Bought a 99 Xplorer 400 yesterday that needed some cosmetic work. Drivetrain wise, it is really solid. New battery, new tires, new brakes and a new chain. It was the guys back up four wheeler and he used it mainly for dragging deer out of the woods. After he put all the new stuff on it his daughter was driving it down the road and caught the shoulder, sucking it into the ditch and hitting a small tree. Broken rack and lower bumper, but isolated to just the front brackets and no radiator damage. I do a lot of pulling for a few powersport dealers in our area that take sleds and wheelers in on trade that are bent up. We also have the nitrogen welder for welding up cracked plastic. Fortunately, the plastic was fine on this one so I just need to hit the atv salvage yard and get a few front rack parts.

The guy I bought it from said the speedometer hasn't worked in a while so it is not caused from the tree incident. The miles, trip meter and hour meter still read and the gauge lights up, but the needle doesn't move. I heard that the four wheel drive doesn't work when the speedometer is not working but the four wheel drive works on this machine, not smoothly, but it does work. One wheel does not engage right away and kicks in later than the other side. I am doing a front hub service on the machine so hopefully that remedies that problem. What is there to look at for the speedometer not working? Does it have a cable to operate it like the older models or is it a speed sensor like most cars have now a days? Hoping it is something simple and not having to buy the speedometer pod like I have heard many have to do.

Here are a few pictures of the pulling on the front end. I anchor the machine down to the rack with soft straps to keep it from moving and to not damage the frame by pulling it. Snowmobiles get kinda tough because there isn't much to anchor to on the tunnel but most of the new stuff pulls way too easy anyways because it is made out of aluminum and plastic.

Thanks,
Mike

 

If that year still used the cable running back to the transmission check the little key where it plugs in.

 

99 Xplorer has the hall effect sensor on the right front caliper. It's probably toast if speed isn't registering.If doing a hub service doesn't help on the awd you can always do the common ground on the awd coils and see if that solves it.