The guy I bought my 97 sportsman 400L from said the speedometer quit working on him last fall during deer hunting. I didn't think much of it when I bought it from the guy because I was thinking it just needed the cable replaced. I have a couple cable repair kits at my shop for when one goes bad I can swap the inner cable out since that is usually what goes bad. To my surprise, the cable and outer tube on this machine was fine when I pulled it out to inspect. I hooked a drill up to the cable and attached it to the speedometer and it worked fine with no jerks or noise inside the speedometer housing itself. I then got under the machine and looked it over and it appears the adapter on the transmission is not turning. I spin the tires but can't get the inner parts to spin. Is there a problem with these that they go bad? Or is there something inside the transmission that wears or breaks causing it not to drive the cable? A lot of guys don't bother when the speedo falls but it drives me batty when they don't work so I want it fixed. At least it's a cable driven one so I don't have the AWD issues like the newer ones have when the speedo quits working, lol.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Can't help but a agree that was a insane thing for Polaris to do, to incorporate the AWD to work through the speedo.

My speedo is so fogged up now , I cant see anything anyways. When it quits I'm just doing the speedo by pass trick.

 

It's not the adapter but a small "key" inside it that hooks into the gear case that turns it and then turns the speedo cable. They had a habit of breaking over the years. Item#23.Dirt Cheap Yamaha, Polaris, Suzuki & Kawasaki OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse
Your part #3280217 is NLA from almost all online sources. You might try a dealer for NOS parts or just order one that is still available.Speedo Drive Key 1993 1994 Polaris Sportsman 400 Big Boss 400L 3280165 | eBay You may have to grind it down a tad to make it fit if it's a tad longer than the original.

 

Thanks OPT!

That looks like the end of a speedometer cable and depending on the length, I could make one from an old cable I have laying around. I will give it a try and if it doesn't work I guess it's off to the dealer.

Thanks,
Mike

 

If someway you can round off the end of a cable without having it fray the ends you might be able to get one to work.Soldering and shaping might work. I never tried that much because I had a box of these things in all lengths for all the models. Now they're showing up NLA on this specific key and some others. Plus prices on these things have doubled over the years..

 

For around $100 you can replace it with a Trail Tech Vapor. wheel sensor driven speedo, fully adjustable for different diameter tires, and water temp, odo, tachometer and voltmeter. Should fasten in place of stock speedo. I put a Voyager on my AC 500, it's awesome.

 

I have used an app with GPS to track my mph but never really cared for an add on to my four wheeler of I already have a speedometer on it. I am wondering if I can just buy a piece of key stock at the parts store and trim it to the right length and make it work? Its such a shame that a small piece of metal goes for over 20 bucks, lol.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Problem is that the stranded ends flare out when you cut them. If someway you can cut it and grind the ends down a little without this happening then it will work in the speedo adapter.

 

Well, i got my speedo up and running. What i did was pull the angle drive off and pull the old key out to see what length i needed. I have a speedometer repair kit that i got from napa that has the square end on one side of the cable. I carefully cut the square end off with the length i needed with a very sharp pair of side cutters. It didnt fray and i just tuned up the end with some sand paper and it fit in the adapter nicely. The repair kit was only around 5 bucks from napa if you get the shortest length cable. Cheap fix and now i have a working speedo again! I plan to put some miles on this sportsman this weekend but so far it has been running beautifully for a 19 year old machine.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Didn't think about getting a cheap length of speedo cable.. 5 bucks versus 20 sounds a lot better,plus if it does break again you have enough cable left that you could afford to botch up a couple just to get a piece that would work.