Can anyone tell me why polaris did not offer to warranty the crank bearing issue? I understand it has to do with money, but that is poor buissness in my mind, to my understanding they have used the same bearing since the first 800 and still continue to use it, it is a known problem, step up to the plate and take care of your customers. I have been lucky so far mine is still running on the original bearing. we spend allot of money on new sleds and then have to spend extra to fix something they designed, hmmmmmmmmmm doesnt make any sense to me. any one got an opinion or some words to calm my temper down?
polaris warranty
- Thread starter Double Ds
- Start date
man, I'd hate to see your post if yours did go out on you.lol
My dad is in the same position as you. had an 05 900 rmk that he just sold(ran perfect and never had an issue with it) but I don't think he would ever buy another polaris sled again because of the way polaris handled the 900 situation. they knew they flopped with it, and didnt' really do dick all about it. the dealer he bought it from didn't even want to take it on trade which made him even more mad.
My dad is in the same position as you. had an 05 900 rmk that he just sold(ran perfect and never had an issue with it) but I don't think he would ever buy another polaris sled again because of the way polaris handled the 900 situation. they knew they flopped with it, and didnt' really do dick all about it. the dealer he bought it from didn't even want to take it on trade which made him even more mad.
The bearing issue is not as large as people believe. I key to it is to get your weights matched. My 03' RMK800 weights were 64.2, 64.4, 64.6. It would be like driving a car with tires that are that far off in balancing.
well you know i was thinking the same thing but all you get is the wo is me stories you never get any success stories on here, I have a 03 800 rmk just like everyone else, I am very anal on cleaning and maintaiing I clean my clutches probably 3 time a season and replace weight bushings the first of the season, I have 3100 miles on it and the clutch still looks good I have never rebuilt it just maintenance, my weights are balance to almost 0 difference between them, I am reuilding it this year and having it balanced and going to hope for the best. You know now days most people live pay check to paycheck and cant afford to be fixing a manufactures crapy design or lack of. As for my temper you made a comment on if it does blow, I dont know if you know how bad of tempers Italians have? Well I have been working on it for years to keep it to a dull roar, I guess its age.
R
Ron
ACCOUNT CLOSED
The bigger the twin the more internal vibration-the real problem has always been harmonic vibes. Any part will fail but the Polaris bearings haven't been the problem, more like the PTO stub & connecting rods. At 3100 miles your buttons are worn, (inner and outer bushings too,) enough to let the clutch flop out of balance. This condition will contribute to increased clutch wear and will also increase "bad vibes" and the potential for crank failure. So the bottom line is-your chance of failure increases with mileage & the % gets incrementally higher.
Your clutch may still be rebuildable, have someone look at it. At some point soon, consider a crank rebuild. It's cheaper to fix it before it blows and takes out the cases.
For a look at a true engine defect you need look no further than the 07 Summit and to a lesser extent the 08's. They started popping right out of the box, some lost 3 cranks the first year.
Your clutch may still be rebuildable, have someone look at it. At some point soon, consider a crank rebuild. It's cheaper to fix it before it blows and takes out the cases.
For a look at a true engine defect you need look no further than the 07 Summit and to a lesser extent the 08's. They started popping right out of the box, some lost 3 cranks the first year.
B
burndown
Well-known member
That is exactly correct. Clutch maintenance that almost no one does would take care of 95% of the problems. On a side note-I have a 1964 Chevy pickup that the front fenders are rusted out on right behind the wheel. They all do it and it's a known problem. You'd think Chevy would step up to the plate and get us all new fenders even though we're out of warranty.
it just interesting that the bearing crank issue started and they new about it anf failed to do anything, look at the revs they syaryd havng problems with theres and they took care of it under warranty, dont get me wrong polaris has a good product I just think its poor buissness not taking care of it, if was any other buisines it would be, this has cost lots of folks allot of money, I just dont know if I will purchase another polris snowmobile. Do you think rebuilding the clutch and balancing will prolong the life of the crank? what does it cost to fix it before it fails?
That is exactly correct. Clutch maintenance that almost no one does would take care of 95% of the problems. On a side note-I have a 1964 Chevy pickup that the front fenders are rusted out on right behind the wheel. They all do it and it's a known problem. You'd think Chevy would step up to the plate and get us all new fenders even though we're out of warranty.
The floor pan also rusted on mine and I had to pay out of pocket for some rubber floor mats to cover the hole...
B
Bull
Well-known member
double d......several issues. the ski doo's i have seen have blown up with VERY limited miles...less than 500 in several cases. i had 3 different poo 800's, over 6 other friends with them as well. not ONE single failure. i just heard from the guy that bought my 02 and it has over 5500 miles. no problems. clutch balancing, torque stops, GOOD oil, are a few things that i think make a diff. i would recommend a new clutch as opposed to a rebuild at that mileage....cheap insurance. i know for a fact that all 3 of the 8's i had went at least 5 grand without a failure.
very cool good advice
I don't know if Bull is counting mine or not, but my 02 had 4,250 trouble free miles on it when I sold it. I did maintain the clutch a little bit. My guess on this is that most sledders don't get online, like some of us who are addicted, UNLESS they had a problem. I think that those are the ones we hear more about.
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Why you have your big girl panties all wound up? You haven't had a problem. Some peeps have, and some peeps haven't. It's simply a case of "X" amount of 800's have been sold, and only "X" amount of bearing problems have been reported. If it got to a certain threshold Polaris would have warrantied or recalled them but since it never did get to that limit it's all simply wasted bandwidth.
My 02 800 has 4300 miles on it...I figured I should have things checked out at this point...have tried to somewhat keep up on clutch maintenance...sled is all stock. Sent crank and cases into SLP...just recieved them back this week. Sled seemed to run fine, cases checked out fine but the crank evidently had issues coming up. Had Slp do the Tuff boy bearing kit...crank evidently was about ready to go. They had to replace a rod, stub end...basically rebuilt the whole crank. Sent the clutch in with it. They reballanced it and put in some new bushings but said it looked good. Cost quite a bit but if it will go another 4300 miles I guess it will be worth it. My son rides it now but I basically keep it for a spare sled. Has always been a good reilable sled.
S
snowrdr
Well-known member
Oh my, is Polaris back up to it's not take care of customer issues again. The previous crank snapping issues of the early 2000 models cured me from ever being a Polaris owner ever again. Polaris made a decision based upon economics not to take care of customers during that time frame which cost a long time customer. Our family was a Polaris family from 1984 until 2003.
Hate to be brand bashing, but BRP just replaced my 07 800R no questions asked due to premature crank bearing wear with a new 09 crate motor. Oh and yes when BRP noticed a problem in 2007 with the 800R they issued an extended warranty, again no questions asked.
Really unfortunate the fact that both BRP and Polaris have had motor issues, but when it comes down to customer service Polaris is WAY WAY OUT behind BRP.
Not sure what the right answer is, but Polaris is up to it's old games again from what I read in the previous post's above me.
Hate to be brand bashing, but BRP just replaced my 07 800R no questions asked due to premature crank bearing wear with a new 09 crate motor. Oh and yes when BRP noticed a problem in 2007 with the 800R they issued an extended warranty, again no questions asked.
Really unfortunate the fact that both BRP and Polaris have had motor issues, but when it comes down to customer service Polaris is WAY WAY OUT behind BRP.
Not sure what the right answer is, but Polaris is up to it's old games again from what I read in the previous post's above me.
Seems to me this isn't about 2007 or newer models which is what you are comparing to your BRP stuff. Matter of fact it would be the stuff from the early 2000's to 2005 that he must be talking about and again if numbers don't dictate a full on recall or extended warranty it's just not in a large company's best interest. Small company for sure, but not a large one.
Ski-Doo did a warranty because they knew their was a known actual defect no matter what sled it was put in. Polaris's 800 didn't seem to have the problems when it was installed into a XC based sled. It was mostly just the RMK's. It's rather kind of simple to see why companies do and don't do things.
Ski-Doo did a warranty because they knew their was a known actual defect no matter what sled it was put in. Polaris's 800 didn't seem to have the problems when it was installed into a XC based sled. It was mostly just the RMK's. It's rather kind of simple to see why companies do and don't do things.
man it sounds like a can of worms, obviously this is a go no were topic, money morals and just flat doing things correct must not be an issue for some people here,not all, just some, sometme reading theses forums crack me up I swear some of these folks are in the manufactures pocket or just have so much money it just don't matter. Oh by the way think about ths one RJ iam assuming you either own or work for some one that owns that nice track hoe, if you do a crappy work at a work site and dont make it write, chances are you wont be back to work for him, and he tells 5 people and he tells 5 people and he tells 5 people, get the point?
Machines Break..
Machines break. Whether it be a tractor, an airplane, a car, or a snowmobile. They break. We are a Polaris family. All the way from a 08 120 to a 1996 XCR 600. (Yes inverted, we broke down and bought the little ones the learners gimmick!) I have posted this story before here, but I'll post it again, condensed.
A friend blew up his 144" 2000 800. Sheared the crank in half. After it was rebuilt, we had to rebuild cluthces. Because they were bad before hand or the new motor combo didn't jive, I don't know. What I do know is that that machine would flat out do 110+ and then some just a little bit more further, before the motor blew, catch my drift? I had a 151" 2000 800 and after checking the crank end for play, we decided to do some preventive maintenance. Motor comes out, lower end gets big bearing up grade, a cylinder and piston replaced, clutches redone, with all the other numerous small parts replacement. Machine runs great. We put over 800 miles on it last season, ate 3 trees(wife and son) and 1 10,000ft crevace, gonga-la-goonga, and it still runs strong. My wife complained late in the season that it was down on power. I said get on, and two-up, she started pounding on my back to slow down. The speedo showed 92 mph, the tach at 7600 and still eating. I'm pretty sure it was her imagination.
Now, back to the at hand subject. Last year was my first year riding hard. And I put just as many, no make that twice as many hours in(there were two of us working) working to maintain and fix and tweak 4 sleds as I did riding. As technology improves, these machines become more capable, but materials still wear and fatigue. You must check and pay attention to every nut and bolt all the time. I cannot tell you how many times we've been fixing one thing only to find 2 other things wrong, broken, or missing.
If you got the impression that maybe I don't have a clue what I'm doing, you're probably right, because I'm sure I don't. But when it comes to riding in -20 degrees just to turn the wrench, or a 3am white out drive to make it to a plowed road so as not to be snowed in for an entire winter, 90 mile round trips because every one says pizza sounds good, or a rescue call for a heart attack victim, my sleds have to work. I have only walked once in my life and it was just as dark as it was cold (real friends come looking for you when you don't check in!)
JM2C, but they break. the more your ride, the more they need looked after. Think of them as a horse, if you continually ride hard and put them away wet, sooner or latter they will break, and it just becomes a question of when and how bad, not, will it break?
Check out the you tube video, HillBilly Snowmobilers, and seen what 110+ looks like from an essentially stock machine.
And if you got the impression I like speed, you're wrong. I am content to do 60mph all day long, STRAIGHT UP ON MY NEW DRAGON!!!
I could be happier with a manufacturer than I am with Polaris. Thanks for an awesome product POO!
Machines break. Whether it be a tractor, an airplane, a car, or a snowmobile. They break. We are a Polaris family. All the way from a 08 120 to a 1996 XCR 600. (Yes inverted, we broke down and bought the little ones the learners gimmick!) I have posted this story before here, but I'll post it again, condensed.
A friend blew up his 144" 2000 800. Sheared the crank in half. After it was rebuilt, we had to rebuild cluthces. Because they were bad before hand or the new motor combo didn't jive, I don't know. What I do know is that that machine would flat out do 110+ and then some just a little bit more further, before the motor blew, catch my drift? I had a 151" 2000 800 and after checking the crank end for play, we decided to do some preventive maintenance. Motor comes out, lower end gets big bearing up grade, a cylinder and piston replaced, clutches redone, with all the other numerous small parts replacement. Machine runs great. We put over 800 miles on it last season, ate 3 trees(wife and son) and 1 10,000ft crevace, gonga-la-goonga, and it still runs strong. My wife complained late in the season that it was down on power. I said get on, and two-up, she started pounding on my back to slow down. The speedo showed 92 mph, the tach at 7600 and still eating. I'm pretty sure it was her imagination.
Now, back to the at hand subject. Last year was my first year riding hard. And I put just as many, no make that twice as many hours in(there were two of us working) working to maintain and fix and tweak 4 sleds as I did riding. As technology improves, these machines become more capable, but materials still wear and fatigue. You must check and pay attention to every nut and bolt all the time. I cannot tell you how many times we've been fixing one thing only to find 2 other things wrong, broken, or missing.
If you got the impression that maybe I don't have a clue what I'm doing, you're probably right, because I'm sure I don't. But when it comes to riding in -20 degrees just to turn the wrench, or a 3am white out drive to make it to a plowed road so as not to be snowed in for an entire winter, 90 mile round trips because every one says pizza sounds good, or a rescue call for a heart attack victim, my sleds have to work. I have only walked once in my life and it was just as dark as it was cold (real friends come looking for you when you don't check in!)
JM2C, but they break. the more your ride, the more they need looked after. Think of them as a horse, if you continually ride hard and put them away wet, sooner or latter they will break, and it just becomes a question of when and how bad, not, will it break?
Check out the you tube video, HillBilly Snowmobilers, and seen what 110+ looks like from an essentially stock machine.
And if you got the impression I like speed, you're wrong. I am content to do 60mph all day long, STRAIGHT UP ON MY NEW DRAGON!!!
I could be happier with a manufacturer than I am with Polaris. Thanks for an awesome product POO!
Exactly what I'm talking about. If it's a small business it's very important to make things right, but if it's a large company it's easier to simply wait till the numbers start dictating what the company will do instead of the customer. Big compaines only see black and red, not faces.
S
snowrdr
Well-known member
You know you are right, but let me give you an example of a large company doing the right thing when the numbers where not big and customers were kicking and screaming. I own a 2007 Harley Davidson Screaming Eagle Road King, this bike has a 110 cubic inch engine that this application was the first year for Harley putting it in the bike. Otherwise known as first year of the 110 motor. Now there were people on a CVO (custom vehicle operations) forum, like this one, making alot of waves about oil leaks from the top end of the motor, which boiled down to a blown head gasket. So what did Harley do? Well they sent out a letter not a recall letter but a notice that they will at no cost to us the owners replace the head gaskets and maybe even the cylinders if needed. Now the part of this that caught my eye was that they gave you 2 years from the date of the letter to have it fixed. Now I did not want to have it done because my bike at the time had 12,000 miles on it and it showed no signs of leaking. But while on a road trip I blew the head gasket, so I then had no choice. Then much to my surprise, I received a box delivered by UPS that had a first print copy of the new "history of Harley Davidson" signed by the author, that Harley sent as an apology for any inconvience. OK so its only a book, well that shows that the large company wants happy customers. I guess for me the little things work.
Polaris on the otherhand in the crank snapping time frame, should have given support to it's customers. I don't care if it was an RMK issue or what. There were people on this very forum upset and the numbers did in fact dictate that Polaris should have done something. How do I know that? If an aftermarket company has time to make a fix. The fact that people like the post's above bought an aftermarket part to fix the problem, then Polaris should have fixed it at no cost.
The funny part of this is that brand loyalty is earned. It is earned from you and your relationship with your dealer and then that moves up toward corporate loyalty(like owning that companies stock). Brand loyalty is also subject to change, and can change for some at the drop of a hat. And the Crank issues that Polaris had, changed me at the drop of a hat. BRP has given me good if not great customer support since 2003 from my interaction with my dealer all the way up to when I needed to call BRP for support when I sold a sled to a Canadian last year.
The best part of this is that someone above had brought up the tell 5 people line. Oh how true that is. So far since that time frame of 2003 roughly, I have turned at least 15 new snowmobile sales to another brand other than Polaris. People listen to people who have been treated like dirt.
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