It is amazing how some of these dealers stay in business. It is concerning to hear that a belt went at 20 hours and per the dealer that is normal wear. I am heading over to pick my up XP's this morning and I will ask the dealer what he would do....of course he'll still be happy with the sale cash in his pocket so it may be BS anyway.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: TLC

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>all four brake caliper mounting brackets and brake pads</end quote></div>



What was wrong with the Brakes after only 20 hrs?</end quote></div>

He got rocks wedged in between the stock wheels and the brake calipers and under the 850s power did ALOT of damage..

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Kerbbirds

I wonder which belt is on the 850, is it the same as the 800? The 800 belt is quite a bit tougher and more expensive than the 700 belt, maybey not enough for the 850 though.</end quote></div>

The 850 uses a different belt than the 800..matter of fact the XP belt isn't used on any other Polaris ATV.

 

Are the 850 and 550 the same belt? If so it seems the 550 would have alot less trouble.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Kerbbirds

I wonder which belt is on the 850, is it the same as the 800? The 800 belt is quite a bit tougher and more expensive than the 700 belt, maybey not enough for the 850 though.</end quote></div>

The XP's have a completely different clutch system and belt setup. With the added power and torque of the 850, I'm sure they had to make a tougher belt. Also, Polaris claims that the belt is engineered to go 5000 miles (under normal conditions).

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: dslanec

Are the 850 and 550 the same belt? If so it seems the 550 would have alot less trouble.</end quote></div>

550 has the same belt..

BTW just read of a couple more belt failures both covered under warranty..on one they replaced a broken washer on one of the clutches. On the other apparently both of the clutches were replaced..and that dealer told him if it does it again they will fix it again..thats the way it whould be!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: HIGHOCTANE

BTW just read of a couple more belt failures both covered under warranty..on one they replaced a broken washer on one of the clutches. On the other apparently both of the clutches were replaced..and that dealer told him if it does it again they will fix it again..thats the way it whould be!</end quote></div>

That makes sense... and that's the just the kind of dealer one needs! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

I know I am the first to defend the XPs from the "first year bugs" claims everytime
someone breaks something,but if anything has evidence of being a problem it looks like this belt issue has a possibility..
4 maybe 5 broken low mileage belts just between 2 forums...I think that is the highest number of common problems yet..

Edit-let me revise what I said..it might not be a bug as much as a need for clutching wiht oversize tires,something I brought up awhile back...loks like most if not all of the failures involve tires with larger that 26" diameter,2 I know had 28's,not sre how big sombitchls1's Bighorns are? 1 that I know of had stock tires and broke at about 130 miles..

 

Update for you guys..........I rode with som to Got Gear Saturday to see what they had to say about it. We rolled it off of the trailer and they come and picked it up with a fork lift. Carried it back into the service department and we began the wait.
They tore it down and the service manager brought the belt out to us to show it to us(as if we didn't know it was going to be broke). He told us of a chart to look at to determine if the belt was covered under warranty or not. Polaris does a really good job of making it impossible for warranty to cover the belt. On a manufactorer error, there will be a tear or break in the molding.......well, how would you ever know if it was a tear or break there until the belt broke? Then it will get shredded beyond recognition anyways therefore eliminating the evidence of a manufact. defect.

The service rep began to tell us how if you are driving the wheeler under 40mph, you should ALWAYS have it in low, and you should never run it wide open for any extended length of time because that will hurt the belt. He also told us that climbing up hills and going down hills can cause the hour glass situation that can break a belt.................I looked the guy in his face and flat out ask him,"So......what exactly can this man do with this $11000 XP. You say he can't go slow with it.......can't go fast with it..........can't go up or down hills. Can he break the belt by just looking at it wrong? What exactly is XP about this thing?

We ask so many questions and made the service rep so mad, he turned around and walked away from us!!!!!!!!!! A SERVICE REP walked away from a customer trying to ask why his brand new high dollar Polaris XP tore up on him at 20hrs.

So....here's the kicker........They broke the bike down, brought out the tore up belt and the clutch which was internally wrapped up with belt material, and put the clutch back on it with the belt material still wrapped up in it because Som refused to pay them to put a new belt back on it.

That right, kiddies..............They let that XP leave that dealership as broke as it was when we dropped it off, even thought they charged him MSRP for the bike, charged him an unbelievable amount of other stupid fees when they made up the papers for him.
They had everything broken down already(didn't charge him to do that or put it back together broken). Basically they would have had to eaten their cost of a brand new belt. As much money as they made off of this man, and they wouldn't eat the cost of a belt to make sure he was happy with his purchase, as well as assure his future business......Polaris is going to love to hear about this dealership!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Slowprocess

Update for you guys..........I rode with som to Got Gear Saturday to see what they had to say about it. We rolled it off of the trailer and they come and picked it up with a fork lift. Carried it back into the service department and we began the wait.

They tore it down and the service manager brought the belt out to us to show it to us(as if we didn't know it was going to be broke). He told us of a chart to look at to determine if the belt was covered under warranty or not. Polaris does a really good job of making it impossible for warranty to cover the belt. On a manufactorer error, there will be a tear or break in the molding.......well, how would you ever know if it was a tear or break there until the belt broke? Then it will get shredded beyond recognition anyways therefore eliminating the evidence of a manufact. defect.



The service rep began to tell us how if you are driving the wheeler under 40mph, you should ALWAYS have it in low, and you should never run it wide open for any extended length of time because that will hurt the belt. He also told us that climbing up hills and going down hills can cause the hour glass situation that can break a belt.................I looked the guy in his face and flat out ask him,"So......what exactly can this man do with this $11000 XP. You say he can't go slow with it.......can't go fast with it..........can't go up or down hills. Can he break the belt by just looking at it wrong? What exactly is XP about this thing?



We ask so many questions and made the service rep so mad, he turned around and walked away from us!!!!!!!!!! A SERVICE REP walked away from a customer trying to ask why his brand new high dollar Polaris XP tore up on him at 20hrs.



So....here's the kicker........They broke the bike down, brought out the tore up belt and the clutch which was internally wrapped up with belt material, and put the clutch back on it with the belt material still wrapped up in it because Som refused to pay them to put a new belt back on it.



That right, kiddies..............They let that XP leave that dealership as broke as it was when we dropped it off, even thought they charged him MSRP for the bike, charged him an unbelievable amount of other stupid fees when they made up the papers for him.

They had everything broken down already(didn't charge him to do that or put it back together broken). Basically they would have had to eaten their cost of a brand new belt. As much money as they made off of this man, and they wouldn't eat the cost of a belt to make sure he was happy with his purchase, as well as assure his future business......Polaris is going to love to hear about this dealership!</end quote></div>

i kept the belt.. im going to send it to polaris to have them check it out! he told me the reason for the belt failure was due to the hourglassing affect... ok sounds good to me right.. so i go inside with the piece of the belt that he shows me and compare it to their chart.. IN NO WAY, SHAPE, FORM, OR FASHION does my belt show any evidence of "hourglassing" so i brought this up to the service manager and this is what he told me...


conversation quote ME: "This belt shows no sign at all of hourglassing, so it should be under warranty right?"

serv. mang.: " well i was just using the hourglassing as an example of what could have happend."

ME: "But i thought you said that was the reason for the belt to fail so early"

serv. mang.: "there is nothing we can do, your belt is not covered under your warranty"

ME: "well then what happend to make it tear up with only 20hrs on the bike? Your telling me that it's normal wear with only 20hrs? The way i see it i haven't even rode the 4wheeler an entire days time yet!! You've got to give me a better excuse than that!"

Serv. Mang.: (sounds of him walking away from the conversation again) click click click click

ME: "Are you EFFIN serious"
only semi nice person their was a guy working the counter.(looked to be early 20's) i asked him if they wanted me to purchase another quad from them in the future and he said it was out of his hands b/c he answers to the manager. i told him i understood that and he went on to apologize several times bla bla bla.
But when we were fixin to pull out the parking lot with my still broken wheeler he stopped me said whenever you get ready to but a belt, call up here and ask for me b/c my GF works the parts desk and i'll have here sell you one at cost..

by that time that was the nicest thing that had happend to me all day! Polaris lists the belt at $120!!!!!!

end of story as of now i'll keep an update once i hear from Polaris
- Daniel