"Putting it back together" 95 Sportsman

[hhcochris]

Hello,

I have a few questions on who I should have assemble the "new/repaired" components in my 1995 Polaris Sportsman 400 4x4. My options are the local school's "Land Transportation" program, or a local ATV/Snowmobile expert. The first part of this post is the detail of what's happened so far with the ATV's repar, and the second part is my actual questions. Feel free to skip down to the questions to save time, and if need be, you can reference the "history" section for more details (or if you want to read the whole post from beginning to end, that works too...I tend to write a novel, so it may take too long...but of course it's up to you).

-History-

I first spoke with the instructor of the local school's "Land Transportation" program about my ATV. I told him I was referred by a friend that's had some work done on his car, and asked the instructor if they ever do anything with ATV's. He said they actually have a "small engines" class, and work on snowmobiles, ATVs, lawn mowers, etc. all the time.

I decided to have them work on my 1995 Polaris Sportsman 400 4x4, to diagnose what the problem was and to fix everything. It turned out the piston shattered, got wedged in the cylinder, and destroyed the bottom end. After the diagnosis, he gave me the list of all the parts to get so they could repair everything needed to get me back up and running.

This took forever to do, as I had to research every individual bearing and part to get. After I got all the parts and bearings, the last thing I had to do was take the crankshaft to a local guy that had a press, so he could pull everything apart and put the new bearings in.

I got a call from that guy, who told me that even though I got the needle bearings for the connecting rod (both big and small end), there was something about the ratios or something all being based off of the connecting rod, thrust washers, and bearings alll being "in sync". He said we could use the old connecting rod, but he wouldn't guarantee the assembly would last. He recommended getting an entire new "connecting rod kit" that included the new rod, pin, washers, and bearings. He said that way, we know everything is matched correctly, and I shouldn't have to worry about things breaking down anytime soon.

I decided to listen to his advice, and since I was replacing as many "used" parts as possible, wanted to make sure I wouldn't have to mess with this in the future. I told him I wished the instructor at the land trans program would have told me this in the first place, since now I have like $30.00 in bearings I don't need (not a big deal, but still wastefull).

The plan was that once the other guy had the crankshaft pressed back together with all the new parts, he would give it back to the land trans instructor, and the instructor would have the kids put everything back together. The guy doing the crankshaft asked if I wanted him to put everything back together, or if I still wanted the school to do it, and at the time I decided to keep costs down and have the school do it. I asked him why the land trans instructor didn't tell me to get the new connecting rod kit (instead just telling me to replace the bearings), and since the guy knew the instructor, told me that the instructor was great with cars & trucks (he actually has a "side business" repairing vehicles), and understands engines very well...but he doesn't work on ATVs on a regular basis.


-Questions-


Since the guy doing the crankshaft work strictly works on ATVs and snowmobiles, there's a clear difference in experience level between the two. I have a few questions regarding opinions on who really should "put it all back together"...

1. Since basically all the other parts/components are all assembled and ready to be put back in the ATV, would anyone have any idea approximately how long it would take to put everything back together, test that everything works, and basically get everything ready to go? I'm debating whether to just pay for the other guy to do everything, where I know without a doubt that things will be done correctly, and all the "little things" will be done right.

2. Related to question 1, what "little things", lesser known procedures and issues, and critical steps are there in putting it all back together? If at this point the only things for the school to do are just simple procedures that are hard to mess up, I will go with the school. If there are adjustments and other procedures/settings that are best performed by someone that knows the ATV inside and out, I will choose to have the other guy do it.

3. To tie it all together, I'm basically trying to weigh the cost/benefit of having it "done right" compared to "taking a shot" that things will work. Of course, I want things to work, and I definately don't want to have to go through something like this again anytime soon. On the other hand, if it will take the other guy 10 hours at $50.00/hour to get it up and running, I think I would rather take a chance on the school, as I already have close to $500.00 in new parts in the machine, and another $500.00 seems like way too much to me. Of course the $500.00 in parts is also an argument for having paying to have it done correctly (and to avoid another $1,000.00 if it breaks down again), but since I really don't have a lot of experience on fixing ATVs, I'm hoping the experts here can guide me a bit. I'm guessing everyone here will tell me to go to the expert and have it done right the first time, but I wasn't sure, so I thought I would ask.

Thanks in advance for any advice/answers to questions 1-3 listed above.

Chris

[4getful2]

I think you may want to pay the the guy that did the rod work, put it ALL back together. You've gotten new bearings and the crank needs to be checked for end-play,(he probably has shims on hand for that,if needed) and besides the counterbalancer has marks on it and it needs assembled correctly(timed, if you will).shouldn't take more than 2 hrs. even with top-end assembly
that way all you have to do is take the complete assembly back to the school and let the kids put it back in the wheeler

[MartyWoodburner]

I totally agree with 4getful2....some things when you look back at are just better left to the "experts". He'll probably get the job done quicker and correctly.

[hhcochris]

Thanks for the advice. That's what I was kind of thinking all along, but I was just worried that it would cost a ton to have the expert put everything back together. I guess I should have been a bit more clear on what he's doing/has done. I basically brought him the crankcase 1/2 that had a stuck crank due to a bearing being shot. Along with that, I gave him a ton of new bearings to throw in there too. Once he gets the new connecting rod kit, he's going to press everything back together on the crankshaft, and put it back in the crankcase 1/2. I got the 1/2 off of Ebay, as it was nearly impossible to find a good used one around here (MN). He did notice a few small cracks in the case...he said I probably could get by without repairing it, but since we're doing things "the right way", he's going to weld the cracks so everything is good to go. The school should have the other parts assembled by now, so it's just a matter of putting the major assemblies back together.

I just wanted to make sure I understood you 4getful-the 2 hours mentioned-was that the estimated time to just do the crankshaft work, or would this be to have him put the entire motor together? I had the top end re-done too (re-bored with a "10 over" Wiseco piston kit), and everything except the crankcase 1/2, crankshaft, and bearings are still at the school (all the other assemblies, the ATV itself, etc.).

So my main question is if the other assemblies (that are at the school) are all prepared so they're ready to be put back in the machine (to connect to the engine and all that stuff), and the crankcase 1/2 and crankshaft are put together so it's ready to be attached to the other crankcase 1/2 and other components, do you have any idea what the total time would be to assemble everything and get it back in running condition (if you meant it would take 2 hours to only do the crankshaft work)? Wow, that was one hell of a run-on sentence...thanks again for the advice!

Chris

[hhcochris]

Could anyone that has any idea please let me know the total estimated time it would take to assemble, adjust, etc. everything on my ATV? Again, at this point, the crankcase 1/2 and crankshaft are put together...now the other crankcase 1/2 needs to be put back together (and any related assemblies), along with the top/bottom end engine assemblies (any smaller assemblies have been put back together), and connecting/adjusting the remaining components to the engine/crankcase...I got a call that the "expert" has the crank work done, so now I just need to figure how long it would take the expert to do it, so I can weigh the cost/benefit...I'll ask the expert how long he thinks it will take for him to do it, but when I initially asked him earlier, he told me it all depends on what the school has done, and told me he would rather have everything "in hand" before giving a quote...it has me between a rock and a hard place, as I don't want to have to pack everything up, push the atv on a trailer, load everything up, and take it to him, just to get a quote...any ideas out there? I'd love to get this done soon, and I really just need to get an idea of how long it would take to get the ATV back up and running (I'm not holding anyone to any estimates...just looking for thoughts/opinions)...and I'm also not asking for specific times (if I have an estimate that's within an hour or two for the whole project, that would be close enough)...again, any help would be greatly appreciated so I can finish this up....

Thanks,
Chris

[4getful2]

I think you're learning ,how outsourcing works. You're running here and there,do some phone calls ,run some more, then you wonder where the day went. stessful.
If he doesn't have to any more welding on the other case -half and has ALL the necessary seals, it shouldn't take more than an hour on the put together,add about a half-hour for the top-end install. Then whatever time it takes the kids to put the motor back in the frame.