Polaris Sportsman 570

No, I'm not quiting Jeeps, but this has sucked up all my Jeep project time for the last week.

Our beloved 21 year old Polaris Sportsman 400 died the other day. The needle valve in the carb was leaking and it filled the crankcase with gas. It's a 2-stroke, so it didn't seem like a big of a deal. Fixed the carb and cranked it with the plug out and it was running great again. ....for one day.

When we were out doing the rounds, it make a funny rattling noise and seized up. We towed it back to the shop with a Jeep. It has an auto oiler and my suspicion is that the gas was out of proportion to the oil for the several weeks the carb was leaking. That finally lead to the inevitable.

We rely on the quad for a thousand things around th farm like watering trees, spraying weeds, running the dogs, toting the chainsaws, and fixing the fences so we really can't be without on for a long time. I'll get the old one rebuilt, but that's going to take months. After looking at the used market, we decided spend the extra money and buy a new one with a warranty.

The old:



The first new vehicle I've bought since 1993:

 

You can tell from the pictures of the old quad we've done lots of things to it so it works for us. The new quad needed all the same.

Winch and front guard installed. It's nice the winch control wiring is pre-installed:


The winch has already been used to cut several trees down:


Heated grips/throttle and plow mount compatible with the current plow also installed for the snow season. It's nice there's spots for the switches and a harness ready to go these days:

 

That stuff was all easy. The biggest pain in the butt was putting a rear basket on it like the old quad has.

The rear rack bolts that are closer together than the front ones and the rear ones end up underneath the basket structure:


Even more annoying, the rack bolts are not perpendicular to the rack surface. There is a 6 degree angle. Polaris, why?


To deal with the angles and spacing, I decided to make tube mounts. Tall ones in the front and short ones in the rear to clear the basket structure.

Cutting out the bottoms of the tubes:




I snapped off the extra bits and made a quick fixture from a screw and a lock nut so the the angle grinder could spin them while cleaning them up:


Good enough!


Beveled and ready for welding:


Welded:


Ground (and blurry):


I would weld one cap and take it to the chop saw to cut it to the proper angle and length. Then I would do the next one.

Tube mounts all set:


I did drill drain holes since they're an obvious water collection device:

 

I used a combo of the chop saw, angle grinder, and die grinder to fit the angle iron braces to the tube mounts and welded them home:


I chopped off the excess and *very* carefully drilled holes to match the bolt locations in the basket:


And then welded them back up to start over because I didn't take the thickness of the other angle iron leg into account :


I also welded a couple of attachment points to the basket for tie-down straps. It always drove me crazy with the basket on the old quad. There wasn't any place to hook anything:


Mounted and done! I like how it turned out. It's really solid and feels like it's part of the chassis:




Finally, I mounted a hitch, the hand guards, and rifle mounts:



Done and ready for service!


Now I can get back to working on the Jeeps.


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Well done. I like the styling of the older four wheeler though.

 

nice job
looks like one of helpers in shop is laying down on job

 

I agree. I don't know why everything from a full sized truck to a Rav-4 to an ATV has to look aggressive and angry these days.

 

Just following the cue from the general public.

 

I'm pretty sure my parents have a Polaris 300 or something. It's had an engine rebuild and is now running on premix. Last time I was up there it was collecting dust in the shed.
Lots of power but they are getting old enough to really need a side by side.

 

When I rebuild the 400, I'm thinking about switching to premix too. One less thing to go wrong.

 

Pup approved, so we're good to go:

 

I've still got my 99 Sportsman 345 and it runs like a champ.. Tough machine.

 

It passed the snow test today:


Put the rack to use getting mulch to the new trees for the winter prep:

 

I had an xplorer 400. I got rid of the oil injection. I think the mix ratio is supposed to be about 40 to 1. when you rebuild it get the head cut .030 . the factory compression ratio is really low ,less than 8 to 1. you will also have to rejet the carb 1 size richer since the oil leans out the fuel mix. lean means hot which is worse for 2 stroke engines.

 

This is great info. Thanks much.

 

The use of a quad in frame is new in France, one of my neighbors bought one and now he treats a big field in less than an hour, he has a device at the rear which spreads some pills against some pests. The advantage is that he goes high speed, not making tracks in the field even when wet. But other farmers don't buy quads. maybe they are afraid of thieves, or they are too old to drive them ?

 

Snow mode:


With some helpful ballast added:

 

Very nice! I feel your pain about the mounting of the rear platform. Makes it a pain to mount anything.
I really enjoy my ‘06 750 Sportsman. Biggest issues is it really has too much power and it is big and heavy. I rarely get out of low gear for what I use it for. Still, got it with very low miles, very good shape, and a really good price at a garage sale of all places.

to put the size in perspective that is a 5’x8’ utility trailer it is sitting on and is supposed to weigh in the ballpark of 750ish pounds.

 

That's a nice looking ATV! Agree they aren't small or light. This one is close to 100lbs heavier than our 1999 Polaris.

 

Rolled over 100 miles without leaving the property: