1996 Polaris Sportman 4X4 AWD stoped working

[Jimc]

It worked intermittenly the last couple times I had it out. Now the switch will not work at all nor the 4 wheel drive. I got the hood off exposing the wires. I checked all connections. The wiring diagram shows the power is coming from the hub safty switch and going to the front AWD hubs and then to the AWD switch. I have no power to the switch. (After 96 & 97 Polaris did away with the hub safty switch.) Any help will be appreciated.

[Jimc]

To tinkerman or any one that may be able to help me.

I saw on quadcrazy you was helping out jamison1969 with his 97sportsman I have a 96 sportsman 400 and beleive the wiring is the same. My AWD switch stoped working and no front wheel drive. I shot a hot wire from the speedometer to the solid gray wire and my switch works. I havent took it out yet to try the AWD. If it works, would it be ok to leave it that way? Or could it damage other parts?

Where is the hot wire coming from to feed the AWD switch? What color is that wire?

I asked some questions on quadcrazy but no one got back to me.

Thanks, Jimc from Pa.

[Muggzy]

To tinkerman or any one that may be able to help me.

I saw on quadcrazy you was helping out jamison1969 with his 97sportsman I have a 96 sportsman 400 and beleive the wiring is the same. My AWD switch stoped working and no front wheel drive. I shot a hot wire from the speedometer to the solid gray wire and my switch works. I havent took it out yet to try the AWD. If it works, would it be ok to leave it that way? Or could it damage other parts?

Where is the hot wire coming from to feed the AWD switch? What color is that wire?

I asked some questions on quadcrazy but no one got back to me.

Thanks, Jimc from Pa.

It worked intermittenly the last couple times I had it out. Now the switch will not work at all nor the 4 wheel drive. I got the hood off exposing the wires. I checked all connections. The wiring diagram shows the power is coming from the hub safty switch and going to the front AWD hubs and then to the AWD switch. I have no power to the switch. (After 96 & 97 Polaris did away with the hub safty switch.) Any help will be appreciated.

There's a very thorough thread on polaris atv that ought to help. If it wasn't so extensive, it copy it here. Good luck:

http://www.polarisatvforums.com/forums/polaris-atv-how-tos/32989-awd-hubstrut-hilliard-clutch-troubleshooting-diagnoses.html

Sent from my KFOT using Tapatalk

[Jimc]

:yes:Thanks Muggzy, but that didn't work for me. After running a hot wire to the gray wire going to the AWD switch, the 4 wheel drive worked. The only problem, it was in 4 wheel all the time. So I cut the wire and mounted a good toggle switch on flat area close to the AWD sticker. Run hot wire to switch and then to gray that goes to AWD switch. It now works as it should. When it is in AWD and the back wheels start to spin, the front wheels engage.

The problem was not my AWD switch. When I have my toggle switch in the on position and press the AWD switch the light comes on. I think the problem was in the hub safty switch.. (Not sure), but they did do away with the hub safety switch after 1997.

[ozozzfest]

The switch inside your gear shifter housing powers the 4x4, those switches fail often. Check power out of the switch in forward gear

[Jimc]

On ‎3‎/‎2‎/‎2016 at 2:58 PM, ozozzfest said:

The switch inside your gear shifter housing powers the 4x4, those switches fail often. Check power out of the switch in forward gear

Could the drive belt, being worn and ma be stretched cause that switch not to work properly? If I just push on the shifter lever, it will go in all wheel.

[dieseljeeper]

howdy, sorry about taking so long but have been away. What sounds like is your hlr switch which is located inside the shifter itself is the culprit. If you take the shifter off and split it you will find the hlr switch which is activated by a plastic arm that fits into a roll pin. Ohm this out with a multimeter and chances are youll find that it isnt seeing forward gear. If it checks out take a look for slop in your linkage. The switch isnt available any longer and to bypass it hook the grey and white wire from your terminal board to the red/white terminal on the board. This will power up the switch so awd will be controlable with the switch. Hope this helps and its good to see someone else is still riding "the older bikes"