My 500 Sportsman is primarily used as a snow plow but I do occasionally take it off road. I have about 3600 miles on it. While snow plowing recently, I had trouble with the clutch releasing the belt. I bought a kit which included a spring and weights for the primary and a spring for the secondary. I removed both clutches and installed the parts. I also cleaned both clutches and then installed a new Polaris belt. The clutch still seems like it is not releasing. When I put the transmission in forward high or low the bike begins to move without any throttle, when I brake it dies. Same thing in reverse. I can not take it out of forward or reverse when I am moving to put it in neutral. Does anyone have a clue as to what is wrong? I do not want to mess up the transmission.
Clutch 500 Sportsman
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Does a Sportsman 500 have a one way bearing? The clutches had bushings but I did not see a bearing?
Thanks for your responses.
It happened very suddenly when I was plowing with an old belt. Would it suddenly become out of alignment? When I reinstalled the clutches and the belt the two clutches seem to be lined up and the new belt sits squarely. The primary seemed to move in and out freely when I tested it without a belt after I rebuilt it.
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If you have EBS you have a one way bearing in the primary. Sounds like that is worn or sticking and the washers on either side are probably worn out too. At 3600 miles and plowing with it you are likely due for a rebuild. But you may just need a few inexpensive parts in it. No way to know without seeing it and taking it apart. I rebuild dozens of clutches a year if you need someone to check it out. Complete rebuild kit runs about $185 and the bearing is $60, plus about $40 for the other misc parts if needed. $40-50 labor depending on how much needs to be replaced. Most of the time the bearing just needs to be cleaned up and greased.
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The beating its the grooved cylinder in the center of the clutch that the belt rides on. You need several special tools to take the clutch apart to repair it. You can buy a new clutch for less than the tools. I normally stock one set of stuff to completely rebuild a primary clutch. Pm me or call me at 651-707-6706 and we can figure something out.
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Brass bushings in the sheaves are worn out causing them to bind and not release the belt. This happened to mine! With the clutch disassembled you can feel the play in the sheaves on the shaft!
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That's a possibility too. The bushings are replaceable and part of the rebuild kit.
what year you got 2000-2002? its a pretty common problem on these years. I fought with mine forever, First check your c-c between clutches it should be pretty much bang on +-1/16. I think its 10" off hand maybe someone else can remember. If it is 10" check your motor mounts with a bar to see if any are screwed. If its not 10" loosen engine mounts and try to get it there. Next check the offset a couple spacers behind the secondary fixed this on a lot of machines. Some guys run with the cover off and just watch belt to see if it falls in center of clutch to check the offset, i prefer to use the alignment tool which is pretty cheap. If this doesnt fix it pull the sprauge bearing out, clean and grease, and replace PTFE and brass washers while your there. All this costs about $5 and 95% of the time fixes idle creep. As above though you will need a spider wrench and hold down tool. For a quick test you can grab the sprauge in the center of primary and turn only one way by hand, it should go pretty easily and smoothly one way.
Out of all the ones i fixed the clutches were never out of align enough to cause the problem, its pretty much factory set, if you loosen mounts its next to impossible to move the engine and tighten it down without it going right back to where it was anyways. Generally shimming the secondary to compensate for this and replacing the PTFE and brass washers always fixed the problem, a little grease in the sprauge helps too. Anythings possible but more than likely its an easy fix
Out of all the ones i fixed the clutches were never out of align enough to cause the problem, its pretty much factory set, if you loosen mounts its next to impossible to move the engine and tighten it down without it going right back to where it was anyways. Generally shimming the secondary to compensate for this and replacing the PTFE and brass washers always fixed the problem, a little grease in the sprauge helps too. Anythings possible but more than likely its an easy fix
Thank you for all the help but I need to clarify a few things before I order parts.
I have a 2000 Sportsman. I hate sounding stupid but what is the PTFE? Are they the plastic buttons referred to in the manual? My parts diagram does not list a PTFE. I understand replacing the thrust washers and the washers between the one-way drive clutch. I do not have the spider wrench so I may need to take that to the dealer or send it to "Ridinagain". I assume the sprague is the bearing surface on the sheave where the one way drive clutch spins?
http://www.partsland.com/index.cgi?N=1394743395-5487&P=2001-SPORTSMAN-500-HO-DRIVE-CLUTCH
Its number 18. Its similar to teflon, also replace brass one under cup or if the edge is sharp and the original brass one sits flush in there add another
sprauge is just a word for one-way. so ya the pulley in the center of primary with the grooves in it.
Its number 18. Its similar to teflon, also replace brass one under cup or if the edge is sharp and the original brass one sits flush in there add another
sprauge is just a word for one-way. so ya the pulley in the center of primary with the grooves in it.
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The washers on each side of the bearing are different. One is brass, one is ptfe which is a plastic material. The Sprague is inside the grooved bearing housing. There is also a steel cap that goes over the bearing with the brass washer between them. The moveable sheave bushing rides on that and I recommend you replace that at the same time. As long as the rollers the weights ride on and the tower buttons are in good shape you may just need the sleeve and washers and a little cleanup and grease. No way to know without seeing it and taking some measurements.
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Wouldn't an aftermarket clutch cost about the same?
new EBS clutch is over $500, im sure you can find a used one for cheap, but then your in the same boat as having your own worn out one. Also i dont think there is an aftermarket one, polaris clutches are pretty top notch and i wouldnt risk running an aftermarket if there is one
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I have a 2001 with similar mileage and I had to rebuild my primary last year. My bike was creeping bad just like yours.
You installed a clutch kit , but that doesn't change your belt alignment. If you watched your belt position on the primary clutch when your bike is idling, it's probably touching one side of the primary clutch sheaves and that makes the belt turn. It shouldn't turn at idle. The belt needs to run in the centre of the primary clutch.
You should replace the front lower motor mount ($20) if u haven't yet because they fatigue and let the motor move around too much. A very common problem. Once you change the mount, see where the belt rides. Re-position the motor mount or shim the secondary in or out depending on where you want the belt to go.
Rebuilding your clutch is a good idea too...it's probably time. Ridingagain would be a good guy to help you if u can't do it yourself.
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I'm not saying stock replacement, I'm saying one like QSC...
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Qsc doesn't make a complete clutch for a Polaris. They do modify a Team primary that it's a heavy duty version of the Polaris clutch to fit the can-am line. Cheapest after market clutch for a Polaris would still run you $600-800 all set up to run. I'm willing to bet all he needs is $40 in parts and a little resurfacing of the clutch faces. I'll know in a few days when it gets here.
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my wheeler is doing the same thing .How much should you be able to move the one way bearing from side to side ???
I centered the belt on the bearing and ran the clutch in and out .The belt didnt run until then then it just kept running at idle and was rubbing on the inside of the driven clutch ?????
I centered the belt on the bearing and ran the clutch in and out .The belt didnt run until then then it just kept running at idle and was rubbing on the inside of the driven clutch ?????
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