Hi guys. I haven’t posted here in ages. I finally decided to do some maintenance myself on my 2010 550XP EPS. I bought the machine new and before this weekend I’d always carried the machine over to the dealer for service. I did this because I can damn well afford it and gosh darn it I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I’m a pretty accomplished mechanic and build several cars and hotrods over the years including a complete body off 1964 Corvette Stingray.

The machine hadn’t been out of the garage since Deer season in the Fall of 2014. Since it hadn’t been used in awhile I took it with me to Missouri for dove season and to scout someplace for a new deer stand. While up there I noticed some growling coming out of the front diff while in ADC 4×4 mode. It made a grinding sound when decelerating. No sounds in 2WD mode. I thought about taking it over to Polaris, but did some googling on the issue and the consensus is that the front diff needed the oil changed. Well, that’s something I can do here and I wouldn’t have to deal with the hassle of loading it on the trailer and hauling it down there and then picking it up. Bear in mind this machine has always been serviced on time and by the dealer.

So, yesterday I headed off to Lancaster Tx for a jug of diff fluid. The manager let me look at the service manual. Looked pretty straight forward and something I can do in the garage. I gathered up the tools needed (8mm Hex wrench or 5/15" Hex). Removed the bottom front grill for ease of access. Put the drain pan under the machine and went to remove the drain plug. Hmmm. Hex wrench didn’t seem like it wanted to go in very far. Got my 60 yr old fatass under the bike and looked at the plug. Damaged. Crap. Got my brass hammer and tapped the hex wrench into the plug. Friggin thing won’t budge. Tap tap tap with the little brass hammer. No luck. Turned and looked at the Fill plug. OMG it’s effed up too! Also must have been torqued to about 2,000 ft lbs. Then the Hex wrench turned inside the plug. Oh hell no. I took a 50mm torx socket and drove it up in there. No luck. It turned too. Finally put some heat on it from a propane torch and got the fill plug out with a pair of vise grips.

With the drain plug now out it was time to do something with the drain plug. The center of it is now stripped out too. After fighting with it for nearly an hour, I decided the only way it was going to come out is to drill it out and use a 5/16" EZ Out on it. Drilled the hole and now oil everywhere. All over me, all over the floor all over my drill. What a freakin mess. I drove the EZ Out in with my brass hammer and with some extreme persuasion finally got it broken loose.

So now I have to find two new drain plugs and am wondering if the rest of the machine has been abused by the dealer too. For future reference the drain plug size is M16x1.25

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