kgrant

I've got a Polaris and a Honda that I use regularly on my ranch so they see a lot of abuse.  Fortunately, there is still a Honda dealer nearby but the nearest Polaris dealer is over 1.5 hours away.  They charge way too much money ($1800 for battery, alternator, wire harness and fluids change) so I am starting to learn how to do my own repairs.  The Internet is a wonderful and scary place when it comes to shopping.  Where can I go for a fair deal? Is there a list of preferred vendors that advertise on the forum? 
Thanks,
Greg

2008 Honda Rancher 420. I use it to plow and some recreation.

1998 Xplorer 300, lives at the cabin.

1998 Big Boss 500 6x6, I'm in the process of fixing it. Might go to the cabin when I'm done.

Sweet project!

Thanks!

Makin work of that. Nice stuff, now the wait for the pets starts.  Hate that part. 
Well it looks like your doing great.  Keep us posted. 
Good luck. 

I have all the sprockets and chains for the rear to replace as well. I think I'll hold off on those until I get the gearbox fixed.

I thought it would have higher compression too. I read that the auto decompression is why they read low.

Clutch came off with no issues. The bolt out of my pitman arm puller was the right size. Used the handyman jack and picked up as high as I could without the jack slipping out, filled hole with water, ran the bolt in and the clutch popped right off! My first time using the "water trick", I'm sold!



Gearbox come out without any issues.



I think this sprocket was why the case broke...



Now I need to clean everything up and work on the motor while I wait for parts.

Compression is 75 psi, spec says 50-90 is normal. Valve clearance all measure around .006", spec I found is .0024".

Started taking the gearbox out. Looks like I'll need to pull off the primary clutch so I'll need to get a puller. Might try the water trick if I can get it tilted up far enough.

I remember busting the case on a 98 Xplorer 300 when the chain broke! Seems like it was just the right side.

Hopefully all I'll need is the right side. I haven't pulled the gearbox out yet. Might have jumped the gun on buying it! But I didn't want to miss out on being able to buy it.

I found a right side case on eBay for $50 and bought it. There are tons of left side cases on eBay, this was the only right side listed. Maybe this is a common problem?

Hello, great forum here!

I bought a non running 1998 Big Boss 500 6x6. The previous owners had done quite a bit of work to it. It has a new carburator, fuel pump, starter, adjusted the valves, new mid sprockets and chain. But they said it wouldn't run.

When I got it home I did get it to run, though not very well. It doesn't want to idle and there is a very loud knocking. I didn't run it very long. Hopefully it's just the clutch knocking. It has 4000 miles on the odometer. I popped off the valve cover and the cam looks ok, (it's not flat!) I haven't measured it yet. I still need to check compression.

There's no oil in the gearbox, found a crack in the case behind the output shaft. Looks like a mounting point?

I think I'll try and find a case half. I should probably tear apart the gear box first, it might be in bad shape inside. Who knows how long it was ran without oil. It does shift between all gears.

The rest of it is in fair condition, normal wear and tear for 4000 miles.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of it other than the cracks.

I should probably make sure the motor is good before I put money into the gearbox.

Any tips on things to look for would be appreciated!

Thank you