Thread: Polaris quad bike

Been looking to purchase a quad for hunting . There's a well set up Polaris magnum on FB market place at a sharp price with bars and lights etc. Avoid like the plague or are they ok?
Looking to only spend 3 K if I can.

Originally Posted by Blackfern

Been looking to purchase a quad for hunting . There's a well set up Polaris magnum on FB market place at a sharp price with bars and lights etc. Avoid like the plague or are they ok?
Looking to only spend 3 K if I can.

Did the tip of your finger get first degree burns when you touched it??

Seriously though, is there any service history? Any known work done on it? Any visible damage? If its an early one it may well only be worth that.

Run, Forrest,run. Polaris are generally ok when low hours, but be prepared for cv belt and suspension bush replacements. They also run their own specialist oils, although there are equivalents you can match up. A couple of outfits I know of that took on dealerships couldn’t ditch them quick enough. We, a Honda dealership, will work on most things but Polaris certainly isn’t our favourite by any stretch.

I had an 88 or 89 2wd Trail Boss. They had a really bad rep with farmers because they were designed more as fun/sport quads and couldn't handle NZ farm conditions, but with a bit of preventive sealing around the air intakes for the belt drive mine could easily ford 6-700mm deep, electronics were mounted 800mm high (guess how I found out). Rust was still an issue as the frame design trapped shit in the corners. More modern ones may not have these problems but I really rated mine on the hills & in the mud so yours should be good.

EDIT
I got mine new and kept it immaculate so didn't have any issues, as others have said you could be buying someone else's problem

had a 550 sportsman went well now got a 550 x2 both with the robin motor they go well the oils are not that dear $30 a quart but the trouble is the nz agents are the bros so get parts from us = niche industries are good and cheap or alie x you will find many parts fir many models if you due bit of digging the clutches rattle at idle / a known issues but only annoying goes away once moving and the left hand front brake lever takes a bit of getting used to but you can use like clutch for smoover take of or change to a honda right easy . lots of utubes on them .

Saw my dairy farmer neighbour standing waist-deep in the flooded river trying to stop his 6-wheeled Polaris from floating away. he failed - we pulled it out with the front end loader next day but it didnt do it any good.

I would spend more money and buy a better brand.

I had a Suzuki that had a similar "swimming lesson" it didn't come out faring by better to be honest.

Many moons ago the Army purchased a small handful of Suzuki LTF 250F quads. Would have been 1988 I think, so very early on in the life of quads in NZ. We found they would float without an operator on them. Being new, and made by Suzuki they handled the dunking fine. Got across the Moawhango River several times by one person wading/swimming across with rope, and swinging the quad across after us. With their relatively light weight and diff lock up front they would go virtually anywhere. Trouble was with the operators. Within two years they had become almost completely rooted by many offs and rolley polley sessions. They were quietly sold off.

Had a early 2002 magnum treated me all right, if it has grease nipples grease it, also it didn't have the sprag clutch bearing so tended to run away down the hills, have an old Honda at work, much better bike

Polaris has done me well - it replaced my Suzuki Kingquad back in 2015. Just need to source own parts as D&E/Polaris charge silly prices. I have built up spare parts such as A arms, cv boots, oil and air filters, spare CVT belt, spare rims etc. The thing is keeping parts lubed as they should and avoid anything off a dairy farm. Maintenance is the key.