I had brought my atv in to a shop to get that clicking noise I was hearing checked out. That was
the noise that sounded to me like it was comming from the rear left tire. I had about 900 miles on it so I told them to give my atv an inspection to.

Well Holy buckets. There was more wrong then I expected.

The noise was my rear U-joint, was bad. Its one part with the prop shaft so they replaced the prop shaft. Plus they found that the rear bearings on the left side of the rear axle were bad. One thing, that they did not say to me when I piced it up and I have only recently read it after I left there shop with my atv. but it says on my receipt that it was missing a spacer between the bearings. That to me sounds like a factory problem? They did not call polaris about it. They just fixed it and charged me. I am thinking about callling them back and talking to them about it and or e-mailing polaris about an obvious factory situation.

Both my outer tie-rod ends were bad and replaced. I have the new ones now, that are suposed to be stronger. They replacled my front brake pads and put in the newly designed type.

They just told me that my agressive mud tires are the problem. I told him that my tires spin in the mud. I asked him why some polaris parts cannot hold up. He said that the polaris atv is designed to work with the factory tires and on normal terrain. That excludes the deep mud. I suggested then that they stop calling them atv's, ( all terrain vechiles!). I told him I do not drive crazy but I do use my atv and will continue to drive it how and where i always do. I asked for and got a 10 percent discount on the parts, but later on when I read on the receipt which has writing on it from top to bottom and it just did not stand out at first that a spacer between the bearing was missing, that part bothered me and they did not even call polaris about it. He did not even mention it. He just said the bearings were bad and he replaced them. After I picked up my atv on sat. I put 71 miles on my xpedition 425 cc 5-speed, sat. and sunday combined. The atv is ready for grouse season now which starts next month. remember, that in the past, I had the sensor for the rad go out, when the atv was only a few months old. We
had heard that allot of people were having sensors go out. Me included. I am getting the impression that the atv's are on the weak side and we are suposed to baby them. That is not my idea of how an atv should run. This is not the dealership where I bought my atv. I have noticed though that
when ever asked or confronted about some bad quality parts. By and large they quickly put the blame on the mods we put on. My factory tires were
not very good in the mud.

rangerchet 2000 polaris xpedition 425 cc 5-speed.

 

That's too bad about all the problems, but it's good that your ready to go now. I think that you will find no matter what kind of vehicle you buy from any manufacturer as soon as you change something on it they will try and blame it on the mod you did. It's just easier for them to say it's your fault and go about thier day than find out what really caused the problem. I have run into this with any vehicle I have owned and changed. Everything from saying the airfilter I put in my car caused it to run eraticaly to quick disconnects on the swaybar on my jeep causing the steering box to go out. In both cases I proved them wrong but I had to fight tooth and nail to get them to fix what was actualy wrong. I think they feel that most people won't put up a fight and will just give up and do what they say. It's unfortunate but it happens.

 

The line between "fair wear and tear" and design/workmanship/material defect is not always clear. For example, larger, more aggressive (than stock) tires result in additional drivetrain stress; however . . . does use of aftermarket tires absolve the manufacturer of all responsibility? I don't know the answer to that question, settled on a case-by-case basis, surely.

At least you're ready now for grouse hunting!

Tree Farmer

 

My dealer tells me the same thing leave it stock. He say that 98 percent of the people that leave there machines stock, that he sells , never come back for repairs, but the guys who hop them up, clutch kits, spacers,pipes, lift kits , huge tires and things like that seem to come allot more for repairs. I suggested that also those guys would more than likely be harder on there equipment than the average rider. He agreed.

 

Think about this, polaris this year, is sponsoring
goodyear mudrunners. They have them in there accessories 2000 catalog. this helps polaris dealerships make money, by selling there tires. I have 26 inch mudbugs by maxxis and I have been riding with a few people that have 26 inch goodyear mudrunners. There is really no difference
between them. So on one hand they complain about them or at least use them as a crutch when asked why there parts don't last very long, then on the other hand they sell those tires to make money.

Gee, smart setup. not only do they make money selling the tires. but the tires cause many other parts to break down so they get them back again.

I think the moral of the story should be, that they
still are not making the machines as tuff as they
should be and with the proper high quality they should be. For example, the humm-v's are made to last. Those are quality machines. You guys are probably right to that its all brands. Its like the old question. Should we or should we not, put on a lift kit. If you want 28 inch tires then you need a lift kit. Unless you cut out the fenders. The additional stress, then, causes these problems...... I'm just in a mood today, i guess... rangerchet

 

if you dont mind me asking,what did the repairs cost? and i would love to hear how the 26 inch tires made that bearing spacer disapear,its amazing what the larger tires do for you..i too noticed a dealer selling goodyear mudrunners but will have to say in that dealers defense that they were only 25 inch and they said that they were to be put on a machine that had stock 25 inch height..i know because i asked how much and if they would fit my magnum 325..knowing they would ahve been hard for it to turn them i ended up buying a bigger machine for more power..like i said id love to hear the excuse how that spacer disapeared because of the tires..good luck

 

Rangerchet,

They are just p.o.'d that you didn't buy the $800 Blackwater tires and rims that that they sell in their showroom.

P.S. Their service manager even impresses himself!

 

In reply, we never discussed how my tires misplaced the spacer between the bearings. He neglected to meantion it. I skimed through the receipt but there is alot of writing on it and i missed it while I was there. We were discussing it
any how. He took me to my machine and pointed out what was wrong and showed me my bad parts. He either forgot to tell me about the missing spacer.
Or did not want to tell me. He simply said that my
bearings were bad and he replaced them. Then later
on when I studied my receipt closely. there it is
in writing:
left rear axle bearings bad - replaced - was missing spacer between bearings. I think they should have called polaris to have them cover a factory defect. this was written towards the bottom. up near the top he also listed the bearings. If he would have mentioned or If I had read it while at there shop, I would have made them call polaris about the bad bearings. I will check into this now after the fact.

So, thats the problem!! It's true, I bought my tires and rims from high lifter, not polaris.. I even admit that info. on demand. I guess they may now get blamed for anything for the rest of the life of the atv. rangerchet

 

I just called my dealership and talked to the service dept. and told him about the bearings and spacer missing. I asked him if they would have called polaris to see if they would have covered this or not as its a factory defect. He said that he thinks they would have called polaris and checked on it. There is a question as my atv has been off of warranty for a few months. so polaris would have to decide to cover it or not. -rangerchet

 

i just dont understand how bigger tires made that spacer disapear, j/k..if it had been shredded surely there would be signs of it..as for the spacer not being there i can see how it would wipe out the bearings..id pursue it with them and see where it goes,as if its missing id have to say it was a factory fault