My brother and I bought new Sportsmans and he now wants a second.

Does anyone know anything, good or bad, about a 1997 Sportsman 500?

Price off Kelly Blue Book is $2950 - Trade and $4200 - Retail

He thinks he can get for around 3K.

Please let me know any info about that year Sportsman 500.

 

my best friend actually has a 1997 sp500. it has never had one part break or malfunction(knock on wood). he also has a trailboss 250. it also has a perfect reliability record. the sp is a good all-around quad. you can't go wrong.

laterz

 

They are good machines. About the only weaknesses they had were the ever-annoying plastic steering bushing, that can be replaced with a forever HPD unit for under $40, the tie rod ends, which can be converted to the new heim style joints for about $20 or $25 per side (stronger & last much longer), and the u-joints in the rear drive axles which were switched to CV joints, I believe in 98 or 99. I beleive the u-joints can be converted to the CV joints, but no idea about cost. The u-joints are strong enough as long as you keep everything tight, but as soon as a joint or the splines start go get loose, you better fix it, or else you risk popping a yolk (u-joint failure) which can throw the driveshaft. At best you lose all power to one rear wheel, at worst, it rattles around until it breaks something else in the rear end.

 

Thanks for the good information but a change fo plans has occured due to my brother not buying a used machine. My dad bought a 2002 Sportsman Saturday which we will use as the extra machine and he will use on some trips. Now we have three, two 2001s and one 2002. Thanks again for the information.