02 800 Edge

I would make sure it has the wide bearing kit on the crank. They are prone to breakage. They are a little weak where the tunnel coolers meet the bulkhead. Generally a pretty good sled but I would look for a 700 instead

Keb said:

I am looking at buying a 2002 800 Edge. I was wondering if there were any problems with them or if they are all around just a pretty good sled?

Click to expand...

Here is a repost of my list of what to look for to be looking for to fix:

Pull the black covers on each side at the rear of the foot rests. Look for cracks in the tunnel and then fix them with 1/2" x1/2" aluminum angles, and 4 structural rivets each. Drill 1/8" dia hole at end of crack. Cut square edge of rear end of cooling tube bracket off, because it causes a sudden temperature differential, that cause that crack. Turn the square corner into a mitered corner.

02 had a soft steering column. Unbolt the risers and dump Simpson SET epoxy and stuff a 1/2" diameter all-thread into the hollow column. Cut off the excess. Rebolt on riser block.

Make sure you have the heavy duty rear springs, because the stock springs sag.

Look for buckled tunnel beneath the foot rests. Every time the ski hits a rock, the tunnel gets bent. The tunnel can only take this maybe twice before it cracks, unless it has the tunnel stiffener described next.

Check for tunnel cracks beneath the foot rests at the front. Fix them with bolted in 3/4" x 3/4" aluminum angles spanning across the crack. Use (1)-5/16"dia stainless bolt at front drilled through the footrest hole, and (3)-structural rivets in the running board, in a pattern to match the spacing of the existing bumps in the running board.

Check for a flattened exhaust deflector. Pull it off and pound it into shape. Bolt back on with SS stove bolts and SS nylon locknuts.

Set the front limiter straps in the 1 1/2 position which requires you to make new holes. #1 position is fully extended.

Check your rear most bogie wheels. The bearings are toast at 3000 miles, and pathetic at 2000 miles. While you are at it, make sure all bogie wheels spin freely.

Find out when the PTO side bearing on the drive axle was changed, or replace it soon.

Check the teeth in the top and bottom gears in the chaincase for wear. The teeth must be symmetrical. If not, replace gear.

Pull all shocks off and check them by compressing and see how they rebound. If they grind on rebounding, they need rebuilding. Rebuild as required by an expert.

Change out shock grommets because they get ovalled out and sloppy.

Better get some lubricant into the throttle and rpm cable.

Replace the front motor mounts and double nut them with nylon lock nuts. The 800 will tear those apart on a regular basis.

Check the left side torque stop and see if there is sign of wear. Replace as required. See if you can lift up the front of the engine before you do anything, which would be a symptom that the motor mounts are already torn. Torn motor mounts allow the crankcase to twist and the crankshaft bearings to go out.

Take your engine apart an drill out the omitted angled oil drip hole in the lower crankcase, that should have been installed to direct drip oil towards the PTO bearing. The Polaris oil injection inlet on the PTO end bearing hits the outer race face, which restricts oil injection near that bearing.

Check for full support of the running board beneath your footrest area. When the supports break, it allows the running board cooler line to rub and become worn enough to leak. Then your toast.

Take your cylinder head cover off and grind out an air vent hole in the higher end of the stiffener ribs on the bottom side, that traps air beneath the higher half of the cover and prevents proper cooling.

Inspect the pistons and rings through the exhaust port. If you see gouges or melting, then replace. Look down the plug hole and see what the top of the pistons look like. Use a light. Look at the color of the spark plugs. If white then you might have problems on pistons.

Do compression test. If less that 125 psi, then you need new rings now. You should be at 145 psi or better for a good engine.

Replace stock track with camoplast extreme. Night and day difference.

Install coolant reservoir overflow bottle, just behind that stock bottle. It allows temporary overheating, the catching of the coolant overflow into that bottle, and then sucking that coolant back into the stock bottle.

Replace spark plug caps with personal water craft spark plug caps.

Cut off the last 1/4" of the spark plug wires before reinstalling new cap.

Make sure the thermister wire comes straight up out of the thermister on top of the cylinder head cover. My dealer used to bend that wire over in order to cause permature engine failure. He did that several times to me.

When the high beam switch goes out, it screws up the engine rpms and can't get max power out of it. Know how to disconnect it in the field.

Always carry: extra reed valve, extra VES diaphragm, extra VES gasket, extra plugs, extra CDI unit, extra track nuts, duct tape, 1/2" tow rope, extra coolant, rag, matches, short length of extra wire to bridge across defective thermister, long length of wire to pull exhaust springs, allen wrenchs to disconnect high beam switch in the field, allen wrench to tighten exhaust manifold, track adjustment wrenches, 3/8", 1/2", 9/16" sockets, long flat head screw driver, plug change socket, sandpaper to clean off toasted plugs, wire cutters and extra gloves.