Polaris Magnum 325 4 wheeler. 4x4

[Gale Hawkins]

The daughter has been asking for an ATV after the passing of her grandfather in 2009 and his going to an uncle. We do not have really open space on our place like my father in law did. He actually taught her and her brother how to operate his nice size Honda ATV that he got at the age of 77 and rode until his death in 2009 and may other things like gardening, etc so for her riding the four wheeler takes her back in time it seems.

Well over the years I have been looking at ATV's and when the last request came I was actually talking with a guy with this Polaris Magnum 325 4x4 that was for sale so I took off Wednesday afternoon and the two of us went to look at it and bought gambling it was OK. He had traded an old car for it and had three others and decided he wanted some cash and cut his price to just below dealer trade-in per KBB.com

Last night we peeled off the snap on plastic parts and wash it down with just hot water without any soap or other chemicals. It is about 12 years old and the story I got it was a used ib a farm. The plastic is far from mint but it is not broken from hitting things. I got the dying at idle issue faddressed and four of the U-joints that I have found greased and was surprised they are relative tight but have not inspected the drive belt yet but it pulls and performs well. So far it seems we got a solid work horse. They are on the heavy side and under powered to many that want to get airborne. I expect I will keep it around for years but if not I think we can get our money back short of an accident or it blows up.

It has good power and an electric winch that we unfouled the cable and neatly rewound. My sister has a much newer Arctic Cat but I would not trade it for this Polaris 325 (about equal size machines I think) but do like the Arctic Cat's receiver hitch.

The golf cart we got instead of an ATV in 2010 is nice and handy and gives the kids a good way to get down to the church with the push mower, etc or when I am not around to drive them but there are places that I go with it spraying around fields, etc that are hard on it. The Polaris will work as a small tractor to pull a small trailer when picking up limbs, roots and hauling small stuff around the 15 acres.

Now if I can just manage to convince them not to speed and to keep all four wheels on the ground at all times.

 

[whistlepig]

I think you will like the Polaris. I have a Sportsman and also a couple of my friends own Sportsman's. Some will say that the belt on the PVT is very fragile but we have not found that to be the case with our Polaris ATV's. I have done a great deal of heavy pulling with my Polaris with no belt issues. They are heavy ATV's. I would hate to flip one and be swatted by it. Of all the ATV's I don't think that the smooth ride of a Polaris can be beat. I have owned a few ATV's. For the rough and nasty stuff I would pick the Polaris over any other brand I have tried.

 

[Woody65]

I have a 2001 Polaris magnum 325 that I purchased new. It has served us well and we have used it not babied it. For its size it does a good job. I have had no issues with the machine and it has performed flawlessly. Proper maintenance and it has never let me down. Good luck with it.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Thanks for sharing experiences. So far we are pleased.

At lunch I had a question/concern but ran out of time.

My preferred trailer is a 5x10' tilt with a solid steel deck. It is still not hard to move around by hand. Having some hills I was wondering the issues others may have ran into when using a trailer. While the Magnum is over 600 and I am over 200 pounds I know not to develop a negative tongue weight or over load the tongue either.

Like when picking up roots, limbs, etc I plan to have it in LOW range. 4WD makes it harder to steer but would it be safer to run in 4WD when working with a loaded trailer?

When coming down a steep bank with just the naked ATV in Low it did not free wheel as I expected. I have found in High it will go down a hill slower if I give it enough gas for the clutch to stay engaged.

Being the first ATV that I will have 'worked' I expect there is a bit of a learning curve to stay out of trouble.

 

[jerrybob]

You will enjoy your Polaris. I have an Artic Cat but my neighbor has a Polaris Mag. 425.....great ATV! We ride a lot......lots of logging roads in our area......that Polaris will go anywhere! Have fun....wear a helmet!

 

[whistlepig]

I did a bit of research and I think your Magnum 325 has EBS like mine does. The EBS is very predicable and reliable on my Polaris. I have to issues pulling a trailer in either high or low range with EBS.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Video: Polaris ATV Thumb Throttle Maintenance Tips | eHow

This info on how to fix a dying while idling Polaris was a 60 second no tools required fix on our 2002 Polaris Magnum 325. I demoed this to the daughter yesterday because you can hear the RPM change when the engine is running. Too fast and you have gear clashing. Too slow and the Run Away safety feature will cause it to die while at idle.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I did a bit of research and I think your Magnum 325 has EBS like mine does. The EBS is very predicable and reliable on my Polaris. I have to issues pulling a trailer in either high or low range with EBS.

Whistlepig this is my first ATV and I do not have a manual yet. I have learned going down a steep hill in High it will go slower if I will goose the gas a bit from time to time when it starts to free wheel. I went down one steep hill that was rough from cleaning up ground with the backhoe and in Low it just idled all the way down with No free wheeling but I was not towing anything.

After reading about EBS (Engine Braking System) feature that comes with some Polaris machines it sounds like a good feature. Just do not know if it is on ours 2002 Magnum. It seems like the 2002 has some of the 2003 parts as they were gearing up for the change over the the 330 model in 2003.

I will read more on EBS but it is my guess I do not have it at this point.

http://www.rzrforums.net/hunterworks/99425-polaris-engine-braking-ebs-explained.html

A good Polaris EBS write up.

 

[whistlepig]

I did a little more looking and it appears some 325 Magnums had EBS and some don't. Mine doesn't free wheel down hills no matter what gear range it is in.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Well today was long but got bushing hogging done for a few weeks and in three hitches sprayed out 45 gallon of round up by dark just before the golf cart batteries got weak but I did work it hard for about three hour. With the head lights I took the 325 Magnum for some test runs. Forward and backwards it will free wheel when on a steep hill when I let off the gas when the ground speed get very slow. If I keep hitting the throttle ever so slight the engine braking effect is good.

While we do not have the EBS I can stimulate it to some degree. I think with EBS it was a few hundred more new.

Since it ran out of gas when we did the test ride after about 10 minute I filled it with Shell V-Power on the way home and put about nine oz of Sea Foam with the three gallons of gas. I see some fine trash in the groves in the bottom of the tank. Besides the Sea Foam cleaning the tank I think the three gallon fill at full pressure may have knocked some varnish from inside the tank.

Anyway it is running stronger and if we have burned most of it out I will refill with fresh gas and the remaining Sea Foam in the tank will be enough to stabilize the gas. While it runs OK it is hard to judge how well it is running/smoking with that 3x dose of Sea Foam. From a standing idle it will take a wide open throttle jab without any hesitation so that is good.

About using a trailer on steep slopes for picking up roots, etc I think it is doable in a safe manner. Now I have to mount the 1 7/8 ball and test pull the trailer. I did order a shop manual today since I do not have even the owners manual.

 

[whistlepig]

Looks like you have my favorite Polaris features on the 325. McPherson struts up front. On Demand 4wd. And the PVT.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

So far I have been impressed with this older Magnum 325. Read a little about On Demand and if I understood correctly even in 2WD mode the front wheels will pull if the rears start turning faster than front wheels with no input from the rider.

I have a fuel filter on the way and may pull the tank to flush it well. The RPM's at low speed have become less stable but the gas is getting low and the Sea Foam ratio is still high. The lower the gas the more the trash moves I expect. We have not looked at the plug yet but plan to replace it. We just do not have a good place to open it up and run it hard for a long time.

The McPherson struts seem good but the rear shock leaked down but have a used one on the way that looks dry from the photo and was pulled from one with only 800 miles/150 hours so hopefully that will be a $40 fix for the rear.

i have been thinking about ordering the Polaris fluid kit and change out all fluids. Do you think that would be worth like $80 which includes two quarts of motor oil? I expect we will just run the Rotella 5W-40 since we will not be using it as a snowmobile at 0F degrees. The guy said it needed one boot so when I get to that I may just change both and do the fluids. Pulling the wheels will be the best way to do a good inspection I am sure.

Typically on a used machine I like to check out the general condition before I get down to a lot of detailed PM kind of things.

 

[Fastowl]

We have had a 2000 Polaris 325 Magnum 2x4 now for a couple of years and it has done quite well. I need to rebuild the carburetor on it now and eventually the plastic plate behind the clutch housing as somehow it got warped, but overall we are very pleased with it. And like you said it is low enough power to avoid the young ones from getting into too much trouble but at 40+ mph top end they can still manage to hurt themselves if they are not careful.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I expect a carb rebuild may be in our future after we burn out the gas with the heavy dosage of Sea Foam if there are running issues.

What is yours doing that means it needs the carburetor rebuild.

I am fine with ours being a 4x4 but so far in 2WD it will go a lot of places where our stock height golf car will not go.

Yes I am pleased we have the smaller engine but I think it has the same heavy frame as the 500. If the engine does not fail this should be a good ATV for many years but as the values drop if something major goes wrong it may be cheaper to pick up another running used one. I think the 325 is a good value today because many of the owners want to move to more power. The smaller engine does not put the same demand on the rest of the moving parts that may be identical to the ones with larger engines.

 

[Fastowl]

The carb is flooding a bit when the machine is turned off; I suspect a float issue but it could be something else in there. It runs fine generally just seems to go through gas fairly quickly (indiacting running rich as well). Reminds me of a 75 mustang I had once that was always a problem. It had a foam float and the hard plastic coating was compromised. It always ran real rich and we had issues with it randonly dying on us until I replaced that float.

In this case I have a gas smell whenever it is shut down but no apparent leakage.

We just use the machine (we also have a 2005 Kawasaki Bayou 360 4x4) to get around the ranch so we don't need high performance and power. We also use it to carry a 16 gallon spray tank for spraying prickly pear, etc. I think I paid $900 for the Polaris a couple of years ago so I don't have much into it.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I did a short ride in the woods today behind the house and learned I could get over 6" logs OK. Afterwards in an open field it started loosing power and back firing so I flipped to Reserve position and kept it running then it kind of smoothed out again. When I got to the house I saw smoke coming out from under the gas tank so I got the water hose ready in case flames developed but they did not so I used the leaf blower to get some air flow over the fins. When it did this yesterday with my daughter she told me today she saw it yesterday but thought it was steam. Yes she now knows it is not water cooled just because it has a cooler and fan.

We are going to pull the gas tank to dump the crud and look for the oil coming out of the top of the engine and inspect the oil lines. I hope I can find the oil leak and it is a simple fix. After burning three gallons of gas the oil level still is at the top marks on the dip stick so that is good it does not burn oil in a major way if at all.

The carb is still loading up sometimes so I expect it needs some attention and with the gas tank off I will be able to see it well.

Fastowl I noticed the Magnum smelled flooded today after being parked overnight which was then in the full noon sun. It was kind of hard to start too. I have not looked at cost for a kit vs a new carb. Are these OK to rebuild or replacing them the best long term fix?

 

[whistlepig]

I have always used Polaris fluids and filters but I would think any good name brand oil or filter would work just as well. I rarely put mine in 4wd. Only very deep mud, climbing over downed timber, or when pushing snow with a blade do I use 4wd. I have a Warn winch also. I use this to raise and lower the snow blade. After the first winter using the winch the steel aircraft cable had chewed itself to pieces in the spool. I replaced it with an Amsteel Blue synthetic winch rope. Stronger than aircraft cable and after four years it is showing no noticeable signs of wear.

Winch Line, Rope, ATV winch lines, Recovery ropes, Kinetic recovery rope, Snatch ropes, Amsteel Blue

 

[Fastowl]

I did a short ride in the woods today behind the house and learned I could get over 6" logs OK. Afterwards in an open field it started loosing power and back firing so I flipped to Reserve position and kept it running then it kind of smoothed out again. When I got to the house I saw smoke coming out from under the gas tank so I got the water hose ready in case flames developed but they did not so I used the leaf blower to get some air flow over the fins. When it did this yesterday with my daughter she told me today she saw it yesterday but thought it was steam. Yes she now knows it is not water cooled just because it has a cooler and fan.

We are going to pull the gas tank to dump the crud and look for the oil coming out of the top of the engine and inspect the oil lines. I hope I can find the oil leak and it is a simple fix. After burning three gallons of gas the oil level still is at the top marks on the dip stick so that is good it does not burn oil in a major way if at all.

The carb is still loading up sometimes so I expect it needs some attention and with the gas tank off I will be able to see it well.

Fastowl I noticed the Magnum smelled flooded today after being parked overnight which was then in the full noon sun. It was kind of hard to start too. I have not looked at cost for a kit vs a new carb. Are these OK to rebuild or replacing them the best long term fix?

Well I haven't rebuit these particular carbs before so I can't tell you exactly. But replacing floats, etc. is not that difficult. I would talk to a dealer to pick up correct parts. You could get them on line cheaper but there is always the risk of not getting the correct stuff. If you are doing it yourself the extra $10-15 or so is not that big of a deal IMO. You could also try talking to the folks at your local auto parts store as they often stock parts for ATV's (or can get them) and can give you some advice. I would expect the repairs to take you about 30-60 minutes or maybe a bit more for cleaning and soaking parts.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

On line a new carb I found tonight was about $400. Kits were under $50 but floats alone were over $50.

It is best to shut off the fuel after every use of a Polaris? I seldom shut off any fuel tanks on anything we own.

 

[whistlepig]

I don't shut the fuel off on my Polaris or our Honda Rancher.