N
Weight is a fact.
Handling is 100% opinion.
Urs is not the same as mine.
Exactly why I could tell you guys tell im blue in the face my hawk handles better than a sled. Purely opinion...and not a popular one haha
850 gone down already??
- Thread starter ANTHONY11
- Start date
Exactly why I could tell you guys tell im blue in the face my hawk handles better than a sled. Purely opinion...and not a popular one haha
Pro-rmk brought tree riding where it is today everyone is still catching up. Just like the rev was in 2003. Doo went a different direction with xp or xm trail first trees second.
Big10inch you have some valid points, I don’t really have the money for another full blown mod engine, and if I did it would be a 1350 UBR triple. I was commending Dan for making crank and other engine parts available to the average joe. The chassis is excellent and most of the smaller problems, wiring, etc. have been worked out. I think this 850 will be “the engine” from Polaris, I could be wrong but only time will tell. I’ve been Polaris forever and yes I’ve been screwed royally over the years I’m just thinking this could be the sled to get me to spend some money again.
I whole heartedly disagree!
The M-series is definitely the first (2005) mountain sled to change the way we ride.
The raw chassis in 07 is a very capable tree riding machine, pro even better.
My opinion(serious opinion)is that the Pro is no better than the M-series(except super steep sidhill). Less power and crummy track however, It was at the time, the best mountain sled Polaris ever made!
2012-2015 cat went away from the great sidehilling capabilities... bad choice in my opinion and apparently cats too.
Started fixing that mistake in 16 then in 17 the mountain cat is amazing.
In a sense, cat did have to catch back up from 2012-2015. All the while having one of the most reliable engines in a mountain sled.
ill do ya one better, I enjoyed riding dragons more than Ms back in the day, just thought they were more fun in the trees. rode better. but I never bought one, and probably still wouldnt buy a Polaris twin over 600cc. those 6s are reliable fun lil rippers!
Hey those are some pretty great posts.. lots of interesting points of view.
As for people buying motors......... Big10 you have completely under estimated brand loyalty by a country frick mile.
I grew up with a Dad that was a ( Bowtie ) chevy guy until the dreaded day came when his brand new 1973 custom ordered 3/4 ton had front brake problems that took a few years to get straighten out... then the rear box rusted right thru the pain in the second year...... got a new box and it happened again.
He switch to ford and never looked back.......... ( there are stories that go both ways in just about everything. )
But..........i am here to tell you there are ( Bow-tie people ) that will go to their grave driving those things..... no matter how many sets of injectors they need for $4000 grand.
I personally drove chevy for years....... UNTIL i started mountain riding and Chevy had nothing to offer for a good diesel in the 1990's
I ordered a brand new Ford super duty in 1999 and I never looked back.... then came the dreaded day in 2003 when Ford dropped the 7.3 and went with the 6.0.......it was 2004 and I was due for a new truck.
Derek Moore from Idaho, A Snowest member told me to buy a Ram ( I just about passed out. ) NO WAY I SAID !
He said just go drive one.... and if you hate it then don't buy it.
So after many hours of scratching my head i went to the local Dodge dealer and saw a Red 2004 Quad cab dually with a Cummins in it on the lot.
Found a salesman and told him to get the keys....He was like 25 years old.
we both jumped in ..I was driving.... I said don't say one thing about this truck to me because i am sure you don't know sh!t about diesels and I do not like having sunshine pumped up my a$$... i'll figure out if i want it or not without your bullsh!t sales pitch.
I swear i wasn't 1 mile from the dealer lot and I already knew i had to have it..... I just bought a new 2018 Ram 3500 Limited Dually a few months ago.
I know i got off track alittle but my point is this........There are Bow-tie people that will NEVER change no matter if its Obama Motors or not.... owned by the government and the loans were never paid back.
So..... my point is here i sell 200 to 300 motors a season and I have more then a few customers that have personally purchased in excess of 4 motors from us.
Not dealers..... just good old boys.
So never under estimate brand loyalty.
And Cat brand loyalty makes Polaris loyalty look stupid.
I wouldn't even consider a venture in moving to a bigger shop and going down the road to build a bigger motor shop if we only sold 50 motors a year.
I have 8 guys here right now and we don't have a square inch to spare.
Most people that buy motors here the sale is twice as fast and easy as selling a set of A-arm bushing for a$100 bucks ...that we get asked 5 questions about before the trigger gets pulled.
Motor sales is a daily thing around here......If you think $3500 is a stretch you have under estimated the sport by a long ways.
I have not looked but I am Pretty sure we sold 20 to 40 motors since Christmas
And I my guess is at least 80% of them have never been on snowest... or any sled forum.
Dan
As for people buying motors......... Big10 you have completely under estimated brand loyalty by a country frick mile.
I grew up with a Dad that was a ( Bowtie ) chevy guy until the dreaded day came when his brand new 1973 custom ordered 3/4 ton had front brake problems that took a few years to get straighten out... then the rear box rusted right thru the pain in the second year...... got a new box and it happened again.
He switch to ford and never looked back.......... ( there are stories that go both ways in just about everything. )
But..........i am here to tell you there are ( Bow-tie people ) that will go to their grave driving those things..... no matter how many sets of injectors they need for $4000 grand.
I personally drove chevy for years....... UNTIL i started mountain riding and Chevy had nothing to offer for a good diesel in the 1990's
I ordered a brand new Ford super duty in 1999 and I never looked back.... then came the dreaded day in 2003 when Ford dropped the 7.3 and went with the 6.0.......it was 2004 and I was due for a new truck.
Derek Moore from Idaho, A Snowest member told me to buy a Ram ( I just about passed out. ) NO WAY I SAID !
He said just go drive one.... and if you hate it then don't buy it.
So after many hours of scratching my head i went to the local Dodge dealer and saw a Red 2004 Quad cab dually with a Cummins in it on the lot.
Found a salesman and told him to get the keys....He was like 25 years old.
we both jumped in ..I was driving.... I said don't say one thing about this truck to me because i am sure you don't know sh!t about diesels and I do not like having sunshine pumped up my a$$... i'll figure out if i want it or not without your bullsh!t sales pitch.
I swear i wasn't 1 mile from the dealer lot and I already knew i had to have it..... I just bought a new 2018 Ram 3500 Limited Dually a few months ago.
I know i got off track alittle but my point is this........There are Bow-tie people that will NEVER change no matter if its Obama Motors or not.... owned by the government and the loans were never paid back.
So..... my point is here i sell 200 to 300 motors a season and I have more then a few customers that have personally purchased in excess of 4 motors from us.
Not dealers..... just good old boys.
So never under estimate brand loyalty.
And Cat brand loyalty makes Polaris loyalty look stupid.
I wouldn't even consider a venture in moving to a bigger shop and going down the road to build a bigger motor shop if we only sold 50 motors a year.
I have 8 guys here right now and we don't have a square inch to spare.
Most people that buy motors here the sale is twice as fast and easy as selling a set of A-arm bushing for a$100 bucks ...that we get asked 5 questions about before the trigger gets pulled.
Motor sales is a daily thing around here......If you think $3500 is a stretch you have under estimated the sport by a long ways.
I have not looked but I am Pretty sure we sold 20 to 40 motors since Christmas
And I my guess is at least 80% of them have never been on snowest... or any sled forum.
Dan
Last edited:
N
I rode this weekend in tughill ny with friends and they said on their way up they stopped at their polaris dealer in Pennsylvania for some things. They are very good friends with the owner of the dealership. My friends told the owner of the dealership that they were excited to get a few laps on my rmk 155 850 during the coming days. The owner of the dealership then said " we just recieved an email from Polaris telling us recalls are coming on the 850s. The nikasil is failing in the cylinders."
My rmk has developed a severe bog in the bottom end when tree riding, like many others. I currently have approx 24hrs on it and 475ish miles. Completely stock. I will be calling my dealer tomorrow morning, who I also have a very close relationship with, as well as race with him grass drag racing. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what becomes of all of this from here. Im definitely concerned. Im booked for a trip to Rangely Maine mid-end of February. If the bog/hesitation is still happening I wont be going. Its an extremely frustrating situation that if not handled correctly by Polaris, they will absolutely lose this customer. I was born and raised on Polaris snowmobiles and at one point when grass drag racing was much more popular was a member of the polaris race program.
I will say that when the sled is operating/running correctly its an absolutely amazing machine.
My rmk has developed a severe bog in the bottom end when tree riding, like many others. I currently have approx 24hrs on it and 475ish miles. Completely stock. I will be calling my dealer tomorrow morning, who I also have a very close relationship with, as well as race with him grass drag racing. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what becomes of all of this from here. Im definitely concerned. Im booked for a trip to Rangely Maine mid-end of February. If the bog/hesitation is still happening I wont be going. Its an extremely frustrating situation that if not handled correctly by Polaris, they will absolutely lose this customer. I was born and raised on Polaris snowmobiles and at one point when grass drag racing was much more popular was a member of the polaris race program.
I will say that when the sled is operating/running correctly its an absolutely amazing machine.
I would love to be able to buy a sled minus the engine from polaris for a decent price, no warranty. Would have zero issues spending 3500 for indy dans engine. Same thing i did with my 11 pro.
Sent from my SM-A530W using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-A530W using Tapatalk
I think that is pretty accurate. I had 13 and 14 Pros and a 16 Axys. Today I think the only thing my 17 Cat does wrong is carry around too much weight, everything else about it, I like better. I think the Alpha will prove to be a bigger game changer than even the Pro and Axys chassis.
Lots of opinions for sure.
Dan, I think you are right, plenty of fuel to stoke your fire! Enjoy.
If you could do that from new, I would do the same. Built 850, belt drive, 3" power claw track, premium shocks. I would pay a little for that too.
The warranty is really only for the motor anyway. How much cheaper could a sled be with no warranty? I don't spend as much on a sled as I used to other priorities. But when it was first priority I would have 20 to 25 thousand in a sled every two years. And no warranty. There is a lot of money out there to spend on recreation. I've had 3 cmx and one goat industries sled. The only problem I see with dans product it's one time and done for the life expectancy of the sled.
I also have a cat loyalist friend he's been on a skidoo for three years. He rented an alpha for two days he would have bought one but didn't care for it for numerous reason.
I also have a cat loyalist friend he's been on a skidoo for three years. He rented an alpha for two days he would have bought one but didn't care for it for numerous reason.
J
So... with the engines that went down.. what were the main issues ? Crankshaft bearing let go & or the oil line that pop off seems to be the 2 most issues ?
Anything that can be done at the dealership to avoid both ? My inspection is due and seems like Polaris hasn’t told anything to the dealers.. they did send a TIP to the dealers on what to do if an oil line is poping off, but I’d rather prevent it from falling off. Anything the dealer can/should do ?
As far as the crankshaft, I assume there’s nothing that can be done, just keep riding and hope your not one of those lol ?
Thx
Anything that can be done at the dealership to avoid both ? My inspection is due and seems like Polaris hasn’t told anything to the dealers.. they did send a TIP to the dealers on what to do if an oil line is poping off, but I’d rather prevent it from falling off. Anything the dealer can/should do ?
As far as the crankshaft, I assume there’s nothing that can be done, just keep riding and hope your not one of those lol ?
Thx
W
Got close to 30 hours on my assault 850 right now about 600 some miles, all have been on trails in northern MN, usually I always lead different groups we ride with in clean air but Friday I rode in the back for a change my sled has been running great and with the temps about -20 in the mornings when we left and about -5 for highs it seemed to like that weather, I had an issue 4 different times though on Friday where I would be going about 40-50 probably about 6000 rpms not 100 percent had the GPS on but I would hit the throttle hard to catch some air over little hills on the trail and there would be nothing there just blup blup then it would come out had it happen 4 times that day lots of snow dust I don't know if that would matter, on Saturday I led again and it did it once in the first 2 miles and never did it again after that any ideas
S
P
My XCR 850 just locked up yesterday when I was coming over a knoll and cracked the throttle. It just bugged and rolled to stop and motor was seized. After a couple minutes I was able to turn the primary backwards and free the engine and it started up and I drove it 5 miles back to the truck. Jus t did compression test an 90psi on mag side and 120 on PTO side. Never bogged before or changed a plug and she lasted 772 miles ffs. Off to dealer tomorrow for warranty
S
Unfortunately this is starting to play out exactly like Indydan said would happen right from the get go...
Not really sure how many engines/engine parts ive ordered from Dan and his guys but I promise its more than the average customer and way less than some of his big shop customers but im a one man shop who does this stuff on the side and all I can say is Dan is one of the greatest engine guru's in this sport. I wish more people were like him and the way he goes about building his engines for customers!
I actually just bolted back together one of his gusseted D8 HG7 topends for a buddy today!
The previous talk about going bigger on the 850, im literally just sitting over here waiting for Dan to do up one of his big triples he talked about toying with years ago. I know for him the market isnt there for that but hey a guy can dream a little still right!
Dan are you listening!?!?!?
I actually just bolted back together one of his gusseted D8 HG7 topends for a buddy today!
The previous talk about going bigger on the 850, im literally just sitting over here waiting for Dan to do up one of his big triples he talked about toying with years ago. I know for him the market isnt there for that but hey a guy can dream a little still right!
Dan are you listening!?!?!?
S
Last edited by a moderator:
If this is accurate, it's a true bombshell. I've been a little skeptical as to whether the cylinder finish is truly that big an issue, and whether most motors are as rough as the pictures Dan showed early in this thread. That motor definitely didn't look right, but at this point I think it's too early to say it's disastrously bad. If there is such a recall though, then yes, Huston, we've had a problem. Of course, it aint happened until it's happened. Will be interested to see if this pans out.
Similar threads
