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I have a friend of mine who has a 2007 Sportsman 500 H.O. and has an issue with the foot brake not working. The dealer tells him it's not supposed to work and that he should use the hand brake. The brake actually does work but it doesn't even start activating until the lever is completely bottomed out. There is about 1/4" of space between the end of the brake plunger and the activating tab on the foot brake lever.
Is this right?
Is there an adjustment?
Anyone have issues like this?
Hmm. Sounds like you need somebody "local" that's pretty handy with a wrench to come have a look at it...
Very handy with a wrench myself! I don't see any adjustment on the brake cylinder to move it forward or backwards.
Just wondering if anyone else has had this issue.
Either the post in the master cylinder is not extending fully or it's a major design flaw.
This has been this way since he bought it new from the dealer. The Dealer in Reno actually told him "It's supposed to be that way! If so what's the point of even having a foot brake lever?
the brake master cylinder for the rear foot break is a major flaw on these polaris models
i have the same issue with my 500 scrambler.
i can fix it by bleeding all the air out of the line, but its only a matter a time before it goes bad again.
The strange thing about this one is that it doesn't act like there's air in the line.
When the brake lever finally strikes the end of the piston it activates the cylinder and the brakes work fine. The problem is that the brake lever doesn't contact the end of the rear master cylinder piston until it is at the bottom of of it's travel. It almost looks as if the master cylinder was mounted too far away from the end of the foot brake lever.
Another thing I find interesting is that there is no adjustment is the rear brake what so ever. There is just a post that protrudes from the master cylinder that the brake lever pushes on.
Rand, is this the same friend we went riding with out Johnson Lane? I'm willing to come have a look at it and see if we can fab up something that will work better....
No it's my buddy Otie. He is another old fart like myself even older LOL! We are planning to try to fab up something to get the brake to work tomorrow.
I will either try something on the end of the master cylinder post or a modification to the end of the brake lever. I will probably first try to place something over the end of the pin to act as a spacer and see how well the brake really does work.
Do you get out riding much these days or do you still have that crazy work schedule of yours? Otie and I are planning a ride up the back side of Duck hill which is the north end of Carson at the end of Goni Rd. tomorrow morning about 10:30.
Rand
Slightly better schedule nowadays, and I've actually been riding quite a bit. I've got a female friend that recently bought a dirtbike, so I've been going out quite a bit showing her the ropes, taking longer and longer trips as she gets better and is able to ride longer.
Plus I've moved since the last time we spoke, I'm way out in the sticks now, backed right up against the mountains. I've got a huge garage to store all my machines, and I can ride right out my back door.
I recently picked up another 250r because it was great price, but I'm really on the lookout for a utility quad. Ever since we rode your friend's Sportsmans that day, I fell in love with them, and I'm finally in a spot where I can get one.
I have the same problem with my 09 500 ho I have to bleed the foot pedal brake... Buddy has a 07 800 he thought the piston was bad I convinced him to bleed it and sure enough he had foot brake again I think its a problem with the brake setup to bad there wasn't a fix for it cause it is kinda sad they have a foot brake that doesn't work by design? I havnt figured out why they don't know or want to fix the problem brakes are optional? Don't get me wrong hand brakes work great but it is nice to use foot/rear brake going down a steep hill to slow you down with out tossing you over the stearing wheel like front brakes would.
Same with my 05 500.