Not tryin' to start a war, just thought that would get more attention. Now here's my problem. My 4x4 is only a 4x3. When changing the very front sprocket on my 98 Xplorer, I took the hub apart(don't know why, I thought I needed to), I put it all back together the way it goes, but now that wheel won't engage when I put it in 4x4. I put 90 wieght gear oil in the hub(I know its wrong, but I didn't know at the time). Can it be the oil itself that's causing this, because its too thick(heavy), or did I really mess something up. I haven't drained it yet, I'm going to tonight. Thanx. Lata.

 

90 wt oil is WAAAAAAAAYYYY too thick. Use either Polaris hub oil or synthetic type F ATF fluid. First drain the hub. THen fill it, then drain it again. Maybe do this again, to be sure to flush out as much of the gear oil out as you can. Some people flush with kerosene even.

The first thing to check if changing the fluid doesn't cure it is the torque on the axle nut. I believe it is 108 inch pounds. If you can't get the cotter pin through the castle nut, keep tightening until the hole lines up between the 'castles', not to exceed 144 inch pounds.

If this still doesn't cure it, there are more possibilities.

 

the torque for the castilated nut is 100inch/pounds according to the Polaris manual(I just put my hub back together Sat night).....dont want to over torque it, that can be just as bad!

another possibility is that there is a small thin peice of metle that goes behind the locking assebly, mine is black and has 3 tabs on it....I have seen that put in the wrong way and I dont think the 4x4 worked....a nother thing is just check for a loose wire...

Hope you find your problems, good luck

 

Scruffy is right. Before you torque things down you want to be sure the 3 tabs fall into the 3 notches on the strut. If the tabs somehow get bent or squashed, it is best to replace that piece.
You didn't move the magnet, or the race that mounts outside of it, did you? If so, you need to re-adjust pole gap to as close to zero as possible.
Before you go tearing it apart again, be sure that power is going into it.

 

Your problem is the oil you put in. To fix it you should take the hub apart, wash the all the components with varsol to get rid of all the oil. Reassemble the hub and to P spec and fill with P hub fluid.

 

I didn't mess with any magnets or any of the wiring or anything like that. I changed the oil in it last night but I read Farmer's post wrong and overtorqued it. So it didn't work last night either. I'm gonna take it completely apart tonight, soak all the parts to get all the thick stuff out, check that metal piece(I know what one you're talking about and I didn't pay any attention how I put it back in so that could be it also), then put everything back together. But before I do anything, I will check to make sure its getting power, but I'm sure it is, like I said I didn't mess with any of that stuff. 108 inch pounds would be 9 ft. pounds right? My torque wrench only has ft-lbs. Also, is there a diagram or breakdown of exactly how the hub should go back together? Thanks for all the help. Lata.

 

12 inch pounds = 1 foot pound
start at 9 foot pounds, and don't exceed 12.