The rear swingarm bolts on my 500 Scrambler came loose, so I took it to the dealer and he used lock tight on the nuts and bolts and tightened them to specs. Well, right after I got it back I gave it a nice workout on the trails. Now it is worse than before. The whole swingarm twists forward and the chain comes loose when accelerating. I had to have my friend tow it home with his quad.

Anyone else have this problem and have any suggestions?

 

No Ive never had that problem nor heard of it before maybe its a defective bearing or a major lack of grease but I would suggest taking it apart at this point. Im 230lbs on my scram and I ride it hard and have never had any problems in the rear end yet.
Matt
2000 500 Scrambler

 

Im having the same problem with my swingarm. IT got so bad that it broke my chain. by binding up on the sprockets. I put the extra strength loktite on it this time cant remember if was red or blue. And it has not come loose Yet. crossing my fingers cause its a pain in the a** to get to. Jay

 

Well, I just went and tightened the bolts myself using red loktite. I took it for a day of riding and by the end, the swingarm was so loose, my quad was unridable.

Any more suggestions?

 

I was thinking of some sort of washer with a flange you could fold over the nut to keep it from backing off. I just need to figure out how to keep the washer from spinning.??

 

Is this the pre concentric drive model?

 

Is this the pre concentric drive model?

 

farmr123
I have a 2000 400 2x4 my problems started when I started using sand tires up at Corral Pink in Utah. Since then I have tightened the bolt with loktite but have not rode too hard nor used the sand tires since. I now have a raptor but would like to fix this problem so I can ride the scram without babying it. I would also like to put the sand tires on with piece of mind as I have another trip up to Corral Pink planned for June. If you can provide any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated as I dont think I am the only one with this problem it has been posted on before
Thanks Jay

 

I used to have a 400 Xpress (2wd) that had the swingarm mounting bolt work loose. It seems to happen more often on the right side than the left. My theory is that it has to not only take the shock of bumps, but also the load from the chain. I am willing to bet that yours is also loose on the right side, or if loose on both, I bet the right is looser. I have seen several of these work loose. The harder you ride it (or in the case of us farmers/ranchers, the more you load it down) the more likely this is to happen. I did a fix after talking to several mechanics, in addition to my own experiments, which I believe is PERMANENT. It requires some machining (it was easy for me because I have my own metal lathe) but the mechanic I showed my repair to agrees it would likely be permanent.

The biggest secret is to get rid of the silly Nylock nut, and replace it with an ALL STEEL locking nut (preferably a grade 8). Make sure it isn't the type with the slots cut on a flange, you want a solid one. They can usually be found at NAPA, Big A, or farm equipment dealerships. This is half the repair, as the Nylock nuts with locktite won't hold much more than one of these without (but still use loctite anyway, preferrably the red stuff).

The second part of the repair involves where the bolt goes through the hole in the frame. Chances are it is wobbled out of round. There are 2 things you can do. You can weld a new washer (or have one welded in) or, if it isn't bad, drill or hone it back to round. This you can do yourself if you want, just use the smallest drill bit you can to be able to get it round again.
Now comes the tricky part. Drill the SAME EXACT SIZE HOLE (using the same drill bit) through another piece of metal the same thickness as the washer. Now take that piece of metal, along with your mounting bolt to a machine shop. Have them weld a bead under the head of the bolt, then mount it in a lathe and turn it down to fit TIGHT in the hole. I actually recommend a slight taper on this shoulder, so it will 'wedge' into the hole as you tighten the bolt. Don't forget to account for the thickness of the washer that fits under the bolt head with the tab to bend over to keep the bolt from turning. Now use red loctite under the bolt head, and on the threads of the bolt & nut. If there is any trace of grease on the bolt threads, wash it off with vinegar, then dry with a paper towel. Don't worry too much about the proper torque specs, just be sure to get it TIGHT. As you turn the bolt, the taper will wedge into the washer, locking everything together. After it seems good & tight on the bolt end, try turning the nut also, as the wedging effect of the taper will make the bolt harder to turn than the actual torque going to the threads. The nut can be tightened more if you have a tubing wrench rather than a regular open end.

I did this to my old Xpress, drove it about 2000 miles, with nothing working loose. I jumped it about 2 1/2 feet up many times, and even crossed a washed-out cowpath the hard way. I was going too fast to stop, so I floored it, and yanked up on the handlebars. The front end cleared, and hte back wheels fell in it, at about 30 MPH. It hit so hard I thought I was going to flip over the front end, and drove only on the front tires for about 30 feet, but when it was all said and done, it STILL was tight.

After I traded it off, the mechanic had to take the swingarm off for some reason, and said he had to use an air wrench to get the bolt out, it was still so tight.

I know this is a long and complicated post, but is what I did to fix my ride permanently. Keep in mind it is not a Polaris recommended fix. I hope I explained it plain enough to understand. Good luck.

 

farmr123
It is coming loose on the chain side. haven't had a problem with the other side. I will definately give this a try. Thanks for your help.
Jay