Polaris: How Is It Better Than Last Year?

So you’re in your garage looking at your 2013 Polaris 800 Pro RMK and thinking out loud how great it served you last winter … but with a thought that it could certainly be worth great trade-in value for a new 2014 model. But is there enough difference between the two models to make it worth the effort of trading in last year’s ride?

That’s the $100 question … or perhaps in this case, the $4,000 question.

No doubt the 2013 Pro RMK flat-out worked. But it did have a few issues during the course of the season that caused concern with owners. The first was the issue of belt failure in the QuickDrive system.

The problem here is that when the production QuickDrive belts were sourced, the tolerences weren’t as exact as they should have been. The belt could walk out of the top sprocket when you let off the throttle in some rare situations, allowing the teeth to become sheared off.

According to Polaris, the two key factors affecting belt life were operating temperature and shock load.

For 2014 Polaris engineers have made improvements on the Quick­Drive, making it stronger so belt failure shouldn’t be an issue. That means for MY14, the belt offers 20-40 percent increased tooth shear while running cooler. Different materials were used to achieve these improvements.

Another issue was with the drive­shaft separation. Again, Polaris offered a mid-season fix which consisted of a collar on the shaft to keep it together. For 2014 this fix will be standard fac­tory installed.

There were also some issues with the adhesive bonded A-arms separating from the spindle mounts. And again, Polaris made changes to the glue to as­sure these parts don’t pull apart.

So the question may be: Are all these changes worth upgrading your last year’s sled? After all, while there may not be any new features or big changes (as opposed to “fixes”) on the 2014 model, there are plenty of things to still like about the 800 Pro RMK.

So the decision to upgrade is one each owner will have to make. But for anyone who is looking to buy a great new sled, the 2014 Pro RMK should definitely be on the top of your list.