I have been riding dirt bikes for over 25 years now and time to switch to a quad which I know very little about. I have been reading this forum for a while and think maybe a wolverine would be my best choice for what I need to do. I am considering Polaris also and that is what my stupid question is about. All the Polaris owners brag about having true 4-wd. I have seen a couple of posts that Polaris's front wheels only engage when the rear ones are turning x-percent faster. If it is designed that way does that mean no 4-wd in reverse. And also seems like that would be a hard jolt on drivetrain when rear is spinning and front engages. Enlighten me please.

 

polaris suck- there enlighten

 

griz kid....on behalf of everyone reading these posts in these forums I would like to thank you for that truly brilliant post.Groundhawg "stupid question",stupid answer!!!LOL....anyways to make things short polaris DOES have all wheel drive in reverse and NO there is no big clunk when the front wheels engage.It is a very,very good system.

 

if you had a Polaris question,why did you ask it in the Yahama forum? anyway,ive heard alot of people say that their great bikes when thier new,but when they get a little wear on them they dont hold up very well.

 

Thanks very much for the replys. You have told me what I need to know. The reason I posted that in Yamaha forum is because you guys seem more knowledgeable in your answers and dont have the "my brand is best no matter what" attitude. Still wish the wolverine switched out of 4-wd. Anybody know who makes a manual clutch kit and approx. cost,or is it just a clutch off a warrior.

 

The jolt that you are talking about is a very real problem, i have seen more than a few Polaris with broke drive shafts. When your engine is spinning at whatever speed and only the rear wheels are turning and all of a sudden the front wheels grab, well, snap,broke drive shaft is what is going to happen.And try this experiment, only Polaris guys rag on Yamahas, EVERYONE rags on Polaris, and with good reason. Do youself a favor and get the yamaha.

 

Howdy...I've seen the same thing happen, except the guy had 26x12x12 Blackwaters on his Polaris...When he started spinning in the mud and the front end hooked up and grabbed some good traction BANG there went a CV joint in the front end...He's now riding a Grizz and so far no trouble with the same Blackwater XT's, except he still thinks the Polaris is better...
BB

 

My experience with my Scrambler 400 4x4 is this. That bike is listed as AWD, not 4WD. AWD means it is not true 4WD, with the front tires engaging only during rear end slippage. They will also automatically disengauge. In reverse, they do not engage by default. There is an overide button by the left hand grip. This will force 4WD (like for reverse) along with overiding the reverse speed govener..
My bike doesn't have the drive shaft, but a chain. There are repeated warnings about enaging the push button AWD button when the rear end is spinning. Doing so could snap a chain or screw up the differential (I'd expect).

 

my buddy has a polaris sportsman 400 or 500. i think 500, anyway he also has a honda foreman 500 and we ride in tenn. in the mountains, through an old creek bed full of boulders. my point is this, we went riding and i drove both of them at different times during the ride, i actually liked the honda best. reason being, he installed an additional brake lever on the handlebars and split the front brake controls between them. that gives you the option of which tire is turning up front . so if the one that is spinning is in the air , you can grab the brake, and engage the other . it worked awesome while we were climbing the rocks in the creek bed. i say this so you can think about a honda as well..



01 raptor blk/white
01 hours on bike

 

I have a wolverine, and have ridden with polaris guys,the bikes do run fast , but they have problems sometimes going uphills with the automatic downshifting when not expected, vs. wolverine manual transmission, another thing was deep water getting the belts wet and slippage occurs, when it is a warm sunny dry day they run good...