Real Changes for the 14 Pro's

[winter brew]

I can think of about 10-12 and that is only people I personally heard it from. If there wasn't several hundred I would be surprised. There was one (broken) on the parts counter at a local dealer after the first week we had snow. I know of several that broke with the collar on a supposedly "good" new shaft. I think they should go all-out with a fix, which wouldn't involve much besides longer inserts and thicker shaft extrusion. Same basic design. But...I hope their fix works! Even a handful of breaks similar to what happened this year and they will have some PO'd customers.
And they need to take a clue from Fabcraft's experience in about 2001 with the glued trailing arms....BOLT those A-arms or go back to welding!

 

[friscospices.com]

I dont think you would be calling out whiner if it happen to you and you had a trip ruined or worse yet maybe failed on a technical climb and totalled a sled. Not saying it happened but just asking....Is the issue addressed? They had no failures with the 2012 shafts but wont go back there due to costs they may incure of the 13 owners bitchin. Mine never failed but I had to buy an aftermarket one for my first 2 rides west. No biggy not bitchin just want the 14's to have the issue gone.

 

[rmscustom]

Your right, I didn't have one fail... Maybe I shouldn't even be commenting because I was proactive about the issue and put a 12 shaft in before polaris came out with the "fix".

Fyi, Ive seen a steel shaft that failed, Ive never seen a 13 shaft with a collar fail (that was installed correctly). That doesn't mean I think one is better that the other, It means they all can break.

 

[winter brew]

Am I correct that part of the collar band-aid for '13 is to re-torque the collar at certain intervals? Will that be required on the '14's ??

 

[Excalibur]

Good question on the retorqe? And then do you re loctite the bolts?

 

[Reg2view]

I can't believe Poo doesn't just put the std driveshaft back in the pro. It's a transparent solution. Any weight advantage is negated by the collar. No one looks at the driveshaft. It only adds part, service, and warranty complexity, not to mention cost.

I don't know if it's marketing or engineering, but jeez, get a clue Polaris. I guess these are some of the same guys that have been pounding their heads against the same basic 800 design since 08, this will be the SEVENTH model year for their incremental fixes on a flawed 800 design. ouch.

 

[Teth-Air]

Why not just drill it and see what's there?

Why not just weigh them?

 

[winter brew]

Why not just weigh them?

Or run a magnet over it.

 

[mrquick68]

good news, talked to the factory polaris rep tonight at the snow sneak peak. every 14 pro rmk comes with a collar from the factory, so i bent over and looked under the 14 pro rmk i was standing next to and wouldnt you know it... a collar was on there. nice fix polaris

that's the most retarded factory fix i've ever heard of. if this is true, this company is really behind the curve on engineering. Brew you are right, total "Engineering Arrogance". I ran into this with Cat back 2009 when m1000s were destorying belts at a rapid rate. "Nope, no problem here" yet there was thread on SW with over 400 posts about people with the same issues. Hmmmm.

 

[ak49er]

All the above are good arguments.

I will add that I believe that the reason that Poo is running the 13 shaft on the 14's with a collar, and not going with the 12 shafts is inventory.

They probably have run of these in stock, and may have ran out of the 12 sahfts, if not holding them back for their sponsored racing teams.

Pure speculation, of course.

 

[retiredpop]

I can't believe Poo doesn't just put the std driveshaft back in the pro. It's a transparent solution. Any weight advantage is negated by the collar. No one looks at the driveshaft. It only adds part, service, and warranty complexity, not to mention cost.

I've wondered about that too. Is there a dimensional difference between the shafts due to the quick drive vs chain drive?

 

[allied1]

I went to the sneak peek in Fargo, ND last night. The competition is ready to roll on Poo Poo. I'm not totally jumping ship yet, but I am getting one new 14 of another brand. There are certain issues Poo just isn't willing to address so next year will tell the story for me.

 

[1Mike900]

For those of you that have not seen a failure yet, the second yr. will put more twist and strain on it. Remember fatigue is aluminum's worst enemy and that constant on/off throttle will subject it to it's ultimate test! What alloy did they use? Is it thicker wall with a little smaller dia. hex insert with a much deeper holding area? Also is there a proper spot to place the collar when tightening? Will the new collar be placed in a new location by the factory for stress points associated with this design? Is it the same width as the previous collar or changed a little? Also what about the aluminum insert end where the brake should be, will they change that for the '15 model to accommodate a shaft mounted brake? Or would they mount it on the chaincase side to offset the reciprocating mass on the PTO side? Winterbrew, what do you think of the alloy hex shaft? Why not make it out of a 6AL-4V titanium extrusion with welded in inserts? I just wonder if the old solid shaft would not really be better in the long run? Even if it flexed a little more? I wonder what would happen if they pressed on a plastic collar over an old hex shaft design, at least snow wouldn't stick and you would hide all the rust!
Just a few honest questions for the Polaris engineers Mike

 

[FatDogX]

I too, had the opportunity to make the sneak peak in Fargo the other day. I had the opportunity to speak with one of the Polaris engineers and the drive shaft issues came up.

I was told that the 13 drive shaft issues were vender related. Basically parts supplied by certain venders were produced with incorrect tolerances, causing the failure. They also claim that the new 14 could be run without the collar, without issue. The collars were placed on the 14 to ensure to their customers, there will be no issues, event though it's not needed.

We also had the chance to discuss the a-arm bonding issues. Polaris claims that the a-arm failures were directly related impacting some kind of object. They stated that several a-arm failure claims were examined and the ones they reviewed, they found evidence of hard impacts. Things like large gouges in the skis, bend a-arms and or other tweaked parts. They claimed, they could not come across one a-arm bonding incident that did not have some kind of hard impact.

They also discussed the testing process that EVERY a-arm goes through prior to assembly. They actually "pull test" every a-arm before they are sent to the assemble line. They also take samples of every run of structural adhesive, which is also subjected to tests and evaluation. If it fails, that run of parts is recalled prior to use.

Again, this is just what I was told, so take it for what it's worth.

The only other thing that I bring up or pose the question is reference the "collar fix" on the drive shafts.

Now let's just rewind or step back in time for a moment, and let's say Polaris placed the collar on all the 13's from the factory when they first released the sleds to dealers and customers. People take a look under their sled and find a new lighter weight drive shaft that appears to be beefed up. (what else can you say?) Cannot complain about, because you don't know anything about it yet. Now the season starts and NO failures are observed or reported. Now using this example, and comparing to what actually happened this last season, did Polaris "fix" the problem or simply put a "band-aid" on it?

Thoughts????????

 

[Snoghost]

Collar

How are the holding up under boost?Is any after markets making one piece shaft-We fixed a couple with old 900 shaft-went to 166" tracks work good-anyone else do this?

 

[Reg2view]

These are the same guys who bragged about the improvements to the CFI 800. In 09, 10, 11, 12, 13...

They should be ashamed of themselves for blaming a vendor. The sleds were built, and sold, by Polaris. Rant off.

 

[89sandman]

its all about the green. the 13 shaft cost is lower than the 12. the clamp satisfied the masses. with a chassis change likely for 15 it makes no business sense to spend money redesigning a part for one year...

 

[allied1]

The playing field is getting even and Polaris had better get their sh!t together! The drive shaft is just plain and simple a piss poor design and the belt drive coupled to it as well. If all they can come up with is a "vendor issue" on the shaft and a 25%-40% stronger belt, there won't be much change. I puked 2 belts this year and the run out on my bottom pulley is .028''. Had the Happy Face clamp on day one. Can't really see that changing very much if they are in denial with this design.

 

[skibreeze]

Yeah, I call bull**** on the vendor issue as well as the bonding failing because of impacts. I saw A arms seperate from the back side, an impact would seperate the front first. I also saw a bond seperate on the shock support back to the steering post.

 

[Reg2view]

We are the unpaid R&D crew. The engineers will eventually figure out the bonding issues, but the specific uses of glue and carbons are elusive, and has taken time and lots of changes to get it right in every industry, auto, aerospace, bikes, etc. Keep the tekvest on in the meantime.