Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Warning about Polaris UTV's

the RZR and Ranger. I was reading up on lift kits and repeatedly ran into this warning. Seems that if you need to pull something with one, like pulling another utv out of a mudhole or pulling a log out of a trail, always pull going forward. Never pull in reverse. There's something about the front end that can't take a hard pull in reverse and it will break. I couldn't find specifically what the problem is but I read plenty of reviews from guys who found out the hard way. The Polaris has sort of a limited slip in the drive train that locks in the front axle when the rears slip a tiny bit. I don't even pretend to know how it works. It's quite strong in a forward gear but very weak in reverse.
If you're winching something and want to speed it up by driving backwards, don't do it. Let the winch finish the job or turn the UTV around.

Hopefully someone here can fill us in with more info on this. What I found was pretty sketchy.

I wonder if that pertains to the quads too and other manufactures? The Polaris quads are the most popular around our place up north, but aside from the independent rear suspension on the Polaris , I like the little 300 Kawasaki quad with the high and low range transmission better. That one has the big racks on it and I pull the pontoon boat up on shore with it in the fall, but I do that in reverse so that I can see what is happening.

I don't know how the quads operate. The RZR is in 2x4 until the rear wheels slip, then it automatically locks into 4x4 and stays locked until you stop.

The ATVs have a yellow button adjacent the left hand grip that overrides this.

If the RZR is like the 500 UTV, the front diff pinion housing is made of plastic, not metal. I can see that being a weak link.

Plastic? On a vehicle marketed for off-road use? What could go wrong? Brilliant!!!!

THIS !!! I was wondering if anyone else would chime in....

Not unique.
This holds true for most vehicles and equipment. The gears, bearings and cases are designed to be stronger going forward.

I pull Logs in reverse every year with my Ranger 400.....It has over 200 hundred Hours in some very rough terrain.....I change the Diff fluid yearly and it always looks clean...It Looks and runs like brand new, I have had 0 problems....I am running a 2 inch lift and 27 inch Radial Tires.

The warnings I've read apply to Razors. I don't know if it applies to ATV's, too.

I think the yellow button on the atv's is a reverse speed limiter.

As Dillonbuck says, the design of the differential housing and the pinion location is such that as load is applied when going forward, the gear trains tend to mesh together under load, but when loading the vehicle in reverse, the gear train tends to pull apart. This results in high tooth load on a tooth or two and the end result can be a broken tooth on a ring gear.