Hello everybody. I'm new to this forum and just bought my first Polaris. It is a 2004 Predator 500. I am having a problem with the steering at medium to high speeds. The front sways side to side to a point where it is dangerous and hard to keep straight. It is not a vibration issue, it just pulls from side to side. I cannot travel at high speeds for very long becuase it just takes too much effort to keep the darn thing on the road. Here is what I have done so far in troubleshooting the issue:

Replaced both front tires
Both front tires are aired to 9 psi
Checked the alignment and it is spot on
Jacked up the front and checked for play in the tires/rods, nothing
All bushings "look" good
All rods "look" straight
Checked the breaks and have an issue and i'm not sure if it is normal or not. If I take off the wheel and try to free spin the disc, it rubs a little bit on the pads. I was told by some other guys that it was normal and that there is nothing to release the pressure completely when you are just trying to free spin the disc. But when you are out there riding, the wheels bouncing around will back the caliper off the disc. But anyways, it does it equally on both sides.

I'm not sure if it had been rolled in the past (I know I have already rolled it) but it was doing since the day I got it so it was nothing that I had done.

Any advice wouuld be awesomoe guys.

Thanks

 

If all of the stuff you checked is good try getting the front/rear off the ground and rotate all of tires to see if a rim is bent. Could be that or a tire not seated right. only other thing I can think of is it may have been crashed/rolled hard and either the frame/swingarm/a-arms are tweaked.

 

What does your tires read on the side for PSI, all mine say 5 to 7 pounds, 9 PSI on your front may mean little grip with the narrower tires of course depending on the tires.

 

when you checked the alignment did you use the string method and toe it out up to1/8 of an inch?

 

Isn't the tire pressure supposed to be 3 or 4 pounds?

 

Try having the front tires balanced. That seemed to help for me. Or there may be something bent up front. A freind of mine had a bent hub that made it wobble at high speeds. after he replaced it no more wobble. At times he couldn't hardly hold on to the handle bars at any thing over 30 mph. Good luck

 

agree maybe a little too much air and or get the tires balanced. the brakes are working correctly and they don't release 100%.

 

If fix-a-flat was ever used it may have made a lump in one spot throwing the balance off, but I'd check everything else before pulling the tires off.

 

id check for the fix-a-flat in tires,...an toe out as mentioned,...if its got a swing arm id check it for play also...

 

Sorry it took me a couple days to get back. The front tires are brand new so no fix a flat. At least not the front ones, do you think the back ones would throw the balance off? I hope the a-arms or frame aren't tweaked. I'll take some air out of the front tires (maybe down to 5 psi) and see if that helps. What do you guys run in your tires? My neighbor runs 9 psi but he has an 800 Sportsman so it's a lot heavier. I'll also get the wheels up to check on the rims. Thanks guys, i'll report back when I have something.