'05 RMK 800 Crank worries

Aside from the infamous crank failure stories that you hear, what you have there is a very reliable sled. I would highly doubt any noise you are hearing would be a crank failure about to happen. There's a lot of weird noises that you will hear comming from under that hood. If it has a Team roller secondary clutch, they make a lot of noise. If it's a sound that is progressing you might have wear in your primary clutch, ie. rollers going bad, weight bushing going, etc. If you don't know the maintenance history of the clutches I would recommend pulling the primary and sending it to SLP for a cleaning / rebuild / balance. It makes a big difference in clutch life and a BIG difference in crank life since an out of balance clutch can kill a crank.
I have an '02 edge and last year my crank broke right behind the PTO bearing. I sent the crank with a new PTO crank cheek to Precision Performance Products in Idaho Falls. I had them do a crank rebuild, weld, and a big (double wide) bearing upgrade. The most expensive part was the crank cheek (around $250). If you take an existing crank such as yours, send it and the case halves they can check your crank for true, install the big bearing and do the case mod (very minor) you will buy yourself a lot of peice of mind. My sled engine has never run smoother. Actually I just had them do a 700 of mine this fall.
The only bad thing about all this is that the snow is falling and it's to bad you didn't address this a couple months ago. The good thing is that both the shops I speak of generally have very short lead times on turning your parts around. They both have performed all of the above in 2 days for me.
If you have never rebuilt these motors make sure you have someone with experience help with the re-assembly. These motors are a little sensitive to torque specs, type of crank sealant, etc. I've done plenty and have learned some lessons.
.....whew! Hope this helps.

Ken

Just send it to indydan on here. 5 year warranty and the customer service is outstanding. Its around 1700.00 but well worth it. He has a ebay store.

Do not kid your self big bearing cranks go out as well. Your cases are very important,if the do not have enough holding power on the crank it will not matter what you put in there.Be carefull who rebuilds your crank there are a ton of people doing them. A new crank shaft is about $1,100 dollars case rebuild $200-250 plus all the parts and labor needed so it could be very spendy. you are not going to find a rebuilt crank for 500 that will last. your not a motor head as you stated so it will cost you plenty if it goes down. Do you know the history of the motor?

Here is a link which was sent to me by a fellow member. A good read.

http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52811


There are many other posts on this subject. Research, research, research.

Best thing I feel you can do in the short term is to allow for a proper warm-up before each and every ride. Lifting the rear is also recommended to warm the track. Balancing the clutchs helps. I would certainly at least have the primary balanced. Eliminate whatever sources of imbalance you can in order to preserve that crank. Check your run-out. If it gets too bad you will definiately feel it through the bars.
Wide bearing kit is not the solve-all. I bent my second crank after a wide bearing kit was installed.

Good luck! Warm it up and enjoy the torque.

I know your pain all too well. I have a 2001 800 and just had a crank failure. (along with a piston failure) Seems the previous owner had ran the machine lean way too often. Do your research. I found a great rebuild crank, for much less than others mentioned above, from a reliable supplier with a great reputation. I was able to do the work myself, which also saved a ton, and it was a great way to see what I really had.

i8 agree with Nuge, Warm up takes time . I can start my sled and let it run for 10 minutes before i see 100 dagrees on the guage. But to mr it is still not warmed up ,sure the coolant is but all the metal part's are not up to temp yet i usually take it easy for a couple of miles on and off throttle. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Make sure you warm it up good all the time, make sure the primary is balanced and/or in good working condition at all times. Run a good belt, update to the 1115 belt, float the secondary as well. Vent it to get the heat out of the clutch and exhaust area.

snowman429 said:

Just send it to indydan on here. 5 year warranty and the customer service is outstanding. Its around 1700.00 but well worth it. He has a ebay store.

Click to expand...

Repeat customer of Dan's here.