[CleanSideUp]

Hello All,

Newbie here. Just got a mint second hand 2012 Sportsman 90 for my daughter and noticed an excessive amount of lean on the front tires when we got it home and she was riding it. As she went around turns you could see the tires shift back and forth. I spoke with the dealer and read other posts here stating that this was a rollover prevention measure to lean the tires top in. I understand how that could be but is not the case here. The case here is excessive slop in the joint where the spindle is connected to the A arm. I have taken the joint apart and cleaned the grease out of it to check the fit when clean (grease will dampen the movement but not stop it so is best to check clean) and there is an enormous amount of slop and you can just wiggle a tire back and forth and feel the joint move. There is very little wear on this machine being 9 months old so is not that the A arm or spindle has worn out. Nice machined surfaces on a pretty new machine. It was made that way!

As far as safety goes. In my opinion, this would exacerbate rollover, not prevent it as I am reading and being told. If the tires were fixed at a certain angle where the geometry was controlled then I could see how it could possibly be an enhancement in certain situations. But what happens here is with the top of the tires having both tops tipped in as you ride straight and go into a turn, the outside tire flops so the top tips out and throws all the weight of the bike and rider to the outside of the turn creating conditions that I believe could lead to rollover or loss of control.

This slop on My daughters machine is limited to the spindle/A arm joint. The Inner A arm joints are nice and tight as they should be.

I have noticed another poster here with the same problem and heard it from others as well. Could it be that Polaris is making sloppy spindle joints on the new sportsman 90 because they are "safer" somehow or could they have had a bad run of parts and are putting them on the kids machines? I have never heard of a safe front end racing or otherwise that had a major amount of non adjustable camber slop in it. How can something be safe if you can't control the geometry. Please correct me If I am wrong. I certainly don't know it all but I don't feel safe with my daughter doing up to 25mph with a sloppy front end that can't be fixed because the factory made it that way. Next i was going to buy a bigger one for myself but might not choose Polaris if this is what I can expect.

So folks, what do you think? Any chance Polaris will step up to the plate and take care of this? Is anyone else experiencing this same issue that wants to chime in? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[jandj]

Welcome aboard. Seeing that it is secondhand I doubt that the warranty is still there. I would go back to the dealer and see what they say, did they sell it that way to you or did it start doing this after you had it awhile. If its a good dealer they should work with you on fixing it and not charge you full price for the fix.

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My 08 is solid as a rock with 1800 mi on it, I wouldnt put down all the polaris machines because of one having problems. Go see the dealer who you bought it from and see what they say.​

 

[CleanSideUp]

No such luck! I bought it from the original owner. I spoke with his dealer and he said it was to prevent rollover. There are other posts here with others reporting the excessive positive camber without adjustment. I doubt this is an isolated incident based on that and the reports of the dealers all saying it is a safety feature. I would hope Polaris would step up to the plate on a defect like that in a machine that was not even a year old. I will call them in the morning and see what they have to say. I am not trying to purposely bash them. But if this is the kind of thing they let out and don't want to take care of it. I will have to reassess my purchase plans and certainly be more careful. Perhaps the dealer just got me burned out trying to shine me off. I guess I should give Polaris the benefit of the doubt and see what they have to say before getting to worked up. I will let you all know what they say. I do appreciate your suggestion!

 

[jandj]

I know nothing about the 90. I will be looking at them in a year or so for my granddaughter. My wifes 500 was doing the same thing, the springs were sagging so I just put some pvc spacers under the springs and that straightened them out. The steering was so much better. The wobbling part worrys me. The bigger machines dont seem to have this problem. Anyway all atv makers are having some problems with there machines so I dont think we can escape some of these. Like I said take it to the dealer who sold it the first time and see what they say. Are you sure the other little hellyin didnt ride it to death!

 

[Rooskey]

If the tires are leaning in (closer to each other from top to bottum then your fine). If your tires are toed outwards from side to side then thats your problem. Adjust your steering rods to make them as close to straight (side to side as possible) Most kids polaris have way to much toe out causing steering problems. (looking at the front of your kids bike does it seem that the tires are going in oposite directions?) If so thats the issue. After that you may have to fix the extra slop in the spindles,, but thats what did it in the first place To much Toe out

 

[CleanSideUp]

Rooskey,

Thanks for the reply. I checked the toe and it is actually great! Right within spec of the owners manual. One of the first things I went over. It is a sloppy, sloppy factory joint that is the problem as I mentioned. Not excessive toe out. The hole in the A arm that the spindle goes into is much larger all the way around. And it is still round as a factory part should be. Not out of round like you would expect from a part that was deformed by too much wear.

 

[Thomasj]

There are upper and lower bushings in the A-arms. They may be badly worn or missing. They are only 2.50 each on cheapcycleparts. Might try replacing them.

 

[Rooskey]

If you checked the bike with a stringline like your manual says with your slop then it is not true. Replace your bushings then adjust your toe angle WITH a stringline. Its the Only way to make sure that it is right!

 

[CleanSideUp]

Thanks for your help guys I do appreciate it. There are no bushings on the sportsman 90 spindle to A arm joint. There are grease seals (seats) on either side of it but they are in perfect shape and are very tight to the point where no grease comes out when I fill them and get a dead stop backpressure on the greasegun. It is a sloppy joint with no replaceable bushings or adjustments.

Rooskey. The spindle slop is largely noticeable in caster and camber. Toe is still pretty tight just the tiniest amount of tick that would not be an issue with grease dampening it. The issue here is clearly not the toe although once fixed I will reset the Toe of course to make it perfect.

I went to the local polaris dealer last night and belive me. They are aware of the issue and what I brought back is the mechanic I spoke with was concerned that it could not be fixed with new spindles and A arms because they way they are made it would have the same problem. This will be simple to resolve with the spec dimensions on the diameters of the a arm socket and spindle rod. If Polaris has a spec I can easily determine what part is improperly manufactured. If polaris does not have a spec then they are not controlling those dimensions intentionally and as a result manufacturing some of 90's with tons of non adjustable camber slop and in my opinion camber slop is a rollover risk. I will be bringing it back to the dealer I went to with one side apart and cleaned of grease so they can see that the A arm socket and spindle rod are not worn or out of round and we can measure together the ID of the Socket and OD of the rod to confirm the exact amount of slop to see if I can get this fixed. If there is a fix. I will let you all know how I make out. In the mean time I do still your feedback and suggestions. I do appreciate you!