OK guy's here's the thing to cure the tie-rod end problem, yes is involves some work but is well worth it. I run a 96 SP500, lots of mods, and 2800 miles on it. heres what I did to the front end. When down to my local bearing shop (not a DK type fru-fru shop) and bought 4 greasable hiem type joints with 1/2" center holes and 1/2" female threaded ends. (replace the inner and outter)(keep in mind hiem is a brand name, several outfits make these for any application including aerospace, and racing. You can get them in metal on metal, metal on teflon or any combo of Titanium and Alumanam (sorry for my spelling) so shop in the right places not your local Polaris dealer) I then removed the stock tie rods and ends and pitched them in the lake. Got me a piece of 1/2" stainless steel round stock, cut it to leanght, threaded the ends to match the joint ends, installed the new ends and made some spacers to fill the area that the stock post and socket end took up. (remember to keep the tie rod on the same plane as the stock one) you will also have to make spacers for the inner ends. Now drill the hole out to 1/2" in the strut housing, re alline the toe, grease the joints and ride into the sun set. I have at least 1700 miles on this set up and am ready to rock & roll for the next. Keep the grease flowing on all the parts you can. ( I call my SP500 a seacow due to it's weight when I'm snunk up to my nuts in mud)I hope you can get some help from this.

 

If you could package your fix as a kit there are a
lot of quads that could use one. I haven't had any problems with my '98 yet but I'm going to look at the '93 I just picked up.

 

Griz, the cure for your tire rubbing problem is a wider wheel. ITP makes a 7” steel wheel with a factor offset (inner dish depth) that will allow the tire to spread to the outside a little more than the 6” stock wheel. I had a pair when I was running 10” Kenda Bear Claws on the front then sold them when I bought 9” Mud Runners. Now I’m looking at having to buy another set to make room for the “new style” outer tie rod ends when my current pair wears out.

 

Try turning the wheel around. The offset might be different. Take the left tire and wheel and mount it on the right side to keep the directional tread going the right way. Watch out for the vavle stem, it might hit the caliper.

 

Great idea seacow, Ive been wondering how hard it would be to do that. I have one question though. You refer to making spacers, is this to keep the new pieces on the same plane(shims?) or is there more to it? I havent had mine apart yet so I dont know what you might be talking about. Enlighten us all please, sounds like a bulletproof cure to this nagging problem.
thanks

 

I did post a rather informative reply to the topic of Polaris tie rod ends the other day. However it seems that they did not want to hear what happens whe one of the tie rod ends come off while your trail riding. I guess we will see how long this one stays her....

 

The replacement tie rods are the "heim" joint style. They also have rubber boots on them just like the inner ones do. They cost 19.75 each and fit like they were made for it. It would be alot easier to put the replacements on than jury rigging something else. I don't think the racing "heim" joints will last any longer than the new style polaris ones because they weren't made to deal with the extreme conditions that we ride in.ie mud,water and more mud. At least the polaris ones have rubber boots that you can pack with grease.

 

I'm with SEACOW... It seems that the pieces can be fabricated to each persons OWN standards.. Trashing the entire assembly and fabricating complete assemblies will probably yield a better finished product..

 

The spacers I refer to are to keep the new hiem type joints centered in the opening (inner) and at the same hight as the stock (outter). ***I made a mistake on my oridgional post*** (sorry) I used 3/8" parts not 1/2". again sorry for my slipping memory, (I'm 37 now)
For the spacers I used 3/8" id S.S heavy wall tube, this worked great, be carful not to use anything with a larger od than the center coller of the heim type joint as this will restrict movment. One other thing, most tierods are threaded with one end left and the other right, this is so you can set the toe by just loosening the jam nuts and turning the rod. I just made mine with both right hand as I didn't have a left die in this size, it works fine, you just have to pop off the outter end to make any ajustments. ( my old rig shows up in the Sept. 98 dirt wheels mag. under hot set ups, not much to see though, lots of mods scense then)
Ride hard.

 

Thanks for the revised info seacow, I'll let yall know how mine turns out in the next few weeks