Some weasel S.O.B stole my quad and my truck this past weekend in a McDonald's parking lot. After getting over being pissed, and replacing the truck tonight, I need a new quad.

Now that the insurance check is on the way, I'm left to wonder if I should be looking at a Magnum again or a Sportsman 500.

I'm concerned about the IRS on the Sportsman with my plow. I don't relish putting on the rear suspension bracket eight to ten times a year before each snow storm where I use the plow, then taking it off when I want to do some trail riding. Can I just not use the rear bracket without damaging my quad?

I never had the opportunity to do any real hard trail riding so I'm not sure if the handling on the Magnum was lacking. No matter how hard I pushed it, I always felt the quad was right there for me.

I loved my Magnum for the short time I had it, and would be happy with another. The criminal has given me the opportunity to look at thge Sportsman vs. Magnum debate I had a couple months ago. But, I wonder if I should 'upgrade' to the Sportsman?

Has anyone had bad luck with the Sportsman? Judging from the posts, it would seem that the Sportsman is prone to frequent trips to the dealer. Is this the case? Or are there the bulk of them trouble free? The Magnum never hicupped at all, snow, rain, mud, no matter the weather or terrain it was great.

Would I be looking at the same feeling and reliability with the Sportsman?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jack

 

My Sportsman is a 98 with about 1300 miles on it, most of them tuff miles.I have had no trouble with it. I picked the sportsman because of the many happy owners I had talked to, I never knew it had troubles until I got the internet, and read some of those funky ATV mags. Here in the real world where myself and many others ride a Sportsman they work great, go figure.
As far as a bracket on the IRS to use a plow with the Sportsman I know of no such thing. I used my plow all winter, works like a charm. Polaris does sell a snowblower that needs a bracket to lock the IRS because you are mounting a 13 horse motor on the back and a 4 foot snowblower up front it's about 5 grand up here in Canada. But the plow works the same on the Sportsman and the Magnum.
Sorry to hear about your loss, hope your new purchase is painless.
the polardogg

 

Is you Plow on the back and you drag it?Mine is on the front and nothing goes near the rear suspention just a bracket under the engine skid plate.The SP 500 has 5" more ground clearance and plusher ride. The Magnum is lighter and needs less grease gun work and has a better price.I have had my SP500 for 2 years now without any troubles.

 

I RIDE WITH 11 SPORTSMAN 500'S AND I THINK WE'VE SEEN JUST ABOUT EVERTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG. FUNNY THING IS, IT USUALLY HAPPENS TO THE SAME GUY'S EVERY TIME. IT ALSO HAPPENS TO BE THE GUY'S THAT DON'T EVEN LOOK AT THEIR SPORTSMAN'S UNTIL SOMETHING BREAKS. IF I HAD THE CHANCE AND THE MONEY I WOULD GO WITH THE SPORTSMAN AND DO THE NORMAL MAINTANCE.

 

Good question, have I had trouble with my Sportsman, yup I have. To date, 3 months old bought new Dec 6, put 1300 miles on it since. In the shop now, third time. Each time, overheating, problem with the thermal sending unit, was not connected first time, and last time it was seized. Along with a blown head gasket, probably due to overheating. Front hub still engaging when AWD switch turned off, and no rear brakes via right pedal since day one. ETC cable caused backfiring, stalling, needs to be readjusted. But the best is last. Took it in for fan trouble, they call back saying I've got about $600.00 damage to front end, A arms, and drive shafts. Funny, never noticed any shimmy or shake or any noise in front. Might get it back on Friday, we'll see. Aside from all these problems, I still love it. The ride is awesome, runs like a top, good power, built like a tank. I couldn't bash a company because of one machine that may have been built on a monday morning after a drunk Viking's loss of a weekend.

 

Thunderthud,

Sorry to hear about the loss. It always bites big time.

I would have to agree with polardogg. 4 Sportsman's in the pack here. 1-97, 2-98s, and one 99 (soon to be a 2000 also). Basic maintenance keeps 'em rolling just fine. Set of rear brakes on one at 1000 miles, speedo cable "adapter" (behind angle drive) on the 97, speedo cable came loose at speedo head on one 98, the 99 boiled recently due to powder snow packed in rad (shut off quick, cooled down, topped up, all is OK). That's it. All original belts, no belt problems, IRS problems,CV problems etc. Nothing major at all.

I too had never heard of any Sportsman problems until I joined the forum. There will always be some. Polaris is very popular around here.

Good luck with the decision.

DJ

 

I looked long and hard. Have a 4month old SP500 and I love it. Parts are easy to get and cheaper than other brands. I found out the hard way when I did a severe back flip down a steap hill

Hugh

 

Thunderthud we have not even talked about the new truck you will need for your bike.I would go with the 300 hp V8 GMC.

 

I would lean toward the magnum, easy choice in my book. I've got a 98 sp500 and it has been nothing but problems, unless you plan on doing more pleasure driving versus utility functions I feel the magnum is better built. One of the posters here said the sp500 was built like a tank, guess that's true if your talking about weight, but certainly not durability! Good luck.

 

I see a lot of Sportsmans for sale in the local papers and not many other 4x4s. This makes me think that something may be wrong with them. I would go with the Magnum since you had it before and were happy with it.