Me and my buddy both purchased 03 700's and with 2 months and 200 miles started noticing the paint popping off the welds on the frames, and a couple ugly cracks. My buddy got his machine replaced, after several nasty fights with the dealer, now i am in the process of trying to get mine replaced,ito week 2 with the dealer and still nothing.

 

If theres one thing the 700 are known for is there super strong frames Id have to see that.roadking a good friend of mine works at a polaris dealership down by branson Missouri whats the name of the dealer I mite be able to give him a call and help you out...

 

well range rover the dealer we bought our bikes from is called boat world in harrison arkansas, about 30 miles south of branson. There's no doubt about the crack in the frame on my buddy,s bike. The dealer had the bike sent to a welding shop and they magnafluxed the frame and verified the crack, that's how he got his machine replaced. Now im going through all the same crap trying to get mine replaced. The regional guy for this area will be here on wednesday to examine my machine take digital pic's of the frame and e-mail them to the factory. The dealer say's they will make a decision on wed for sure, i'll letya know how it turns out. Im not going to settle for anything else but a new machine thats what they did for my buddy and i think thats only fair for me too. I guess i'll find out wed, I HOPE.

 

okay, you asked for it.
Day I picked up my 02 700, I drove for two hours, unloaded it from the trailer and blew the crank seal, spouted oil all over. 2 crank seals later Polaris told the dealer it was due to casting flash in the oil passages. Fixed and I'm still riding with the same engine, although I didn't want to. Month later took it back because of the awful noise the EBS causes the front end to make when you let off quick at speed on loose ground. Proven to be normal, now I don't notice it anymore. Then I got a front wheel replaced because the cheap chrome plating flaked off. Then I went through the water pump problem, dealer fixed it after I couldn't seal it myself. Then a plastic fitting in the radiator hose ruptured, replaced with a newer better one. At that time, the hot light came on about 1 second before it blew. Then radiator hose developed a leak because it rubbed against the vertical frame rail and wore through. The heat shield on the exhaust lost a bolt and rattled annoyingly, so I removed it. I lost the front grill (radiator cover) several times, it just pops on and off, so I replaced it with a piece of expanded metal, looks really cool and it is secured to the machine. The chrome wheels got rusty pretty fast, I try to keep up with them but still dissapointing. My low beam headlights are crooked, probably can adjust them back, but the high beam sits crooked in the housing and I don't know why, it hasn't been hit.
I realize this is my fault and not Polaris, but I'm on a roll so I'll keep going. I installed the Highlifter lift kit last year and had no problems until I finally put on bigger tires. The stock front axles lasted 3 hours with 28 inch Mud Lites. I put in one Gorilla axle and one other brand (that I won't mention the name of until warranty is sorted out), I did this because of a long drawn out backorder issue. After 30 minutes I broke the axle that is not a Gorilla. Just received the replacement axle, it is different, so I'm hoping it will be ok. If not I'm buying another Gorilla, even if I can't get my money back on the other brand.

 

ridinaroadking,
can you describe to me where the frame cracks are, so I can look on my machine?
thanks

 

Bummer on the big problems but so far most all major stuff I have found(Asked on 4 different forums) has been related to '02s or the owners having too much fun...Thanx to all for the input, northstar2 you've really had your share...

 

Northstar2- The cracks on my machine are located as follows. Looking through the left fenderwell theres a bar running up and down that connects the upper and lower frame rails together on the lower frame rail right there a nasty crack about an inch long, the paint was also popped off the weld in that spot. Then on the right side looking through the rear fenderwell looking foreward no crack but paint popping off all the welds in that location. Basicly almost every weld on the entire machine had the paint popping off please keep in mind this was a 2 month old machine so you can see why i was pissed to say the least. Anyway after a 2 week fight with the dealer and polaris they replaced my machine but it still cost me some more money.Wash your machine real good and check it out closely, since polaris claims they have never heard of this problem before imagine that??!!

 

thanks for the info guys.

I'm a big polaris fan but I still want to know the true unsugared facts
when it comes to problems with the machines.. hopefully Polaris will
treat folks right on these issues and it will also mean a better
manufactured machine... but like anything made, if the quality of
manufacture declines, so will sales...

 

I checked the frame welds on my 03 700 and everything looks okay, I did notice one of the radiator hoses was slightly rubbing the frame so I fixed that problem before it rubbed a hole in it.