i was out muddin the other day and the 4x4 didn't work.. i hit the switch and it just stays in 2x4.. any suggestions?

 

I would take the hubs off and check the system out starting with the electro magnets for proper operation and alignment. There is a proceedure to adjust the alignment of the magnet coils (yes they move) in the shop manual. Also, if you've had your hubs off or loose you may have not correctly aligned the armature plate tabs in the roller cage and could have bent the plate. The PROPER installation of the hubs is not complicated but is more involved then just torqing the drive shaft nut. Get a shop manual and follow the instructions.

My previously posted hub notes:

First I recommend an appropriate shop manual for your quad. – Follow those instructions.

A few tips in removing and reinstalling the front hubs - Put jack stands under the front struts to hold the bike up . Have the weight of the bike on the jack stands under the struts. Without doing this when you remove the axle nut you could over extend the struts and pull the axle CV joint apart. Usually followed by numerous expletives and a trip to the shop to purchase a new CV boot ring because after two hours of unsuccessful attempts to blindly correct the problem inside the boot you succumb to taking it apart to re-assemble the CV joint.

Next - zero sand\contaminants are allowed in the hub\clutch\bearings. A parts washer and pressurized air to blow everything off is highly recommended. A $39 parts washer can save hundreds. I blow WD40 through the strut and inside bearings liberally and then air blow the axle / strut area as best that can be done.

Make sure the armature plate is not bent – even a little bit, and when reassembling ensure that the armature plate is flat against the coil and flat against the roll cage with the tabs correctly engaged in the roll cage. Flat means that the plate comes in contact with both the outer and inner coil lips – as checked at 120 degree angles around the coil. Not having the armature plate in the correct place is the other area most of us mess up and we damage both the armature plate and the magnet coil gap when we torque the axle nut which makes the clutches either not release or not engage for 4WD – there go providing the opportunity to do it all over again. Not having the correct coil gap prevents the energized coil from tightly "grabing" the armature plate slotted to the the roll cage and it not receiving enough resistance to torque around the cam and extend the roll pins – which is the goal to engage the hub to the axle.

Oh – keep in mind that you will have to lift the rear of the bike to facilitate rotating the drive train to assist in properly seating the front axle inner bearings into position.

Proper torque of the axel nut is required – first to 100 inch pounds, then back off and re-torque to 75 + whatever it takes to get to the nearest hole for the cotter pin.

Don’t forget to add fluid. Ford ATF or Polaris Hub Oil.

 

thanks alot for the info.. i'll check it out tommrow

 

It would be a lot easier if everyone in the world owned a Honda, see, us Honda owners dont have these major mechanical problems, For one simple reason, Its a Honda

 

Instead of coming here to start a flame, go back to your own forum! We buy the quads we want as that is our choice.

 

i checked the hubs and evrything and they seemed fine and then i took off the headlight pod and found that the wires comeing from the 4x4 switch were wore through...so i taped them up and still no luck with the 4x4...any suggetions?

 

Adequate voltage to the coils is suspect. Did you manually turn the armature plate with the coils initialized? very hard to turn or kind of hard to turn. Very hard is expected. I've read of brakes in the wires going to the coils. Did you Ohm out the curcuit going to the coils? That would indicate any broken wires.

 

My dad's stopped working several years ago and after an exhaustive search we finally took it to the dealer, turned out the battery was weak. It was still strong enough to start it with no problem, but the dealer said that it was still too weak to operate the 4wd system. He replaced the battery and it's been working ever since.

 

Not trying to start anything.....but I used to run my Scram with NO battery and the 4x4 worked fine.

 

A friend of mines 4x4 didn't work in his Explorer... He replaced the battery, and the 4x4 started working. My 99 Sportman500 is having 4x4 issues too... my battery was in bad shape, so I bought a new one hoping it would be an easy fix, but it didn't help with 4x4. The new battery sure did help with the winch thou. Keep us posted on what you find out.