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XC-500SP reverse conversion?

C
Sep 30, 2018
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Hello everyone, new member and new to the snowmobiling world! Near the end of last winter I picked up a '99 Polaris XC-500SP, my first sled ever, and quickly realized that my lower back (w/herniated disc in remission :) was not up for the task of manually muscling it out of jams. So my question is - is it possible to retro-install a reverse kit, as I understand that some Polaris models of this vintage came with reverse? If not, do you have any tips for how to ride the sled in semi-tight areas without getting stuck?

Many Thanks,
Chris
 

BeartoothBaron

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It shouldn't be too hard to retro-fit reverse to your sled. You'd need a chaincase with reverse and the associated controls for it; looks like the 500 classic would be one model you could get it from, and I see a couple on eBay (not the cheapest source). That said, in most situations where I've been stuck, reverse wouldn't have helped. It's a great thing to have for unloading and handling tight spots on the trail, but once you've buried the track in deep snow, it's probably not going to make a difference.

As for not getting stuck, it's largely a matter of experience, and experience comes from getting stuck! :face-icon-small-ton Partly kidding, but it's hard to give any exact techniques for how to judge the snow, terrain, and momentum. With a short track sled, you're always going to be fairly limited once you get over a foot or so of soft snow, so keep that in mind. You might just find that your sled isn't a good choice for the style of riding you really enjoy. Anyway, in tight areas, I try to read the terrain and work from high spot to high spot. You want to keep enough momentum to where you'd get at least halfway up the next rise just coasting, fight to initially track a little more up the slope from where you want to go, and pick a secondary downhill turnout in case you can't hold what you planned. Unfortunately, even with a little more sled than yours, I find the only way I really guarantee not getting stuck when the snow is good is to stay on the trail. And that's no fun!
 
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sledhed

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Bring along buddies with good backs! Or get a snowbungee (sp?), they do help, when my wife was riding with me we could get her out easier that way. There is also a company that makes a lightweight jack that you can clamp to your running board IIRC. When I herniated a disk I had a 121x2" track sled and was trying to get myself unstuck way back in the boonies, so I went out and bought the longest track sled available from the factory at the time 136x2 track... helped for a while until I started challenging myself more and getting stuck even worse but by then my back was stronger and I had better riding buddies LOL.

If you want to go off trail much, stretch it to a 136 or whatever you can afford to do and find the parts to do. The longer the better. Some would say you just get stuck worse... but short tracks are SOOO easy to get stuck with...
 

Mark's RMK

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PERC

Find your self a wrecked newer sled with PERC, change flywheel, handlebar control, CDI, and harnesses and you have reverse.

I did it on a 500 and it worked great.

I've also done 800's and even my wife's 550 fan.

Many 600 parts interchange with the 500.
 

Bushwacker1

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Find your self a wrecked newer sled with PERC, change flywheel, handlebar control, CDI, and harnesses and you have reverse.

I did it on a 500 and it worked great.

I've also done 800's and even my wife's 550 fan.

Many 600 parts interchange with the 500.

Did you also change the oil pump?
I seem to remember when Polaris offered this as an accessory in their catalog to do this conversion it included an oil pump. I assumed the oil pump was included so it would not pump oil backwards when running in reverse, or even somehow pump oil when running in either direction.
Anyone have more details on the oil pump differences on the PERC sleds.
 
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