It's been a while since I posted on this forum, but I'm having a problem with the Sportsman 500.

We bought it new in 98, and its a non EBS model with 1,850 miles on it. We haven't really had any problems with it lately, but I noticed something was wrong today. I cranked it, and put it in reverse, backed it out of the shop and drove it down in the pasture to check our fences. After about 15 minutes of running time, and the motor got warm, I tried to back out of a creek bed. When I took it out of High, and pulled it back into Reverse, the shifter seemed like it "popped" out and started grinding. I got off, and reached under the tank and turned the idle down, thinking it might've been high, then tried it again. It did the very same thing. I applied some force, and got it to stick in gear. When I got back on the throttle, it made the noise again. I stopped, and put it back into neutral, and waited for about a minute before I tried it again. This time it slipped right into Reverse, and never looked back.

It did this day before yesterday as well. I haven't ever noticed a problem with the tranny before. It has always been shifted right, idled down, and engaged slowly. I'm just wondering if there's something simple wrong, or if its a big thing. The Sportsman is my dad's and I'm sure if it's something major we will sell it. The motor has never been worked on, and we change the fluids every summer. This quad doesnt get ridden much, so I'm guessing that means we change it every 300 miles or so. Thanks for your time, and in advance, all replies are greatly appreciated.

 

I dont know what kind of noise it's makeing but when it's hard to get in and out of gears it's either idle or shifting rod's need adjusting.
No big deal,take off right side cover,loosen the locknuts on shifter rods adjust the nuts untill all gears work smooth and tighten them back down.
It just takes a little fiddling

 

Let me see if I can describe the noise... It's somewhat like the noise it makes when you're trying to put it in gear with a higher RPM than idle. The sound mine is making isnt nearly as fast, or repetitive as the "high rev shift". It sounds to me like the primary gear is just tapping the reverse gear. The idle is not too high, as we have had it adjusted much higher in the winter. I took some t-posts down to the fence about 15 minutes ago on it, and it didnt act up. I would take it to the dealer and get their thoughts, but EVERY time it has a problem that I dont understand, and take it over there, it wont mess up. If the world was my dealers parking lot, my Sportsman wouldn't ever have any problems.

 

I have the same model (98 sp500, non-EBS, 1875 miles) and after a while I had this same problem. It's a piece of cake. I am in the process of changing my tie rod ends and putting a new bushing in the steering stem. Good luck!

 

So.. What was it? The same thing 500DUSE said?

Does yours get hard to turn? I ride mine down the road, checking fences and traveling from place to place, and mine is really hard to turn. It's probably way out of alignment. When I get the R and Banshee out of our shop, I think I'll check it out. Thanks.

 

Yep, same thing 500DUSE said. And yes my quad was getting extemely hard to steer. If you can jiggle your handlebars back and forth with the quad parked, your tie rod ends are probably shot. The old style tie rod ends always wear out earlier from what I hear. I'll let you know how my project works out when (and if) I can get parts.

 

Alright! Thanks for your help. I'm sure the Sportsman is out of alignment. We've had problems with the front end of it, but have yet to come across something I couldn't fix.

 

Not to forget I think my front shock mounts are out-of-whack too cause it squeeks all the time now. But i have to agree its nothing i cant fix.

 

The easiest way to adjust the shift linkage rods is to remove the right side panel, make sure the machine is in neutral, and break loose all 4 jam nuts on the shift rods. Then, remove the nuts that hold the shift rods to the transmission. Once you have done this, turn the shift linkage rods until the shank on the transmission-end ball joints slips effortlessly into the shift arms. Do this for both rods. Once this is performed, bolt the shift rods back to the tranny, and tighten the jam nuts.......being careful not to turn them any in relation to the ends. I know this is not the correct procedure according to the manual, but a friend of mine that is a long-time polaris mechanic told me this was the best way to adjust them.

Waylan