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850 gone down already??

revrider07

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Feb 17, 2008
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I wish that was the case. I'm still waiting on authorization from Polaris to get parts moving. Its been down for 2 weeks so far. I liked the sled when it was working but I am not impressed with this whole situation. I missed the first two months of the season because the delivery date kept getting changed so since the beginning of the season I have been able to ride it a month and a half.

I think you need to change dealers waiting on sled and now parts seems like a dealer that doesn't care about your money, time and loyalty.
 
G
Jan 21, 2008
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Wabush NL, Canada
I think you need to change dealers waiting on sled and now parts seems like a dealer that doesn't care about your money, time and loyalty.

Dealers hands are tied by Polaris. No one has given the go ahead for them to order any parts. Could be a new crank, could be a new long block, Polaris hasnt gotten back to them. Parts are all showing back order until an order is placed, then Polaris will give a shipping date.
 
J
Sep 18, 2011
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Western Maine
Dealers hands are tied by Polaris. No one has given the go ahead for them to order any parts. Could be a new crank, could be a new long block, Polaris hasnt gotten back to them. Parts are all showing back order until an order is placed, then Polaris will give a shipping date.

That sucks grease, I’d put some more pressure on your dealer, our sleds went down at the same time. I picked mine up on Thursday, rode on Friday and Saturday. Thought I had pto bearing problem, when I looked at the crank it was a center bearing issue. The dealer should have your sled running by now.
 
G
Jan 21, 2008
1,216
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Wabush NL, Canada
That sucks grease, I’d put some more pressure on your dealer, our sleds went down at the same time. I picked mine up on Thursday, rode on Friday and Saturday. Thought I had pto bearing problem, when I looked at the crank it was a center bearing issue. The dealer should have your sled running by now.

I also thought it was the pto bearing but it turned out to be the center bearing like yours. Dealer has been in touch with their regional rep but they havent been much help either. Did they replace just your crank?
 
J
Mar 10, 2019
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Those reports seem very shaky. I know zero first hand. And despite all these threads, there is very little concrete evidence of people jumping in with real world "my sled blew up, here ya go".

We know one blew up because an oil line came off. That's not a motor design issue. That's just a simple "whoops".

We know of another that had some form of a top end failure? Right? But then again, didn't that poster take everything down and post pictures of a double ring piston?

There is a lot of chatter on a lot of unicorn farts so far as I can tell. Polaris sold 850s in the thousands. Not hundreds. Doing some rough estimations, Polaris sells about 30K units a year. Lets just say 1/4 were 850s? Or lets say 1/5th or 1/6th?? Either way, we're in the thousands....

So 1-3 failures out of thousands of sales...not sure we should be panicking.

This is my first post, just trying to find out some info of other people’s 850 issues. I’ll tell you first hand as I just drove 7 hours back to the dealer I bought my 850SBA from last week. I just passed the break in period on Saturday night, I went out on Sunday morning (March 10 2019) rode about 3 miles after warmup and she seized solid. Can’t even budge it with the cord or turn the clutch. I was supposed to be riding all week into next weekend. Now I sit in the dealer parking lot at 230 am praying that they have a demo sled that I can take back north with me to litterally the best riding conditions I’ve ever ridden on. Engine had 8.5 easy going break in hrs on it and 235 miles.
 
A
Feb 18, 2018
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This is my first post, just trying to find out some info of other people’s 850 issues. I’ll tell you first hand as I just drove 7 hours back to the dealer I bought my 850SBA from last week. I just passed the break in period on Saturday night, I went out on Sunday morning (March 10 2019) rode about 3 miles after warmup and she seized solid. Can’t even budge it with the cord or turn the clutch. I was supposed to be riding all week into next weekend. Now I sit in the dealer parking lot at 230 am praying that they have a demo sled that I can take back north with me to litterally the best riding conditions I’ve ever ridden on. Engine had 8.5 easy going break in hrs on it and 235 miles.

If you only have 8.5 easy going hours the break in isn't completed. You must have more than 5500rpm for 10hours to complete the breakin.
 

Prayn4snow

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We’ve been riding in South Fork CO and Wolf Creek for days in great snow and bluebird sky’s and my riding buddy Ryan’s 850 just went down. I carry a lot of tools and we we’re able to take the secondary off and reattached the oil line in the center. We have a back up sled but need to get this to a good dealer Today. Any suggestions/experience with one in this area? We have weeks of riding left out here. Moving to Arrowhead lodge tonight, then Buena Vista this weekend. My 850 is running flawless. Loving the TKI belt drive I just installed last week as well perfect addition!
 
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Big10inch

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Mar 11, 2018
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We’ve been riding in South Fork CO and Wolf Creek for days in great snow and bluebird sky’s and my riding buddy Ryan’s 850 just went down. I carry a lot of tools and we we’re able to take the secondary off and reattached the oil line in the center. We have a back up sled but need to get this to a good dealer Today. Any suggestions/experience with one in this area? We have weeks of riding left out here. Moving to Arrowhead lodge tonight, then Buena Vista this weekend.

The dealer in Bayfield/east Durango fixed my Axys back when nobody else could. Bigger dealer, good shop. Good Luck. I had poor luck with dealers in Montrose and Hotchkiss.
 
J
Sep 18, 2011
17
11
3
Western Maine
I also thought it was the pto bearing but it turned out to be the center bearing like yours. Dealer has been in touch with their regional rep but they havent been much help either. Did they replace just your crank?



Just did new crank and pistons in mine. Crank bearing did not move in case and outer race on center bearing did not spin in case so they reused the case and cyl. also got the update reflash. Fouled a plug Saturday morning, but good after that. Once I get back out of break in should be better. The new map is a lot better than the old one.
 
J
Mar 10, 2019
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If you only have 8.5 easy going hours the break in isn't completed. You must have more than 5500rpm for 10hours to complete the breakin.

By easy going I meant no more than 3/4 throttle, I can assure you it was over 5500 90% of those hours. My average speed for that 8.5 hrs was 40mph and that time frame includes a few warm ups. Dealer told me 8hrs was break in. I just left the dealers now with a brand new 129” 800 XC to ride until next week. My build date was nov 26 so is in the window of the “potentially suspect engines”. I’ll see in a day or two what they say, I can say I’m definitely happy with my customer service from my dealer. Considering I dropped $19000Cad on it a week ago.
 
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G
Jan 21, 2008
1,216
422
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Wabush NL, Canada
Just did new crank and pistons in mine. Crank bearing did not move in case and outer race on center bearing did not spin in case so they reused the case and cyl. also got the update reflash. Fouled a plug Saturday morning, but good after that. Once I get back out of break in should be better. The new map is a lot better than the old one.

Just got word today that they're replacing just the crank. Was hoping for a new engine but I don't have time to argue or wait any longer. Hope this time she holds up.
 

aksledjunkie

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I doubt it. New pto bearing wont work with the 19 cases. What did they change on the actual crank besides the pto bearing anyway?



I was referring to all the updates in the bottom end, new case to accept the PTO bearing locator ring, screen for the water pump check valve, holes for oil drainage to the center bearing. All that jazz.
 
D
Dec 2, 2012
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Quahog
Just wanted to bring this back to the top and maybe the op would let us know how his season with the 850 turned out after having bad luck. I am sure since this was such a big thread that others are curious too.
 

Wrenchmaster

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Jan 24, 2011
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:LOL:This thread really does have a lot of good information and entertainment. I didn't know about the plateau honing on Nikasil cylinders, used to working on diesels where feeling the hatch with your fingernail is good! small engines are a different story. with regards to post #1326, Dan, the duramax only seemed to have the bad injectors on the early LB7 engines, a friend of mine has one, he put a set of reman injectors in, and now has 500K+ km's on it. Seems they've got the injector problem figured out. I get your point though and I'm a Cummins guy anyway lol (NOT stiring the pot here) Please keep sharing your knowlege with us!. this thread answered a lot of questions I'd been wondering about for a while with the 850. Not to get too off topic, but how is the rest of the sled holding up? any tunnel and skid or broken axle problems? A-arms?
 
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