broken drive shaft

[trackvs2wheels]

In regards to the driveshaft failure, I am a dealer for Polaris and I spoke to Polaris Industries directly this morning and want to clear the air on a few things regarding some of this verbal diarrhea, because some of your breathe is smelling really bad. First of all there will be no service bulletins available at this time. Have they seen a couple fail, sure, is it an epidemic, NO! Failure is caused by inadequate bonding agent applied at time of assembly. Polaris is addressing the issue right now and taking care of there customers. We are still rocking the number 1 mountain sled! I am sorry about all the haters who don't have belt drive, at least we have a company that is trying to think outside the box and deliver performance to units to the demands of the customer. Polaris saw the line, others thought impossible .

With all due respect sir, because I honestly value your thoughts and comments being a dealer and all, but if they have seen a "few" fail already...what's that saying when there is only a "few" on the snow right now????

Not being an a$$ here, I commend you stepping up and putting in your thoughts/notions...but I just cannot imagine that they did all their R&D testing and didn't have this sort of issue surface then. Or is this in fact a case of "hey, let's get our drive shafts from company x now because they said they can do it for $.05 cheaper"???? And now the ultimate consumer/customer is going to get screwed!!

WHY CAN'T POLARIS JUST MAKE A DEPENDABLE FUC*ING SLED?????

 

[snobyrd]

I personally know three people that had nothing but trouble with their diamond drives on their Arctic Cats. People keep buying them too! Here in the Midwest I don't see or hear all of the problems with the Pro or any 800 Polaris that I read about here on SnoWest. Normally there are a lot more sleds putting on a lot more miles here. Not bashing, maybe I just don't get it.

since 06 I've had 06 m7, 07 m8 ,08 m10, 10 m8 turbo, 11 m8 turbo, never had a diamond drive failure, and that's not buying and selling every year, I presently have 2 turbos in my shop. Im leavin green cause I don't like the direction they've gone and crappy dealers. In my 39 yrs of owning sleds I've only been able to dream of having a 160 hp sled that's 400 lbs, but I'm on the fence right now, I was even guilty last nite of spending 2 hrs on the xm forums tryin to convince myself y I should or shouldn't buy one. I've always called the brps a desposeable machine, now it might be lookin the same way with the pro..

 

[snobyrd]

hypertoys did the repair, see above

 

[snobyrd]

I just spoke with my dealer and he said a pro came in on sat with 7 miles on it with a broken shaft, he said they haven't had time to look at it yet....

 

[Bocephus]

With all due respect sir, because I honestly value your thoughts and comments being a dealer and all, but if they have seen a "few" fail already...what's that saying when there is only a "few" on the snow right now????

Not being an a$$ here, I commend you stepping up and putting in your thoughts/notions...but I just cannot imagine that they did all their R&D testing and didn't have this sort of issue surface then. Or is this in fact a case of "hey, let's get our drive shafts from company x now because they said they can do it for $.05 cheaper"???? And now the ultimate consumer/customer is going to get screwed!!

WHY CAN'T POLARIS JUST MAKE A DEPENDABLE FUC*ING SLED?????

all their products are cheep and fall apart. my dad has two rangers and a sportsman on the ranch. the engines are good on them. hell, even the clutch drive system on them have been great. BUT, every other damn part of them falls apart or wears out. we have to trade them every 2 years with about 4000 miles on them otherwise their resale is completely chit. its not just sleds people.........ITS POLARIS

 

[Jaynelson]

Just to give some insight....

Any part that breaks with virtually 0 miles on it is not a durability issue. It is one of two possibilities:

a) Manufacturing defect (most likely)
b) User damage

That's it. If it was not damage, then you're left with (a). Manufacturing defects are covered by warranty and/or recalls. A defect will likely fail very quickly, or never if you got a good one. All manufacturers seem to get a bad batch of driveshafts every few years. Unless Polaris is denying coverage, I don't know what the big discussion is about frankly.

I am always blown away that people are so eager to fly off the deep end when something like this comes up, and buy any quick-fix product someone can get to market that they just HAVE to have. OMG someone on the internet broke part X please sell me a better one I'll pay anything!! Who's to say XYZ shop won't have a defect in their replacement??

 

[cb2honk]

Right now there are maybe 5% of these machines that have hit the snow, and already issues with the drive shaft. I hope polaris jumps on this before it gets out of control. I'm not a polaris hater at all, it's all i've owned for the last 3 years. I like the direction they are goin but need to nip this in the butt now, not as the failures really start to skyrocket.

 

[cb2honk]

all their products are cheep and fall apart. my dad has two rangers and a sportsman on the ranch. the engines are good on them. hell, even the clutch drive system on them have been great. BUT, every other damn part of them falls apart or wears out. we have to trade them every 2 years with about 4000 miles on them otherwise their resale is completely chit. its not just sleds people.........ITS POLARIS

Simple to solution to this, STOP BUYING POLARIS! If they have caused you so much trouble, to me it is a very simple solution.

 

[Jaynelson]

Right now there are maybe 5% of these machines that have hit the snow, and already issues with the drive shaft. I hope polaris jumps on this before it gets out of control. I'm not a polaris hater at all, it's all i've owned for the last 3 years. I like the direction they are goin but need to nip this in the butt now, not as the failures really start to skyrocket.

What magic bullet do you expect them to have? They'll do what every other manufacturer in the known world would do;

Fix the one's that break, don't worry about the one's that don't.
Possibly issue a recall for a VIN# series if they can pin it down to a certain prod run.
Possibly change the parameters of one's that have not been built yet.

You really can't expect much more that than. If it's a manufacturing defect, all the one's that are going to break will do so. You'll see a skyrocket in failures for awhile and then never hear about it again. Just like the XP a few years back. It's NOT a durability issue if they fail that quickly.

 

[ak49er]

Lean Manufacturing

This is not Polaris only this is a result of the manufacturing model know as "Lean Engineering."

Where they take a product and engineer it just "two-clicks" above failure.

It is endemic in every industry right now. This is why we have disposable parts now, that are cheaper to replace than repair. It is everywhere, Pumps, motors, gearboxes, and firearms.

I see this in my plant where we have 40 year old equipment, that was designed 60 years ago (WWII) and was meant to last and/or be repairable.

For the plant upgrades they have purchased newer style pumps and motors, and those we cycle trough quite often, whereas the older equipment can be welded on and re machined.

The "disposable" society mindset.

 

[Slick]

all their products are cheep and fall apart. my dad has two rangers and a sportsman on the ranch. the engines are good on them. hell, even the clutch drive system on them have been great. BUT, every other damn part of them falls apart or wears out. we have to trade them every 2 years with about 4000 miles on them otherwise their resale is completely chit. its not just sleds people.........ITS POLARIS

How many more you gonna buy ? Cause theyre so crappy, LOL. and Polaris is stupid. sheesh.

 

[Ultrasauras]

I just spoke with my dealer and he said a pro came in on sat with 7 miles on it with a broken shaft, he said they haven't had time to look at it yet....

Time to look for a new dealer if it has not been looked at yet

 

[hypertoys]

I completely understand people having brand loyalty, and as a dealer that is what you attain to have. Let's just be completely honest here people, are going to try and say that cat or doo has never had a problem with there motors, running gear, or belts? If so, this whole forum is just a joke, and there is no common sense in it. There will always be unhappy people, but I believe it is the dealers responsibility to take care of there customers and make them happy. We have been making a good reliable product in the pro chassis, this failure is very unfortunate, it will be fixed and resolved. Also I could not agree more with Jaynelson.

 

[Hawkster]

Fix the one's that break, don't worry about the one's that don't.

There lies the problem , don't worry about the ones that don't , nice
Thank goodness the automobiles can't do that .

 

[whoisthatguy]

Lets say that I was out snowmobiling by myself in 3 feet of fresh powder over a 5 foot soft base. It is 10 degrees F and night is coming within 2 hours. I can easily ride the 20 miles to the trailer, if my sled holds up as per manufacturers claims. Except, some bonding glue between steel and aluminum in the main drive system, suddenly fails due to no fault of mine. Then I die in the process of attempting to hike out in snow conditions that are impossible to be hiked. Is this life or death scenario figured into the engineering calculations that designed that driveshaft joint? What is Polaris going to say about all this? "Snowmobiler died because of a bonding glue failure, where it should never ever have been used?" No. They won't say anything because they will never be asked, which is why cutting corners to build a lighter sled, occurred in the first place. Glue is not a long term and viable structural element in any structural system, especially the main drive system for which no backup exists nor can one be fabricated in the field from branches and duct tape. Welding is long term. Solid metal is long term. Glued joints are not. Jet planes that use carbon fiber and presumably glue, are inspectioned by professionals on a regular basis. Snowmobiles that rely on glue to keep the rider alive, are not. Polaris really screwed the pooch on this one, in my opinion.

 

[sledneck_03]

OUR PETS HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!

 

[snobyrd]

I completely understand people having brand loyalty, and as a dealer that is what you attain to have. Let's just be completely honest here people, are going to try and say that cat or doo has never had a problem with there motors, running gear, or belts? If so, this whole forum is just a joke, and there is no common sense in it. There will always be unhappy people, but I believe it is the dealers responsibility to take care of there customers and make them happy. We have been making a good reliable product in the pro chassis, this failure is very unfortunate, it will be fixed and resolved. Also I could not agree more with Jaynelson.

The point is though, pol did all this hype last spring just like brp has done for years, and right out of the gate failures again, pol has had a bad rap the past several years for engine failures, now it's this. Riders who are comming over from brand x knowing that they are giving up 10-15 hp for the trade off , being the best agile sled out there. Pol needs a solid year and hopefully in the next model year theyll be tops in reliable power as well. My sled is still at the factory in a million prices , hopefully mine got enough glue in it to bring me home every nite, cause choppers ain't cheap to hire..

 

[Hawkster]

You have to look at the good side of it also , what if you do live ? then that means it'll be all that much easier to get out making it easier to pull the track since the drive shaft is broke and then skid it out on it's hyfax , way way easier to tow . They did you a big favor

 

[snobyrd]

Lets say that I was out snowmobiling by myself in 3 feet of fresh powder over a 5 foot soft base. It is 10 degrees F and night is coming within 2 hours. I can easily ride the 20 miles to the trailer, if my sled holds up as per manufacturers claims. Except, some bonding glue between steel and aluminum in the main drive system, suddenly fails due to no fault of mine. Then I die in the process of attempting to hike out in snow conditions that are impossible to be hiked. Is this life or death scenario figured into the engineering calculations that designed that driveshaft joint? What is Polaris going to say about all this? "Snowmobiler died because of a bonding glue failure, where it should never ever have been used?" No. They won't say anything because they will never be asked, which is why cutting corners to build a lighter sled, occurred in the first place. Glue is not a long term and viable structural element in any structural system, especially the main drive system for which no backup exists nor can one be fabricated in the field from branches and duct tape. Welding is long term. Solid metal is long
term. Glued joints are not. Jet planes that use carbon fiber and presumably glue, are inspectioned by professionals on a regular basis. Snowmobiles that rely on glue to keep the rider alive, are not. Polaris really screwed the pooch on this one, in my opinion.

Maybe pol will start handing out spot beacons with the purchase of a new pro lol

 

[cb2honk]

What magic bullet do you expect them to have? They'll do what every other manufacturer in the known world would do;

Fix the one's that break, don't worry about the one's that don't.
Possibly issue a recall for a VIN# series if they can pin it down to a certain prod run.
Possibly change the parameters of one's that have not been built yet.

You really can't expect much more that than. If it's a manufacturing defect, all the one's that are going to break will do so. You'll see a skyrocket in failures for awhile and then never hear about it again. Just like the XP a few years back. It's NOT a durability issue if they fail that quickly.

The XP had a recall to repair the issue. All I'm saying is Polaris needs to figure out what happened and get it taken care of if possible...NOT WAIT TILL PEOPLE ARE PIST BECAUSE THEIR SLED LEFT THEM STRANDED.

OUR PETS HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!

Literally spit my food out reading this, HILARIOUS!!