2004 800 rmk Broke Crank-Where to now?

sledheader · Dec 1, 2014

Ok so long story short, I ended up with a 2004 RMK 800 144 with 2000 miles and in GREAT shape. Older guy local bought it brand new and never rode it hard, but 2 years ago it snapped a crank on the PTO side of the engine. He had the local polaris dealer tear into it at that time and so I now have the engine in a box...in pieces.

I know the mechanic at the dealer personally so I stopped and talked to him about what he thought on the motor. He said he remembers having some reservations about the case halves but couldn't remember the details (it was 2 years ago). Also, he said that if there were any doubts on any parts he would replace them just to save the reputation of the shop. His suggestion was to find a 600 small block and put in the sled and call it good.

I have a few questions about this. Would I be better off going this route vs getting either a new crank or a new crank and case halves and rebuilding the 800? If I went this route, what else would have to be changed? Just jets in the carbs or full on carbs? Is the primary gonna bolt up? What about the CDI unit? I am planning to have this sled as a backup for my girlfriend to ride, so not having the extra power of an 800 would not be an issue (may fit her better with a 600). I'm basically looking for the cheapest route to make a good reliable sled out of this.

Thanks for reading :help:

njk4o5 · Dec 1, 2014

honestly that 800 motor sucks. i have a 800 touring with the same problem. for reliability, the 600 would be a much better choice. but youd have to swap the carbs, cdi, exhaust, and engine. if you want to do it cheap, remove the engine and replace the crank ($400) it will probably last about 1000miles before it needs another one.

LoudHandle · Dec 1, 2014

If it were me I send the whole engine to Indy Dan (Indy Specialties). He is the best shop for Polaris stuff. He usually provides a warranty to boot. Worth a call or check his E-bay store. He's not the cheapest but you get what you pay for and the piece of mind is a bonus.

sledheader · Dec 1, 2014

LoudHandle said:
If it were me I send the whole engine to Indy Dan (Indy Specialties). He is the best shop for Polaris stuff. He usually provides a warranty to boot. Worth a call or check his E-bay store. He's not the cheapest but you get what you pay for and the piece of mind is a bonus.

I actually just got off the phone with him about fifteen minutes ago. Said it would be 1395 and he would send me a full bottom end with case halves together and have a 3 year warranty. Seemed like a real nice guy and didn't have a problem fielding any questions. Did seem a bit high to me where I still have to replace pistons in the top end and bolt the rest of the motor together, but I'm sure he knows what he is doing.

Has anyone tried these guys? A little cheaper for what seems to be the same thing (machined case halves and big bearing fix).

Polaris RMK Liberty Twin Edge XC Switchback 800 Bottom End Wide Bearing Crank X | eBay

brandon1 · Dec 1, 2014

Call Indy Dan, Indy Specialty, send him a box of broken and bad crap, get a box of good stuff back. finish building motor, have awesome well made 800.

He basically takes your stuff as a core and sends out rebuilt crank and if needed case halfs.

He's more than a stand up guy if you respect him and his product, I know he isn't the cheapest but he's that damn good.

Edit;
That all happened fast while I was typing. Look for my few posts in the last year and you'll understand why I say buy Dan's stuff. I have done enough work on polaris 800's to tell you there is nothing more expensive than going cheap.

sledheader · Dec 1, 2014

brandon1 said:
Call Indy Dan, Indy Specialty, send him a box of broken and bad crap, get a box of good stuff back. finish building motor, have awesome well made 800.

He basically takes your stuff as a core and sends out rebuilt crank and if needed case halfs.

He's more than a stand up guy if you respect him and his product, I know he isn't the cheapest but he's that damn good.

Edit;
That all happened fast while I was typing. Look for my few posts in the last year and you'll understand why I say buy Dan's stuff. I have done enough work on polaris 800's to tell you there is nothing more expensive than going cheap.

I know where you're coming from with spending a little extra for quality parts.

So a top end is fairly simple to do and I could handle that. Can I just inspect the jugs and see if I can feel any imperfections in them, then buy a top end gasket kit and a couple pistons and rings then slap the old head on it and be good to go?

Just for kicks, have you heard of the company that I posted a link to above?

cowboy181d · Dec 1, 2014

Indy dan hands down if you want to run the 800, he can defuse the ticking time bomb that the 800 poo is! Do what I did on my 800 rmk when it blew up (second ride after I bought it....) buy a wrecked 98-2004 700 rmk sled pull the motor and CDI box slap it in the 800 chassis and use the 800 flatslide carbs with minor jetting changes, my 700 motor out pulls the 800's, re phrase that.... my 700 now pulls the 800's back to the truck when there timer hits zero and they go BOOM! lol. But all kidding aside indy dan awesome work (you know its good when he adds a warranty to a 800 poo) great price for what you get. with updates an 800 can be a good motor. I am a solid 700 man as I have a VES 700 in my fleet rolling 8k miles on a stock bottom end...

brandon1 · Dec 1, 2014

sledheader said:
I know where you're coming from with spending a little extra for quality parts.

So a top end is fairly simple to do and I could handle that. Can I just inspect the jugs and see if I can feel any imperfections in them, then buy a top end gasket kit and a couple pistons and rings then slap the old head on it and be good to go?

Just for kicks, have you heard of the company that I posted a link to above?

I haven't, but for the last 6 years I have focused solely on how to make a 4wd. race car go fast over big rocks and whoops, so I'm not the best gauge of who's who in the snowmobile world.

I did all the research when I did my 800 in 06 and Indy Dan was the hands down choice at that time. Last year when I started looking into putting my pile back together I did a bit of research and it all lead to Indy Dan so I just stayed with what I knew was good.

There is some truth to just using a 700. They're reliable and pretty damn powerful, only a few horse down to the 800 in stock form if I remember correctly.

LoudHandle · Dec 1, 2014

sledheader said:
.........................
Has anyone tried these guys? A little cheaper for what seems to be the same thing (machined case halves and big bearing fix).

Polaris RMK Liberty Twin Edge XC Switchback 800 Bottom End Wide Bearing Crank X | eBay

As for these guys? JJ Machinery in Utah, I have no personal experience with them, but I have read many a post on here that would indicate to me I would never even consider them. Seems like they are very hit and miss, both in quality and workmanship as well as customer service. Granted this is the internet and you only hear one side of the story, most of the time, but I would not gamble and roll the dice at their table with my engine.

Just my $0.02

snowx99 · Dec 1, 2014

I've had good luck with several 800s and have owned enough 2 stroke sleds in general to disbelieve that it's only Polaris 800s that might spit a crank. Nature of high strung 2 strokes in general. Because they sold so many of them, it would be interesting to find out exactly what percentage of 800 Polaris twins actually spit a crank with less than 3k miles on it for the original owner in stock trim.

Anyway. Couple things to keep in mind: a) it's a backup/girlfriend/occasional use sled. b) it's over 10 years old. c) you already have all the 800 parts.

If the cases are straight & the crank isn't damaged, I'd opt for a stock crank rebuild. If the cylinders are in good shape with no damaged nikasil, I'd check them to make sure they are not tapered and size them for a set of SPI pistons. Careful assembly & break-in, and you should be back on the snow without a huge investment and no need to hunt down other parts.

njk4o5 · Dec 2, 2014

what is actually needed to change for a 800 to replace it with a 700 liberty?

do the carbs swap?
i assume mounts match up.
exhaust?
cdi?
clutching?

sledheader · Dec 2, 2014

brandon1 said:
I haven't, but for the last 6 years I have focused solely on how to make a 4wd. race car go fast over big rocks and whoops, so I'm not the best gauge of who's who in the snowmobile world.

I did all the research when I did my 800 in 06 and Indy Dan was the hands down choice at that time. Last year when I started looking into putting my pile back together I did a bit of research and it all lead to Indy Dan so I just stayed with what I knew was good.

There is some truth to just using a 700. They're reliable and pretty damn powerful, only a few horse down to the 800 in stock form if I remember correctly.

I think I'm finding out this same thing as well. I posted this here as well as on HCS and not one single person that recommends rebuilding it says anything less than Indy Dan. Heck I even call Carl's Cycle which is relatively near me and they said to go to Indy Dan lol.

LoudHandle said:
As for these guys? JJ Machinery in Utah, I have no personal experience with them, but I have read many a post on here that would indicate to me I would never even consider them. Seems like they are very hit and miss, both in quality and workmanship as well as customer service. Granted this is the internet and you only hear one side of the story, most of the time, but I would not gamble and roll the dice at their table with my engine.

Just my $0.02

I understand where you're coming from but it's also hard to pass up 800 bucks for a rebuild rather than 1400 even if it does have a warranty. I mean, I could nearly have JJ machinery do it TWICE for as much as it would cost me with Indy Dan.

snowx99 said:
I've had good luck with several 800s and have owned enough 2 stroke sleds in general to disbelieve that it's only Polaris 800s that might spit a crank. Nature of high strung 2 strokes in general. Because they sold so many of them, it would be interesting to find out exactly what percentage of 800 Polaris twins actually spit a crank with less than 3k miles on it for the original owner in stock trim.

Anyway. Couple things to keep in mind: a) it's a backup/girlfriend/occasional use sled. b) it's over 10 years old. c) you already have all the 800 parts.

If the cases are straight & the crank isn't damaged, I'd opt for a stock crank rebuild. If the cylinders are in good shape with no damaged nikasil, I'd check them to make sure they are not tapered and size them for a set of SPI pistons. Careful assembly & break-in, and you should be back on the snow without a huge investment and no need to hunt down other parts.

Well to be honest I'm not an expert when it comes to in depth full on rebuilds like this and have only done one other one in my life about ten years ago in high school with the help of my uncle who's a mechanic. I know that the guy that tore it down said that he wouldn't run the cases if it was coming out of his shop.

How would I go about measuring the cases to see if they are good? Could there be a chance I could put a rebuilt crank with a wide PTO bearing in it and have it last? It's likely to get 1000-1500 miles I bet before it gets sold and upgraded to a new one. Possibly 2000 but who knows what the future holds. She might decide she doesn't like to snowmobile and I sell it in the spring.

njk4o5 said:
what is actually needed to change for a 800 to replace it with a 700 liberty?

do the carbs swap?
i assume mounts match up.
exhaust?
cdi?
clutching?

Wondering this as well. Could I get a used 700 motor (My other sled is a dependable 2004 700 poo) and put it in cheaper? I haven't had much luck finding wrecked sleds on craigslist and would likely have to find an ebay motor.

sledheader · Dec 2, 2014

Well I got off the phone with JJ machinery. He told me that they would do a 1 year warranty on the bottom end and give me a break on pistons as well. I'll be 940 into it with a line bored case, rebuilt crank with wide pto bearing and a new top end. I think I'll be sending my core out tomorrow. I appreciate all input and if it were a newer sled, I probably would have went with Indy Dan, but I just couldn't justify it on a 10 year old sled.

LoudHandle · Dec 2, 2014

sledheader said:
Well I got off the phone with JJ machinery. He told me that they would do a 1 year warranty on the bottom end and give me a break on pistons as well. I'll be 940 into it with a line bored case, rebuilt crank with wide pto bearing and a new top end. I think I'll be sending my core out tomorrow. I appreciate all input and if it were a newer sled, I probably would have went with Indy Dan, but I just couldn't justify it on a 10 year old sled.

Hope it works out for you and you get usable parts back before spring.

sledheader · Dec 2, 2014

Well he seemed like he would be easy to deal with on the phone. Sounds like he has one ready to go and will ship out when he receives my core. Like I said, Dan would have had my business had this been a newer sled that was worth more than 2500 bucks

While I have all you experts here, any good tips on putting the top end together? Is there anywhere online to find torque specs? Is it best to torque the head starting from the center and rotating clockwise to the outside? How many torques?

I plan to have my VES gold next to me and coat the pistons and cylinders with a light coat of it upon assembly. Any tips or tricks to doing all this is all appreciated. Pictures help too.

I put the motor all together last night (just slid together) to make sure it is all there. Everything seemed to be there but I didn't put all the bolts in either.

I am going to look for some pictures online to make sure I put the stator and flywheel all on correctly, but advice and pictures are all welcome

njk4o5 · Dec 4, 2014

heres what my motor looks like. good ol polaris 800

im bringing my crank to a local engine repair shop that usualy does larger car & truck engines. They are getting the PTO crank web piece and pressing it on and trueing my crank for $219.99. I cant argue with that price.

sledheader · Dec 4, 2014

Dang that is a very good price. Are you getting the wide PTO bearing? I hope the guy knows what he is doing and does you a good job!

sledheader · Dec 4, 2014

Update:

I sent off my core yesterday and it should arrive friday. I also am sending off the primary today to SLP to get it balanced and gone through. I would hate to rebuild the motor then have it break another crank because of an out of balance clutch. I figured the $60 was cheap insurance

TRS · Dec 4, 2014

That extra money you saved may come in handy when you need to get your girls sled pulled from the back country.:help: You may need it to wine and dine her after a nights stay on the mountain.:rose: :wine:She may think twice about her romance decisions.:brokenheart:
Take it with a grain of salt. Just having fun.

sledheader · Dec 5, 2014

Lol All I have to say is she better be DAMN glad she is getting a sled to ride! Especially one that is worth as much as the one I ride! I don't know about you guys but I keep my women in line:face-icon-small-sho

2004 800 rmk Broke Crank-Where to now?

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