I thought it the Sportsman was the only one with IRS and the Explorer had a straight axle. I left out one pic directly from the rear. If what I posted was wrong, that is my fault, not the owner's. I am not really familiar with the various Polaris models. I thought, and I guess I was wrong, that the only 500's were either the Sportsman with IRS and the Explorer with a straight axle. I didn't know anything about the pod light . I guess I had beter go to the Polaris website and study some .
I'll post the other pic and get the descriptions right. Thanks for the help.

 

I tried to get the captions corrected. The Polaris 500 is NOT mine. It belongs to a friend of mine. Did not mean to imply that it was.
Kagey, what do you mean--clean? It was dirty . Not really, I'll post some "dirty" ones.

 

Hey Doc, in '97 Polaris made an Explorer 500 that was EXACTLY the same as the Sportsman except for the headlight and the metal bar on the rear rack. The only other difference was that the SP cost $6500 and the Explorer was only $5900!!! I bought the Explorer and saved $600!!! If you look in some ads in the mags you will see 'em listed and all of the part #'s are the same as the SP.

 

Yo TxDoc2, how wide are them Vampires on the front of your SP 500? Looks like you could claw through about anything. Any problems with hitting any of the front steering or suspension when turning? I'm going to 27" and am concerned about fender strike and steering as well.