Hello all, new member here and hoping to get some advice.

2002 Sportsman 500 6x6 [used] purchased from the original owner just a few months ago. He seemed to have taken pretty good care of it, it idled and ran just fine, no smoke, body and bed were in pretty great shape for a 17 year old work vehicle and it had a fresh [or nearly fresh] set of tires on it. The emergency brake system [right hand handlebar lever] doesn't work [no biggie] and the other noticeable issue was the speedometer appeared to be broken [needle was off, full of moisture, fogged lens, etc].

Got it back to my farm and for the first few days it was issue free, until I tried using the AWD button at which point things went a bit sour; engine would stall at anything above idle but would work fine in reverse.

I did some internet searching and found that these model/year Sportsman 500's have all sorts of issues with their analog speedometer and AWD. Also learned about the throttle cable "safety gap" to prevent the throttle run on if the cable were to break in an accident. I checked the throttle safety gap ad all seemed fine there, so I popped off the speedometer/headlamp cover, disconnected the speedometer, popped off the lens and tried as best I could to dry it out. When I put it all back together again all was well again - stalling problem was gone in forward. the very next day the speedometer had moisture in it again, despite it being a dry day/night but otherwise no problems. I dont really need AWD anyway for the work I ask it to do so I just figured on not using it again.

Yesterday we had a visitor at the farm who was volunteering to help with some chores [young kids and Quads, gotta love it] but I forgot to mention anything about the AWD switch. Sure enough, as kids are, he tried it out [or perhaps inadvertently did so] but needless to say, the engine died on him. When I had a chance to look, sure enough the AWD switch was on and the machine was idling perfectly, but anything 200-300 RPM above idle and it wants to stall. It does this in forward [High or Low], in Reverse and even in Neutral which suggests to me that it's probably not a carburetor issue but instead an electrical issue.

Checked the throttle "safety gap" again and all looked fine, so I pulled the speedometer back out, tried the same thing as before but this time with no luck. Same issue - wants to stall at anything above idle. FWIW it starts and idles perfectly. I pulled the speedometer back one more time to check that I hadn't missed anything and this time did happen to catch that one of the pins on the 6 pin connector had pulled out with the cable [cant recall exactly which one it was but it was one of the two "center" pins]. Knowing that the AWD and Reverse override switch, anyone have any thoughts that this busted pin might be the problem? The pin is on the yellow/redstripe wire of the 6 pin, my Haynes wiring diagram suggests it is connected to the voltage regulator?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. From what I'm seeing, replacement speedometers for this model are expensive, to say the least, and thats even if you can find one. With no fuel gauge to speak of in the speedometer itself, and given the age of the machine I already know it's got lots of hours/miles on it, I cant think of any reason I need the speedometer anyway so I'm not averse to bypassing it if it will solve the problem. [update - bought a used speedo from Powersport Nation on Ebay - should arrive later this week]

Thoughts? [I apologize in advance if this subject has been covered already but I couldnt find anything quite the same in a Forum search]

 

Turns out I could not have been more wrong!

I took a gamble that the issue was still Speedometer related and found a used one on Powersportsnation.com [Thanks you to LateBird over at PolarisATVForums.com] for $200. I spoke to them in person, very nice folks there, quite an operation. I figured if it wasnt the speedometer causing the problem, I'd still be solving my issues with AWD in the long right, so...
Speedo arrived yesterday, much better condition than I expected no less. fully expected to see the same clouded lens and condensation that almost everyone remarks about for this year vehicle but other than some very minor paint scrathes on the bezel it looks great. :grin
Unfortunately this didnt fix the problem. Slapped in the new unit but same stalling at anything above idle.

Back to the basics; Suck Bang Blow. Since it's idling just fine it's got all three. Took the airbox off, no change. Nothing wrong with the exhaust so I figured it has to be fuel. After a little googling around I found a thread [cant remember where] of someone with an ATV [non-Polaris] that was having the same exact issue as I'm having. The postee suggested a neat little trick I'd not thought of [and in hindsight should have!] - grab a can of starter fluid, give it some throttle until it starts stalling again and squirt a little fluid in the crab venturi. Sure enough, it bogged just a second but then BINGO, lots of revs!. So I'm not on the tract that it's the carb. Got access to it [it's buried a little deeper on the 6x6 than the regular Sportsman, larger gas tank I think] but I was able to get it out far enough without taking off the throttle or choke cables to give it an inspection. I pulled the top cover off and pulled the main jet needle assembly out. Diaphram looks okay, needle looked clean and straight and the clip was still in place so I'm thinking it's okay. Flipped it over to pull the float bowl cover off and ran into issues. Two of the cover screws are on insanely tight. tried vice grips, PB Blaster, all I can think of but they're just starting to strip getting them out. :sad
Last effort was going to be pulling the carb completely out to get it on the bench where I could go at it properly until I ran into the [infamous] choke cable nut. I can get a 12mm wrench on it but then it's so tight for space I cant turn the damned thing. Overnight I was thinking that I might need to grind down a wrench to get at it, I was thinking of cutting a notch on the box end large enough to let it slip past the cable. This morning I searched the forum here and see that this is a common gripe and others have done similar, only they ground down the open end to have thinner "tongs". Got to find time to run to the hardware/autoparts store to pick up a new wrench [maybe two!] and get to grinding.

In the interim, I found a Chinese knockoff carb on Amazon for $40 [Caltric I think is the name] that had 83 reviews and a 4 star rating. I figure, what the hell and bought one in case I destroy those float cover screws completely. I'll update this post for future reference to anyone having similar issues. thanks again to all for your suggestions.

 

I had no problem removing and installing the cables on my 2005 sportsman 400 carburetor a couple of weeks ago. I used what are known as "Ignition wrenches". small, short and thin. just made to be able to work around complex carburetors like 4 barrel Holleys or Rochesters. Now, Those carbs could be a PITA.. You used to be able to buy metric and english sets from Sears. I do not know it anyone else has sets or if Craftsman still has them at Lowes or Ace hardware.

Edit- I just checked online. The craftsman sets are still made. I have used others over the last 40+ years, but the craftsmans always seems to be the perfect fit.

 

Thank you. I might try picking up a set of those. In the interim I managed to get the cable loose [just] with grinding down a regular 12MM wrench. New knock-off carb [Caltric] came in but it was the wrong size. It's a 40mm while mine was clearly smaller - 34mm I believe. So back in the box it went. Turns out the carb was just dirty inside. Got it all apart, cleaned and cleared all passageways and jets, slapped it all back together and now it runs nice and smooth.