well, back in 5/12 i had a major engine failure on my 06 800 Sportsman, thought about rebuilding it myself but.....no, this is where a pro needs to be. So with that it was going to sit for a bit with a $2000ish repair waiting.
Fast forward and many speed bumps later she's back dang near a new bike. Here's a rundown of things I've done or had done....Some lessons learned and some med respect for people like OPT and other very knowledgeable members here. THANKS GUYS.

Crank bearings fell apart due to dirt in the pan caused by a small hole in the dipstick tubing which was rubbing the belt housing due to bad engine mounts. $75 for 3 mounts and some labor would have prevented all this. Oil was dark but not milky or sludgy indication dirt. new crank and bearings and mounts and labor was right about 1800.
sitting so long the rear diff had water which led to corrosion of internals and since polaris quit providing just parts I had to buy a new rear diff. 1400 . I even called polaris just to make sure my dealer wasn't giving me the run a round, nope they were honest.
4 wheel bearings
3 sets of pads
4 tie rod ends
front ball joints
$325 ish for front diff side plate since my wires were bad
front diff roll cage and all rebuilt with new seals and bearings
front prop shaft replaced
rear U-joints replaced
New belt
handgrips
all fluids new including brake fluid
winch motor cleaned and about 43' of new blue synthetic rope added
shifting gears in tranny were sticky so had them cleaned and lubed
front fuse block badly corroded so I used marine inline fuse holders for each wire and took that out
new battery
air filter
spring bushings for top of front struts inside the spring

painted the front A arms, the brush guards, rails on storage racks other little stuff with Rustoleum Hammered Metallic and it looks awesome.
I used black plasti-dip on the shiny chrome rims, i hated that look and it looks great now in black. Even the arm guards i painted with it and had my girlfriends daughter paint guards the name "Polaris" in red to match other stuff. Im sure im forgetting other stuff along the way. Its over $4000 in repairs and was a very expensive lesson learned. Plenty of people were saying why sink the money just go get a new one. Well, have you priced new 850's I asked? and same answer "didn't know they were that much"

She was literally put all together 1 week ahead of going to the Redneck Yacht Club and got her really dirty and performed great all weekend. after holidays shes getting a clutch kit and stepping up from 26's to 29's maybe. It was so nice riding my bike again.

Tried to upload pics with no avail. My dang computer is not playing well. Ill try from my phone after this is posted.

The Major work was done by Gator Sports in Labelle Fl and would highly recommend them for anyone in SWFLA.

 

A lot of work indeed! At times like you said you have to compare repairing one versus the cost of a new one. Hopefully no problems for a long while now. Only downside to this (if there is one) you need to drive it until it drops as you couldn't sell it for what you have in it,BUT you have the satisfaction of knowing what has been done. Sort of like me and my old truck. I can't get nothing for it,worth more to just keep it in shape and keep on going. Sticker shock on a new one can make you realize that real quick.. Good luck.

 

Is this common for the 800? My friend bought a new one a year back and blew the motor as well. Lucky for him warranty fixed it but its strange to see a motor go in 3 weeks.

 

Not common on the 800,but did have few on the 700,but a couple were treated like crap and not maintained. We sold quite a few Sportsman 800s down here. Most of the problems we had with them were sensor wiring related.Again just depends on how it's maintained.

 

I honestly believe the problems I had were because of things i did. If i knew motor mounts were bad it would have prevented all this.

 

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That certainly looks worth saving! Continued luck & thanks for posting, lets the rest of us think ahead.