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New Guy With Maintenance Question

2141 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  08TouringLE
New Guy (Polaris Sportsman 850 xp)

Hello Everybody,

I pick up my 2013 Sportsman 850 (red) this Saturday. It's my first ATV, and it's been 4 years in the making (saving money, consulting the wife, waiting for the right time, etc., etc.). I really wanted the stealth black, but they were all either too far away, or too expensive.

I have spent the weeks since I picked it out reading the manual, learning about maintenance issues, the break-in period, and it's features. I have ridden every ATV out there, but this is the first one I have owned and been responsible for.

I am going to try to learn how to do the basics on my own (changing oil, filters, greasing parts, etc.).

What would I expect to pay to have my dealer do basic maintenance things of this nature (service checks, oil changes, fluid checks/changes, brake pads, etc.). I just want to weigh if it's worth learning to do on my own or not.

Also, do ATV tires need to be rotated like a vehicles do? I haven't come across that in the manual yet.

Thank you in advance for your input.
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Marine Ninja have you ever changed oil in a car, lawn mower, etc, etc. If so the concept is the same. The greasing just means using the manual to find. They can be easy to miss and shops might skip a hard one to reach. The manual should show you what plastic you have to pop off. With two 16 year old kids around the house and being 20 miles to the nearest shop just makes it easier to do.

In short if you want to get into oil and grease then go for it. There is no rocket science involved. :)

On the cars/SUV's it cost me $20 if I carry my own oil and filter or $40 and use house oil and filter so net cost is $20 for the service part. One the big truck, tractor, backhoe, lawn mowers, etc we just change them because of the hassle for moving them 40 miles.

Not sure on the ATV but I expect most are going to try and make $60-$120 per hour shop rates. The $20 labor for an oil change comes out to $120 per hour as they can do one in 10 minutes.

On rotation it depends I think. The project ATV has slick tires so we bought an old set mounted on chrome factor wheels for $5 a piece from a guy that parts out toys and the tires and wheels new packaging requirements cost kills the profit to ship them so he tries to dump the locally to get them out of his way without having to pay to depose of them.

I think they came off of a 1999 500 Polaris. Tread is good on three but one of the front is not so good. It may have been due to one front wheel pulled better than the other. If that person had rotated the front tires then both would have been OK today. So on any tire rotation I wait to see a need.
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