Can anyone explain to me why or how the front struts on my bike will freeze up solid when it gets cold out?The struts will freeze with the front suspension totally collapsed. The only way to thaw them out is park it in my shed and light my woodstove.They will be allright for a while but they will freeze up again after about 15 min. of driving.They do this if the temp. is any lower than -10c. Why?

 

The seals on your struts are going bad. Sometimes, even if they aren't leaking oil, they will let water in. Picture this, you go through a puddle, and splash water all over, water gets on the strut shaft. Now you hit a bump, and it 'pumps' the water down, through the seal, into the strut body. Being heavier than the oil in the strut, the water settles to the bottom, where it can freeze in cold weather. This process may take weeks, or even months to get enough water down in there to freeze the strut, but once it does, there is no way to get it out unless you have aftermarked rebuildable struts.
A sure giveaway is if the top of the strut looks oily. This usually means that enough water worked its way in, that it is pushing the oil out. About the only cure is new struts. Strut covers will help keep mud & dirt from chewing up the seals as fast next time.

 

Thats pretty much what I figured. They are leaking oil out of the tops of them.I would like to buy a new pair of replacement ones but here in Canada they are almost $190 a piece for the stock replacement ones!!!.I was told by my dealer that any of the pre /98 ones are garbage anyway and they changed suppliers then.When the new ones are ordered the new style are sent to replace the old ones.He also told me that he knows some people that have found out of an automotive one out of the older Volksawagen Jettas that supposedley will bolt right in.They are only about half the price too.I don't know what the valving would be like though on an auto strut compared to an Atv one though.Anyone heard of this???

 

Check out Royal Distributing they sell aftermarket struts for polaris.

 

$190 EACH?? OUCH! My brother bought a used Xpress about 2 years ago, that he thought had a leaky strut, and the dealer quoted $120 for the PAIR. Unless he was selling them at cost, since he was buying the machine from him.

 

Well my dealer was off a little.The price was $110 can. each so I bought a pair of new ones today.Stiill expensive but a lot better than the $190 he first quoted me.That price was for the Sachs struts on the new bikes.They are $190 can. dollars each.Mine are the smaller diameter ones that the older bikes use.
WGR I didn't check out Royal Dist. But if they are the Kimpex Pro Gold ones I was warned by a couple of people not to buy them cause they don't last long at all.The center rod is a lot smaller than the stock ones and it can be bent very easily.