Polaris

[rundrave]

I think it all comes down to personal preferance, and what fits you best period. I am not gonna sit here say my machine can do this and your machine cant. I bet we could start a thread on honda, yamaha, suziki, kawasaki, bombardier etc etc, and you would get the same mixed results, some have had no problems at all, others have dealt with complete lemmons.

I also think a big part is normal maintanance, checking fluids, greaseing the proper parts, over tightening, or not tightening enough. Ive ridden with, and seen alot of people who flat out dont know there machines well enough. They just ride and ride and ride, and when something breaks they cry foul to the dealer.

All manufactures are gonna have a lemmon regardless of the make and model. And as far as recalls go, recalls are getting to be like windows updates, everybody has them.

[fasternu]

fishguy, I was born in 1972, which would mean I wasn't even legal to drive a michine until 1984 (at least). So of course, I didn't ride those machines in the 60-70's. But we aren't talking about those years. I believe we are talking about NOW. The machines I was talking about weren't 30 years old, one was 2 DAYS old, another was about 30 WEEKS old. Maintenance, age, etc. should have nothing to do with it. I never in my post even said the Hondas are perfect, I have seen people that have needed to have work done on them, I was just stating some facts about Polaris, which somebody requested. By the way, I know of people still riding Hondas made in 1984. Anybody out there still riding a 1984 Polaris? Just wondering.

[rundrave]

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But we aren't talking about those years. I believe we are talking about NOW. The machines I was talking about weren't 30 years old, one was 2 DAYS old, another was about 30 WEEKS old. Maintenance, age, etc. should have nothing to do with it.

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I know of people still riding Hondas made in 1984. Anybody out there still riding a 1984 Polaris? Just wondering.

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lol way to contradict yourself

[MNmikew]

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By the way, in our group of 10 riders, we have never gotten a Honda stuck, and we can usually put them in places the Polaris would never go. These are just my experiences, please take it easy on me.

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Come ride with us. I guarantee a Polaris will be pulling you out. Hondas are not immune to problems. In fact there are a couple threads here about some. The Polaris suspension has far more ground clearance and wheel travel than a comparable Honda. Don't get me wrong, I've owned a few hondas (atc110, 185s, 200x, 250r's) and they're good machines as well but the "Holy Grail" of ATVs, ah no.

[Dave]

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Anybody out there still riding a 1984 Polaris? Just wondering.

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One of Polaris' 1st 350 liquid-cooled machines is still running very well in my family.

[sparkyaber]

Here we go- another mine is better than yours thread .

No two things that have not been brought up so far:

#1. More polaris atv's out there, -equals- more of them broken down, or on the other side more happy owners.

We just here alot about them because there are alot of owners.

#2 If someone had problems with his brand new polaris and is still riding it, he/she is not going to brag about it here. I mean, some of you have stated that you had ridden polaris in the past, had problems with them, and never will ride them again. Others who have them that have never had a problem with their polaris will buy another. These are the two groups that are posting here. One group that is left out is the group that owns one and keeps having problems with it. I know that I would not be bragging abou the fact that I just spent 6000 dollars on an atv that keeps breaking and I have to keep fixing. Come on you know there are some of you out there. These are just a few things I have noticed while going though this thread.

My experiences-

My prairie 700 with mudlites gets stuck easier than my buddies polaris 500 h.o. with stock tires.

My neighbors Polaris 500 h.o. has an ignition problem that can not be diagnosed, for the past 6 months.

All Polaris ride better than my Prairie on fast bumpy trails (strait axle vs Indepent rear suspension)

Other aquaintances have had minor problems with electronics and other assorted inconvinences (see #1 above)

I myself would never own a polaris atv, but I would own one of their motorcycles or snowmobiles (if the price was right on the sled, I still am a ski-doo man ).

Just the way I feel

good luck

abe

[jltimm]

You have to start using your yeller' differential lock lever on that Prairie to out do the polaris HO.I rode my old 2003 Grizzly in 2wd where a friend needed 4wd on his polaris 500.He was very upset when he saw I was only in 2wd when I got through the "difficult" area!We both had 27" tires also.I pulled him out several times that day,and never got stuck myself.All the others would just get out of the way when that mean old bear was coming through!I had alot of fun and bragging rights for awhile after that day!

[sparkyaber]

the problem that I have encountered many times is that I run out of ground clearance and get hung up in ruts, or, if there is a lot of water, I just float. Can do much about either of those, and if I am doing something wrong, let me know .

[BiffleFan]

I own a 2001 rubicon. Have worked it hard the last five years. Was out chasing these buffalo a month ago and destroyed it. piston in many peices rod crank, cylinder. Havn't even got to the connection to the tranny. I would go and buy another one tomorrow. Also had polaris and just picked up a ranger, am gettin to really like it for ice fishin. does anyone know if I might have damage to my tranny if the motor goes like it did? Repair guy said everything could be shot

[tripper]

Sparky, you are diffenetly doing things wrong. 1. stay out of rutted areas or areas you might leave a tread mark. 2. Stay out of water and you wont float, Or you have to become a fat lazy atver so you will make the machine sink.

[CJG]

I put on about 2500 miles a year on 4 wheelers mostly in a 3 month period. I have been running mainly Polaris Sportsmans because in my opinion they have the best suspension and ridability by far. I have drove the Rubicon and some other ind. suspension machines but to me nothing has come close to the Sportsman. I have had a few small problems but most of them came after around 5500 miles. I have been very happy with the Polaris atv's.

I did own one honda and had no trouble with it. However, there was nothing to go wrong on it and it was brutal to ride vs the Polaris Sportsman.

I do know that the early Polaris machines did have more reliability issues then the compition but the field has leveled and I think you could make the case for most of the atv's having good reliability today.

[sparkyaber]

tripper, I always tread lightly, unless I am in an atv park/riding area/playground. This is where I have the problems. Other atv's have much higher ground clearance and dig bigger ruts in mud holes, I just get hung up following others' paths, mostly under water so the look fine and then.. stuck! get the winch out

[dougger222]

I bought one of the first 2,000 Polaris 700 Sportsmans and you could say I was the guinea pig. Never owning or even riding on a atv prior to the purchase I opted on the full 5 year zero deductible option. With tax and all it was $8,040 out the door. In the first 6 months it only went to the shop a couple times. Twice the headlight assembly was replaced due to melting, the speedo assembly was replaced, a torn carb. boot was replaced, the motor was taken apart twice in a 3 year period. With the repairs costing the insurance company an easy $3,000, the out of pocked expense besides the initial $600 was $150. The atv gets used more than most other atv's and has pulled 2-3,000 lbs many times.

Two weeks ago when the atv was stolen out of my yard it had under 1,000 miles on it of which all were tough non trail ridden miles. Luckily the unit was insured so an insurance check will be paid, the thieves also got my Strikemaster Lazer 10 inch auger. A replacement 2 hp 10 in Lazer unit was bought early this week at Gander Mountain in Lakeville for $299 plus tax so that wasn't too bad.

The day the wheeler was stolen a 2006 800 EFI Sportsman cammo version with a 2,500 warn winch and a glacier plow mount was ordered. With a factory 3 year warranty and tax and license the unit was $9,700. The unit has 20 miles on it and I like everything except the tiny 1 1/4 in factory receiver mount. The 700 had a large aftermarket 2 inch receiver that worked great. Thinking about torching off the factory mount and welding on a two inch receiver but don't want to void the warranty.

[sparkyaber]

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With tax and all it was $8,040 out the door.

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That is a lot of money for a quad- My 700 prairie was 5600 out the door (used, 23 miles)

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In the first 6 months it only went to the shop a couple times. Twice the headlight assembly was replaced due to melting, the speedo assembly was replaced, a torn carb. boot was replaced, the motor was taken apart twice in a 3 year period.

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If my quad broke down that many times in a few years I would swear off that brand forever. "motor tore apart twice", ouch!

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The atv gets used more than most other atv's and has pulled 2-3,000 lbs many times.

Two weeks ago when the atv was stolen out of my yard it had under 1,000 miles on it of which all were tough non trail ridden miles.

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1000 miles? we put on that many miles in a year! These are hard working, hard riding miles.

This sounds like a testimate as to how bad polaris quads, not how good they are.

abe

[jltimm]

You will find out that alot of polaris owners are die hards and there is no changing them!Alot of them get defensive VERY easily!Once they see that an ATV can be used hard without alot of mechanical failures or shortcomings,on a non-polaris brand ATV,they will see the light and never go back.No grease zerks and just routine maintenance are all there is to most of the big three.I admit that I'am a machine "abuser",but have had only a couple of breaks in the last 9 years of riding.But when machines are pushed to their limits over and over again,something's gotta give!Thanks for the truthfull ownership post of your wheeler Douger222.I still can't beleive you will own another polaris after your troubles?

[tripper]

sparky, I apoligize if my post sounded like I was getting on you. Tried to keep it on the light side, maybe should of added the lol.

In the parks some guys are running with lift kits and over sized tires which gives them more clearence then any stock machine. It only takes a fraction of an inch to high center you and stop you. For my 1 cent you have to buy the machine with the highest clearance and then put lift kits and over sized tires on it. But once the ruts are dug deep enough you will be back to where you are now, useing the winch.

[sparkyaber]

tripper- a.o.k. we all should tread lightly where we are suppose to. The less marks we leave the better for the enviornment and for our sport. I took no offense to your post, I just wanted it to be clear that I am not out destroying our surroundigs.

abe

[Dave]

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No grease zerks and just routine maintenance are all there is to most of the big three.

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You still spreading rumors about Polaris' olden days

There still may be a couple of zerks in the steering post but the rest of zerks on Polaris machines have been gone for quite a few years.

[clam up]

I just picked up an '05 700 EFI....2 zerks in front....2 in back...that's it.

[rundrave]

I got them on my 04 scrambler.

[dougger222]

Back in late 2001 I needed the largest atv on the market, same as last week. I've had 7 people on the 700 at once, and three of them were over 200 lbs on URL a couple winters ago driving through a foot of slush, this could have caused one of the motor issues. For the first three years with the 700 I used it to clean up job sites after roofing for about 100-120 jobs, these are not easy miles! The same 5x7 trailer used to tow the atv was then used to haul the debris. Like I said, of the 1,000 miles on the machine when stolen 1-2% of the miles driven were without a trailer.

I don't consider myself a die hard Polaris fan, more of a pro USA buyer. Sure not every part of the Polaris ATV is made in the USA but perhaps more than others. Sort of like somebody who swears never to buy a foreign Asian vehicle the same people probably would never buy a Suzuki, Honda, or Yamaha atv.

The new 800 has a full three year warranty so I will see if I need to use it or not. If there are problems in the three years it will be sold before the warranty expires.

The largest trailer the 700 pulled was a 1978 Midas 8x16 tandem axle, fully loaded, a little more than it is rated for!

[JohnMickish]

Would you guys buy a pickup with no grease zerks? I didn't think so. "permanently" sealed has it's advantages, and so does the old grease zerk style. With the zerks you know for sure it has grease and the water has been expelled. With the vehicle experience I recieved as a vehicle mechanic in the USAF and the places I have been I'd say if you ride in the sand you would prefer a sealed tierod, but if you ride in water and mud you should have one with a grease zerk to get the stuff out. It has been my experience fromthe deserts of North Africa to the mud and water of North Dakota that water and mud have a much higher mass than sand and can get driven into places you wouldn't think of. I have found mud inside of tires that didn't lose air! Water being much smaller molecularly than sand also plays a big difference, and think of the pressure of the car wash you use.

Zerks or no zerks it's really a moot point. I sure wouldn't use it as the basis of chosing a machine or not.

[jltimm]

Dave, polaris has come a long way on their atv's.No more three chain drives!ALOT less grease zerks!2 strokes and diesels are out!They no longer make a foot shift model in a 4x4!They now have EBS!I actually like some of their features with #1 being their soft seats and their ride.And for Douger222 almost every polaris atv has a Fuji engine in them which is made in Japan.You are right about the 600-800 though they are American made.Although I would trust the Fuji engine over them anyhow.As long as you like your atv is all that matters,but I do not see how people can have so many troubles with something and not try to better themselves and try something else instead of supporting polaris as they would NEVER stand behind their product when I owned one!

[tripper]

I was disapointed when polaris went to sealed bearings on their machines. For me the time spent greasing was also time well spent going over the machine making sure I had not damaged anything or looking for sighns of wear on anything.

[fishinphilth]

Oh yeah, My dad can beat up your dad while riding down the trail on a polaris, with a honda engine, artic cat wheels, and a yamaha handle bars. To each their own. But mine is better than yours, what ever it is.