Help with a bombadier traxter

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lipadj46

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I'm doing some maintenance on my parent's bombadier traxter. I believe it is like 9 years old and it has gotten very light use but very light maintenance also. So far I have replaced the oil with delo 15w40, plugs, brake fluid, air filter. I want to flush the radiator and replace the front and rear gear box oil but my father said the bombadier dealer said not to and to just top off both. Seems to me after 9 years the fluids should be replaced.

Any other maintenance items? Also it shifts kind of sluggish at low speed or idle any ideas on the cause?
 
My dad has one of these and his shifts kind of slow too. If it was a normal automotive type auto trans I'd call it slipping.

Not sure if that's just the way they are?
 
Please explain what you mean by "Also it shifts kind of sluggish at low speed or idle".

The machine is an automatic right? They use a drive system similar to a snowmobile which uses two variable rate clutches and a drive belt. The belt probably needs to be replaced. It may be worn down or glazed. You should pull the side case to inspect it. Belt's aren't expensive and after nine years, I'd bet the original isn't in good condition. You might want to clean the surfaces of the clutches as well if they show signs of baked on rubber/debris. While you have the side case off, you might want to check the adjustment of the clutches to ensure they are set properly. A shop manual or a visit you the Bombardier dealer for instructions will be necessary for instructions.

Have you looked on the internet to find a shop manual for the machine? They're pretty much essential for doing anything beyond basic maintenance.

Good to see you rolling up your sleeves and diving in! Get the manual and carry on doing your own maintenance. You'll save tons of money.
 
I had two of them, an '01 auto shift (you could run through the gears by thumb or a small switch on the left side set to auto it would run like a 5sp auto trans) and a '03 XL model, only manual shift. They are programmable to speed up and slow down shifts, and also adaptive learn to how you drive it. You may have an issue with the wrong oil, the huge gear driven trans is lubricated with the same oil as the engine, so you really should use a motorcycle gearbox oil as a 10w40 Castrol bike oil, Can-Am should still have the 5w40 syn oil for it too. Before going any further, I'd switch to oil with the proper transmission additives. Pulling the neg terminal for an hour after and it should be reset, run it hard and it should shift better. NOTE- this trans is also designed to shift up-down while on the throttle so you don't need to back off. If the noise scares you don't worry about it, its still to this day the biggest fully gear driven trans in an atv. The diffs, an 80w90 is fine, I used a syn 75w90, no additives for the front.

Not much for other maintenance, these were designed for utility first, play a distant second, Bombardier kept them simple and tough. Check the seals, cv boots on the front, pull the smaller boot clamps, get a grease needle and pump some fresh grease under the boot if you like, some new clamps. Grease the rear output shaft if accessible, some had an enclosed housing and you couldn't get to it. No greasing on the trans side of the rear output shaft, there is a sealed u-joint there. Grease the rest of the driveline if there's zerks, check the foot brake for drag, they were a dry bushing style, I drilled/tapped mine for grease after spending a week at the ocean:)

I miss those quads, bloody tough machines. They really like a Dynojet carb kit too,really clears out your upper rpm's.

Hope this helps eh!!!
 
That was educational Mike.

Are the new Bombardier's using the same transmission that you described? I was under the impression that they were using a CVT system similar to pretty much every other ATV and snowmobile manufacturer's auto transmissions.
 
Thanks boraticus, and you're right the newer machines have the cvt. Bombardier decided back in '98 or '99 they were going to introduce a machine no one else has, and you bet they did, but it quickly adopted the nickname "tractor" since it was so utility focused. The step through, huge under front rack storage, biggest gear driven transmission, a huge radiator that 800's don't even have, it was a workhorse, but the biggest complain was it was ugly. Not a bad performer, just ugly. I read reviews of where it did incredibly well and surpassed comparably sized competition, but failed on looks so what can you do, if you don't like the way it looks, you won't buy it. They came out with a cvt style machine in the same chassis the Quest, which hauled arse better than the sp700, kawi650, everything, but it was ugly.

Bombardier finally followed the leaders in atv's and created a similar style in '04 (Outlander), and as far as pro sports and competition goes, they are a force to be reconed with, even though they don't have the sales #'s as Honda or Polaris. I would own Can-Am myself but the local shop is run by jerks, and great long term friends own the Polaris shop, quite happy with them, I've always liked Polaris machines anyway, not as powerful as Can-Am but a great ride and 4wd system.

For the record, back in '04 I used the two Traxters, the only two out of 60 machines, in a atv jamboree, got 3 1st place finishes in pulls and a 3rd in the obstacle course, would of got a 1st if I didn't bounce off the machine and blow a shift. Got best overall, passed on the prize to a dude that needed the free warn winch. Beat out 650 kawi's, sp500/600/700's, grizzlies, ah it was great. Maybe it was a bit of the rider too eh:)
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: CrazyMike
I had two of them, an '01 auto shift (you could run through the gears by thumb or a small switch on the left side set to auto it would run like a 5sp auto trans) and a '03 XL model, only manual shift. They are programmable to speed up and slow down shifts, and also adaptive learn to how you drive it. You may have an issue with the wrong oil, the huge gear driven trans is lubricated with the same oil as the engine, so you really should use a motorcycle gearbox oil as a 10w40 Castrol bike oil, Can-Am should still have the 5w40 syn oil for it too. Before going any further, I'd switch to oil with the proper transmission additives. Pulling the neg terminal for an hour after and it should be reset, run it hard and it should shift better. NOTE- this trans is also designed to shift up-down while on the throttle so you don't need to back off. If the noise scares you don't worry about it, its still to this day the biggest fully gear driven trans in an atv. The diffs, an 80w90 is fine, I used a syn 75w90, no additives for the front.


Thx for the info. I need to get a shop manual yes. I have 4 quarts of Bombadier XPS semi syn oil that my father picked up from the bombadier dealer. My plan was to run the Delo for a few weeks of riding and then drain it and put the bombadier oil in. The delo made it shift a lot better than whatever was in there.

How about rotella T6 5w40? It has the JASO MA rating correct?
 
If there's diesel that specs out safe for the transmission in atv's or bikes, I wouldn't know it, I've only used oils spec'd out for them. I checked out the spec's on the shell web site, I didn't see anything with the JASO MA, I did check out Castrol's site, it has the newest JASO MA2 rating, but still mineral based. I know my machines shifted better with the xps oil than the mineral 10w40........
 
Originally Posted By: CrazyMike
Ah, hey I'd give it a shot then, I bet it will run slick. Keep us posted!


I'm going to drain the Delo and try the xps. If I use Rotella it won't be until winter.
 
A riding buddy of mine had one of these machines. It was our beer hauler due to the 30 pack front compartment! Neat machine really.

Originally Posted By: CrazyMike
Thanks boraticus, and you're right the newer machines have the cvt. Bombardier decided back in '98 or '99 they were going to introduce a machine no one else has, and you bet they did, but it quickly adopted the nickname "tractor" since it was so utility focused. The step through, huge under front rack storage, biggest gear driven transmission, a huge radiator that 800's don't even have, it was a workhorse, but the biggest complain was it was ugly. Not a bad performer, just ugly. I read reviews of where it did incredibly well and surpassed comparably sized competition, but failed on looks so what can you do, if you don't like the way it looks, you won't buy it. They came out with a cvt style machine in the same chassis the Quest, which hauled arse better than the sp700, kawi650, everything, but it was ugly.

Bombardier finally followed the leaders in atv's and created a similar style in '04 (Outlander), and as far as pro sports and competition goes, they are a force to be reconed with, even though they don't have the sales #'s as Honda or Polaris. I would own Can-Am myself but the local shop is run by jerks, and great long term friends own the Polaris shop, quite happy with them, I've always liked Polaris machines anyway, not as powerful as Can-Am but a great ride and 4wd system.

For the record, back in '04 I used the two Traxters, the only two out of 60 machines, in a atv jamboree, got 3 1st place finishes in pulls and a 3rd in the obstacle course, would of got a 1st if I didn't bounce off the machine and blow a shift. Got best overall, passed on the prize to a dude that needed the free warn winch. Beat out 650 kawi's, sp500/600/700's, grizzlies, ah it was great. Maybe it was a bit of the rider too eh:)
 
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