RZR Reliability

Stinky

Stinky

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I'm looking to sell my Rhino and get a RZR.

I'm looking for something that is the same size as the Rhino, or at least close enough to use the same trailer.  I am looking for something in the 800-900 size....possibly like the XP900.

How reliable are those machines?

 
800's are a brick, hard to break. 900's had some issues with valves etc...but likely by now all fixed. 900 had tranny and starter bearing issues as well.  google it, you will find the years to stay away from.  Problem with those cars is too much power and too short a wheelbase. Get into trouble fast(er) than with a 1000.

 
they ALL last damn near forever if you keep them stock and drive like a little old lady on Sunday driving to church.  Once you start driving aggressively and modify it adding more weight you reduce the reliability.  as a buddy of mine says "Keep it stock and let it rock"  

 
megadesertdiesel said:
they ALL last damn near forever if you keep them stock and drive like a little old lady on Sunday driving to church.  Once you start driving aggressively and modify it adding more weight you reduce the reliability.  as a buddy of mine says "Keep it stock and let it rock"  
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Actually out of the group it's only the Polaris engines that seemed to have failed.  

 
I don’t know all the years but my dad’s 900xp has a dry sump stock and has been pretty reliable. I know Polaris got rid of a dry sump at a certain point and maybe it was because they had less engine wear. They have to have things fail to keep making more money. 

 
6500 miles on my 2012 xp900 4  runs perfect and have only done maintenance and a few axels and a couple of rear bearings

 
XP900 has a crappy air filter set up.  Change that and the car is pretty reliable.  I would get the XP900 over the 800.  

 
I have had both. Never an issue with the 800. It did have an after market air cleaner. For the 900 I did have trouble with the valves due to doing a very poor job cleaning the air filter. I would highly recommend the 900 and keep the air filter clean. lol

 
ON the 900 I did the desert concepts seal and vent kit for the box..... redid the valves and then springs and then yard sale'd it in Barstow and got a turbo S.     

 
The 800’s seemed bullet proof. The 900’s were real good once you fixed the air filter issue. The 900 is way better all around performance wise.

 
NA 1000 are the most reliable.  800 have a much weaker design, with no center crank journal/bearing and are way lower output as compared to 900/1000 (obviously the 800 is the smallest displacement, but even in terms of HP/cc they are behind).   900 had issues, mostly due to dust/particle ingestion but just in general they seemed to have top end issues.  1000 were a big jump in terms of HP/cc, suspension, etc.  The 900 also had the most trans bearing issues, AFAIK, but that did carry over to 1000.  Honestly, even the XPTs (which are NOT 1000s, they are 925cc and nothing in Polaris branding, literature, or anything on the vehicle itself say 1000... they are NOT 1000 Turbos, lol) are pretty damn reliable and are another big jump for the platform.  Obviously budget is always going to dictate things, but if I could find a good deal on a '17 XPT or '18 XPT Fox Edition that might be a sweet spot. 

But assuming a XPT is out of budget I'd still shoot for a 1000.  At this point an early 1000 should be pretty cheap, more than a 800 or 900 sure but not a *lot* more.  I have a buddy with over 13k miles on his 1000.  And I know a lot of "high mileage" 1000s out there.  My buddy still owns the 2015 XP 1000 I had and it's been basically flawless, now at 3500-4k miles.  The only actual failure was the primary clutch that cracked in a high-water crossing (I had an aftermarket cover on it that had a vent with a mesh cover... generally great, but bad for water crossings).  I assume hot clutch + cold mountain stream water caused it.  

-TJ

 
tjZ06 said:
NA 1000 are the most reliable.  800 have a much weaker design, with no center crank journal/bearing and are way lower output as compared to 900/1000 (obviously the 800 is the smallest displacement, but even in terms of HP/cc they are behind).   900 had issues, mostly due to dust/particle ingestion but just in general they seemed to have top end issues.  1000 were a big jump in terms of HP/cc, suspension, etc.  The 900 also had the most trans bearing issues, AFAIK, but that did carry over to 1000.  Honestly, even the XPTs (which are NOT 1000s, they are 925cc and nothing in Polaris branding, literature, or anything on the vehicle itself say 1000... they are NOT 1000 Turbos, lol) are pretty damn reliable and are another big jump for the platform.  Obviously budget is always going to dictate things, but if I could find a good deal on a '17 XPT or '18 XPT Fox Edition that might be a sweet spot. 

But assuming a XPT is out of budget I'd still shoot for a 1000.  At this point an early 1000 should be pretty cheap, more than a 800 or 900 sure but not a *lot* more.  I have a buddy with over 13k miles on his 1000.  And I know a lot of "high mileage" 1000s out there.  My buddy still owns the 2015 XP 1000 I had and it's been basically flawless, now at 3500-4k miles.  The only actual failure was the primary clutch that cracked in a high-water crossing (I had an aftermarket cover on it that had a vent with a mesh cover... generally great, but bad for water crossings).  I assume hot clutch + cold mountain stream water caused it.  

-TJ
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You sure the XPTs aren't 1000cc...? :biggrin:

I have seen a number of 900s and 1000s with holes in the trans case.  Not sure if that problem was ever resolved.

 
Rockwood said:
You sure the XPTs aren't 1000cc...? :biggrin:

I have seen a number of 900s and 1000s with holes in the trans case.  Not sure if that problem was ever resolved.
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That issue is resolved by replacing the bearings with good ones.  If they go it is usually within 2000-3000 miles.     

I got luck with my XP1000.  I sold it with 5500 miles on it and still the original transmission and bearings.  I would replace the transmission fluid every 500 miles. 

 
Rockwood said:
You sure the XPTs aren't 1000cc...? :biggrin:

I have seen a number of 900s and 1000s with holes in the trans case.  Not sure if that problem was ever resolved.
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They made upgrades over the years, it happens on XPTs as well, just not as much.  The big problem is the whole top end of the trans is lubed only by splash/lube climb.  The stock fluid isn't very good at climbing.  I always used the Amsoil stuff that (they claim) climbs the gear stacks much better and keeps the top part of the trans much better lubricated.  Still, if I had ever had a reason to pull the trans I would 1000% have done the bearing upgrades.  For example, I put a lower final drive in the '14 XPT 1000 trans in my Z1-swapped RZR, so we did all the bearings at that time.  Anyway, yes it def happens but 900s and early 1000s seem to be the worst. 

-TJ

 
tjZ06 said:
They made upgrades over the years, it happens on XPTs as well, just not as much.  The big problem is the whole top end of the trans is lubed only by splash/lube climb.  The stock fluid isn't very good at climbing.  I always used the Amsoil stuff that (they claim) climbs the gear stacks much better and keeps the top part of the trans much better lubricated.  Still, if I had ever had a reason to pull the trans I would 1000% have done the bearing upgrades.  For example, I put a lower final drive in the '14 XPT 1000 trans in my Z1-swapped RZR, so we did all the bearings at that time.  Anyway, yes it def happens but 900s and early 1000s seem to be the worst. 

-TJ
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Word, dang ol surface tension man. 

Related: found out the Jeep ye olde 4.slow can yank a stranger's RZR XP1000 out from Sand Dam in Ocotillo if you pull the TCM's fuse so it will let you bang the limiter in 1st rather than shift to 2nd...  Only bummer was when broken bits would occasionally lock the rears. :rofl:

 
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