Hi all, tomorrow or Tuesday I will be doing a 20 hour service (break-in) on my 2012 850 XP. I will be changing all the fluids. For you experts, do you have any suggestions to make the process easy for a non-mechanical rider and what should I look for to determine if everything or running good or bad?
And last, the service manual does not indicate if I should be greasing any of the joints, any suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Martin

 

Welcome! Just my on the "first service" A lot of dealers do a "full service",that is change all the fluids,filters,etc and charge a substantial amount of $$ for this. If you read the manual carefully(unless they've changed What's recommended at 20-25 hrs is change oil and oil filter,inspect/clean/replace air filter if needed and a general check over the machine,cv boots,any fluid leaks,etc,If equipped with grease zerks,I'd give em a pump or two,then reset the oil change interval on the speedo to 50 hrs(we set to 50 hrs instead of 100 hrs as 2 quarts of oil isn't much,and changing at 50 hrs won't bankrupt you and this still lets the owner decide !) Plus we charged "substantially" lower than a full service! I know there will be a small amount of shavings in the gear case and the front diff,but the fluid generally you drain will be as clean as the fluid you pour in! We did a "first service" at 25 hrs and at the second oil change we did the full service because the machines were between 75-100 hrs by that time. If you are really inclined to change all the fluids,then by all means do it,but 100 hrs is what is recommended on all fluid changes other than the first (break-in) oil change. Now after I've said all this,with the newer more complex front differentials,I wouldn't go over 50 hrs between these fluid changes "IF" I owned one myself just to be safe. Kind of contradicting myself I know Hope this doesn't mess your mind up. OPT

 

Your comments helped a lot, thank you. I did notice the contradiction between my owner’s manual, service manual and the dealer. The dealer is recommending all the fluids to be changed and the books don’t. I will probably do all the fluid changes now more for my experience in doing it since I already purchased the fluids. Afterwards I will reset the service clock to 50 hours. Since I am at 20 hours do I assume, I hate to do that, that I should now set it at 70 hours so I run it a full 50 before the next service?

Thank you again!

M

 

No,you just reset the speedo to 50 hrs. This is so your oil change intervals will stay the same.This is the most important thing. We've had people that just set aside one month a year for a full service for all the fluids(or just the transmission) 100 hrs or 1000 miles. OPT

 

OPT hit the high points but I have a couple of pointers that might be helpful.

Right angle grease fitting for your grease gun. Some of the zerks are pretty much impossible to get to with a standard straight fitting. Also make sure you've got a flexible hose too and not one of the solid tubes on your grease gun.

Make sure you've got the right sockets to get into the diffs, remove skidplates etc. The diff, trans, engine etc take metric hex sockets and the skids are torx. Get the sockets. Trying to use a standard hex key to get the drain plugs off is awkward and an excellent way to bust up your hands and/or bugger up the plug.

Oh and I'd also pick up a oil filter socket that fits the filter on your machine. Not much room up there and it makes taking off and installing the filter much easier than trying to do it with your hands or a pair of channel locks.

 

Thanks you guys! I think I will also lift the ATV and take the right side tires off just to make it easier. Going at it a little later today.