about these? much closer to home...

Discos kit embraiagem Polaris predator 500 - Joajorpro

I saw that the 2006 had different plates in between the friction discs but the rest appears to be the same

 

Converted to US dollar price is pretty good for all that you get. Yes some used a different center discs but most aftermarket kits go with the same discs. A lot of older Japanese street bikes did the same thing.

 

OK so I ordered the kit I mentioned and installed them. WOW, whole different animal now.... I just took the cover off and replaced everything the way it was. What I found strange was the springy thing (Polaris service manual calls them spring judders ) was in front of the first disc. So I installed it in the same order. Today I downloaded the 2003 Polaris service manual and it says the judderS!! stay behind if you take the discs off? First of all I had just 1, not more and it was in between the 1st and 2nd plate. Parts breakdown doesn't show one at all? So what's right?

 

My two cents is to chunk em.. Most aftermarket friction and steel plates are usually good enough to install by themselves. I came across the same thing when using Barnett or Vesrah steel and fiber plates on a few Japanese street bikes that had similar set ups as the Predator. These judder type springs and different plates got chunked also when I installed the aftermarket set with no problems. If you were going back with oem plates which the judder springs were designed to be used with,then I would say keep em. Since you're not,over the shoulder as they say what you do with extra parts,bolts and nuts that you don't need.