I'm buttoning up an old xplorer I have that the AWD never worked on. It sat collecting dust for awhile since I never really wanted to tear into it until now. I checked all the normal stuff to pin point the problem. Checked for power at the switch and I had that. Bypassed the shifter and still no awd. Finally i checked all the wires down to the hub and I had power on the grey wire and good ground on the brown. I checked it to the point where it goes into the hub. I assume my problem lies inside the hub. The hubs on this machine are somewhat tight with just a little play. I have had other machines with a lot more slop in the bearings that still had functioning AWD. I checked the fluid and added some but still no luck. I am going to pull both hubs and see what I need to do to get them to work. What do I look for and what do I test to see what is bad on these hubs. All my AWD machines never had an issue I couldn't solve with some wiring or a hub fluid change.

Thanks
Mike

 

Check for worn armature plates.

 

If you're sure you have power to the hub coil,hold the armature plate about a 1/4 " away from the seal sleeve and hit the awd button while in gear.Plate should pull to the sleeve and stick. Awd button off,the plate should easily release. Plates will always have two wear rings from riding against the sleeve and inner strut pole. If the grooves are deep or plates or not completely flat replace them. Best to replace them anyway as cheap as they are and considering how important they are. Plus make sure the seal sleeve and inner pole of the strut are flush.If the sleeve happens to move back which some have done over the years,this can affect the pull on the plate. Make sure the coil ground wires have a good connection on the terminal board,no corrosion on the terminals.

 

Thanks guys,

I am going to pull the hubs and clean everything good. I will check for wear on the armature plates. I am hoping that's all it is and I can get them from the polaris dealer or my local atv place has a set. If the sleeve is not flush, how does one go about making it flush if that's the case and not the plates being worn?

Thanks
Mike

 

That's the problem area if a sleeve happens to move inward. Most cases the cause of this is people torquing the hub nut too tight. That can warp armature plates and either grind the face of the seal sleeve or push it back on the strut out of range of the inner pole. Some yahoos have mentioned that they just used a punch and knocked the sleeve back flush with the inner pole,but what's gonna hold it there? The blue silicone seal that's used is already broken.My two cents would be a new seal sleeve and hope that you could remove it without damaging the coil. It would be nice if those spedi-sleeves that go over a worn sleeve could solve that, for a leaking hub seal,yes good for that,but the face of those aren't bull nosed like the oem sleeve where the armature plate rides,as they set back a little. I'm just giving a worse case scenario what could happen as I'm mr. doom and gloom sometimes.. Spent too long turning wrenches I guess.Hopefully you won't have to get that far into it.

 

Thanks OPT,

I took the hubs off at lunch time. The Hilliard clutches were pretty grimy and the inside of the hubs and armature plates were covered in the gooey mess. I cleaned everything with some break cleaner and the clutches cleaned up like new and the sleeve was flush like it's supposed to be. I cleaned off the armature plates and the one side had some pretty deep grooves in it and they did not go all the way around the plate so that tells me the plate has a bit of warpage. The other plate was in worse shape as the three tangs were wore down. Looks like a trip to the dealer or the atv parts place for me.

The plates did stick to the hub coil when the AWD was engaged so there must be power to the hubs.

Thanks
Mike

 

Cheap fix,shouldn't be more than 20-25 bucks or so for the plates. You lucked out again..

 

Lucky indeed. I'm glad my first guess was right. The second and third thing I thought of would have been more expensive to fix.

 

Well I got the new armature plates and got everything back together last night. I cleaned out the hubs, cleaned the clutches and the bearings and put it all back on with fresh front hub fluid. The plates would snap right to the coil when the switch was engaged so I know I had power to the coils. I even checked both power and ground right at the coils when I had everything apart. The hubs have no play in them and do spin freely. When on my lift, I can run the machine and all four tires will turn. Only thing is, I can hold the front tires from spinning with some effort. I can feel it wanting to engage the front tires but I can physically hold the tire from spinning. Not really sure I know where to look at next. All the parts inside the hub look excellent after being cleaned up. I might just take it for a spin this afternoon to see if the darn thing will start to engage the front tires completely, lol. Got so many others to work on that I might put this one on the back burner again.

Thanks
Mike

 

Find a good soft place that you could break loose the rear tires or against a tree or post to keep the front wheels engaged. May take a little driving to get things to mess together right.