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Thread: Pulling Stands with the old Polaris

  1. #1
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    Default Pulling Stands with the old Polaris

    After bow season, I normally try to find a nice day to head out and pull all of my stands down and store them inside until next year. I know lots of people who leave them out for the season but my preference is to have them stowed inside so that I know their condition when I go to hunt next fall. Sunday seemed like as good a day as any, with a pleasant forecast and frost in the ground in the morning, so I set out.

    My 1994 Polaris Sportsman is getting temperamental in her old age. It rarely travels very far, so I don't mind putting up with a few quirks along the way. At the time, the electric start wouldn't work. I could hear the solenoid click but I figured the battery was dead from sitting because it wouldn't turn the engine over. It started in 2 pulls anyways, so I hooked up a trailer and off I went.

    A few miles on the road and I'm at the field. The cloud of blue smoke behind me was considerable. The ATV rarely leaves my property so the old 2 stroke builds up a fair bit of carbon that burns off on a rare occasion when I get the engine hot. I arrived at my first stand, a 2-man ladder stand. In a few short minutes it was in the trailer. The electric start still doesn't want to work and 10 or 20 pulls on the ATV and it was going nowhere. This is a familiar problem. After all that carbon burns off, it often fouls the plug and it doesn't want to start. A new plug is always on hand, and it started no problem after I installed it. Off to the second stand.

    This one is a hang-on stand with screw-in tree steps. I climbed up, tied in with a climbing harness and took the stand down. I moved a couple of steps to allow me to position the stand a little different for next season, then loosened off all the steps 1 turn to allow for growth next year on my way down. One pull to start and I'm off to the ground blind.

    Take down the ground blind and load it up. One pull to start and I'm off to stand #3.

    Stand #3 is also a hanger with screw-in tree steps. I took it down and loosened the steps all one turn. Once it was in the trailer, I realized I was making good time. I decided I would take down an old tree stand left up by a hunter years ago, so one pull and I was off to the old stand.

    This one has been neglected for many years. The tree has grown and the straps are tight, but there is no chain, so I can easily cut the straps to remove it. Thankfully it isn't too high and it is soon out of the tree along with the ladder. I clamber up to the field edge and load it into the trailer.

    I pull the cord and after one or two compression strokes there is no resistance from the recoil. More pulls confirm that the recoil is not engaging at all. The electric start still only produces a click from the solenoid. I'm stuck!

    After mulling over the idea of walking home and coming back with a battery to jump-start the quad, I decide to call my friend and neighbour who owns the land. In a couple of short minutes he arrives with his quad and jumper cables. The jump failed to start the old girl. Still just a click from the solenoid. The solenoid is buried under plastic so I can't jump the terminals to see whether the solenoid is the issue. I get him to tow me to his house, where my wife meets me and tows me home.

    Back at the shop, I take the quad apart and find that the recoil pawl is ripped out of the recoil, which is why it couldn't engage the engine. The solenoid tests fine and there is voltage at the starter motor. After pulling apart the starter motor, it is dirty inside but the brushes still have some wear left. A good cleaning has the brushes moving freely and all the gunk out of the armature. I hook it up to a battery and it springs back to life. Once back in the old quad, she is running again.

    I didn't actually take any pictures but here is the view from my last sit at two of the stands:

    20181220_075657.jpg20181231_081152.jpg

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  3. #2
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    Should have bought a Honda!

    Actually, I am having a starter issue with my Honda Fourtrax 350 that just popped up in the middle of the deer rifle season. I replaced the started solenoid because it was cheap and easy to do, but that didn't work so I will be trying to diagnose if it's the starter motor next. If it is, I will likely just replace it instead of trying to get the old one going. An aftermarket starter is less than $100, and I don't want to have to mess around with removing the old one when it fails again the next time it gets wet.

  4. #3
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    I think it is time to make up for the first mistake and buy a Honda. Sorry couldn't help it. Sounds like the old bike is doing you just fine.

  5. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by rf2 View Post
    Should have bought a Honda!
    I've always maintained that if someone wanted to challenge my quad with another 25-year-old machine, the Polaris would be up to it! Thankfully, there aren't many of this vintage still kicking otherwise I'd have to go through with it!

    The seals were still good on my starter, it was just gummed up with crud from the brushes wearing. I can take this machine apart in my sleep so in a couple of years when the brushes wear out I'll throw another starter on if she is still ticking.

    An easy diagnosis for the starter motor is to hook your test light up to the negative terminal on the battery (or another solid ground), then place the probe on the terminal on the starter. If it lights up when you press the start button, but it doesn't spin, the starter is the issue. If you can hear it spin but not engage, it will be the bendix.

  6. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by benjhind View Post
    I've always maintained that if someone wanted to challenge my quad with another 25-year-old machine, the Polaris would be up to it! Thankfully, there aren't many of this vintage still kicking otherwise I'd have to go through with it!

    The seals were still good on my starter, it was just gummed up with crud from the brushes wearing. I can take this machine apart in my sleep so in a couple of years when the brushes wear out I'll throw another starter on if she is still ticking.

    An easy diagnosis for the starter motor is to hook your test light up to the negative terminal on the battery (or another solid ground), then place the probe on the terminal on the starter. If it lights up when you press the start button, but it doesn't spin, the starter is the issue. If you can hear it spin but not engage, it will be the bendix.
    Thanks for the info! After I had replaced the solenoid, I spoke to a guy that I work with that has pretty much the same machine as I do, and he told me the same thing about testing the power to the starter motor. He tried fixing his starter motor, and it only worked for a couple months. I guess if sealing isn't the problem with yours, maybe yours will be o.k.

    BTW, Mine is a 2001, so it's close to your vintage!

  7. #6
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    I have a 1984 Big red that has 'weather' sensitive starter. Once falls come around it stops working 50% of the time....it's a crap shoot if it fire or not. I figure it's in the wiring that when it gets wet or freezes it fails to make contact. It's starts fine with the pull cord so It's not a problem.

    I keep saying one of these years I'm going to fix it, but then it's spring and the problem goes away till the fall
    Last edited by MikePal; January 9th, 2019 at 04:44 PM.

  8. #7
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    Older machines of any make are going to have issues and quirks... My 97 Honda doesnt give me too much trouble though!

    Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk

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