[Madman33]

Hello guys, I own a 2000 Polaris Sportsman 500 4x4. I bought it used and the suspension is quite soft. It's great for slow trail driving over rough terrain but it's terrible at high speed flat dirt roads when cornering. The body rolls badly and she squats low in rear when I punch throttle. I was trying to turn on a bend on a dirt road and had her on 3 wheels. LOL. I'm assuming the springs are to blame. The bike is 14 yrs old and suspension is original. Shocks and springs r expensive. Can I get away with just replacing the springs? I'm 6'-5" and weigh 200 and I double ride with my son or wife a lot. I was pondering buying some Heavy Duty rear springs. Any advice on brands u guys like or work better than others?

 

[whtrapta]

Aren't the rear springs on your 2000 adjustable?

 

[Madman33]

rear springs

whtrapta - I'm not sure if they are adjustable. I briefly glanced at them on the trail, but didn't notice adjuster ring. I'll chk tonight. Honestly, they feel super soggy. I don't know if cranking them up is going to solve my issue. It might help tho. Like I mentioned before, sometimes I double ride, so I feel a stiffer stronger spring may be in order. The extra rider weight just compresses the spring until it's almost bottomed out. It's a fairly heavy bike and with the suspension so soft right now I feel like I'm driving a tank on a marshmallow. It feels dangerous at high speeds. Not very responsive at all.

 

[Madman33]

whtrapta- OK I just chkd my bike and YES the rear shocks are adjustable. The bottom is hard to see under the bike, but I can see it can be cranked up. The front shocks on the other hand are not adjustable. I plan on adjusting the rears to tighten up the saggy suspension and see how she does. I feel stupid for not noticing the adjuster before, but polaris did a great job burying the bottom connection on this thing. My other bike is a '98 yamaha big bear and U can see the shocks clearly from top to bottom, unlike these.
Any way thanks for pointing out the rr shocks r adjustable man. Lol.

 

[dyna105]

The front are struts...no adjustment. I found a set of highlifter springs on ebay and put on the front of mine.

 

[bgirard420]

It pre-loading doesn't fix your problem, get yourself some HD springs. EPI, highlifter, and Polaris all make some.

 

[Bruce!]

Welcome to the board!

 

[Madman33]

Thanks for the advice guys! I adjusted the rear springs and will test ride her this wkd. If she still feels soft I may buy the front and rear springs. BTW I drive this thing thru a lot of mud trails and OMG is this bike hard to clean. ANy one else have this problem? It's like Polaris built the bike to create shelves to hold dirt and mud on. LOL. It has great bottom steel skid plate protection but after a day of mud trail riding I hose it off at home and I can't even reach the locations where mud is at. The yamaha I can spray off in like 5 minutes while the polaris takes forever. Just when I think I got her clean I find chunks of mud hiding behind the CV guards or parts of suspension. My yamaha is only 2wd so maybe it's not a fair comparison. Just curious if any one has same problem or a better cleaning solution. I know this sounds like a lame complaint, but I take really good care of my quads and leaving wet mud on a bike is a sure fire way to turn it into a rust bucket.

 

[al53]

madman..best using a hose to get mud off....My buddy powerwashed his an got water in a connection from the power washer....well then the gremlins came out..lol..why I keep all my connections greased....

I have a 2002 Sport 500 an i have the shocks cranked to highest...rides good...does not roll....sorta stiff actually...

 

[whtrapta]

glad you found the adjustment. Crank it up a click or 2 and see how it does. 1 click on my 570 touring made a big difference in rear end squat with someone on the back, but still stays nice and soft.

 

[Madman33]

pre-load adjustment

Well I cranked up the rear preloads 2 clicks and man did that help! It rides waaay stiffer and handles better on turning corners now. The front still feels a bit soft so I may replace front springs for now. I had a real bitch of a time turning the adjuster on both rr shocks. They were caked with mud, dirt and sand badly. I sprayed them with water hose and with PB Blaster and tried turning them with Channel locks, but they wouldn't budge at all. I actually found my Polaris Spanner wrench and was able to turn adjusters with the wrench and using a pipe slipped over handle of wrench for leverage. OMG these were hard to turn. I don't think they have ever been cranked by previous owner. I'll ride it for a few more rides and see if it's dialed in how I like it. I can always crank her up more for stiffer rear suspension. A big thanks to everyone who chimed in with help!

 

[ebuck]

Mine last year when brand new was a bear to turn.