I'll have to say one thing for Yamaha at least....

fourbarrel

fourbarrel

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When a bushing or some such wearable item wears out you can just replace the bushings and not the whole assembly it sits in.I mention this as a bud of mine with a 900 Fusion (05?) anniversary sled tells the bunch of us that were out riding on Friday,the rest of us on Yamahas by the way,that the Fusion will be his last Polaris after having had them most of his life.He had his sled to the dealer for some service work and was questioning a salesman on the new Dragons and he actually got some pretty good advise on staying away from them.First he says that some of the components on the sled that have bushings installed will have to be replaced when they wear out,the bushings that is.For instance one of the arms in the skid will have to be replaced rather than just the bushings.The same goes for the movable sheave in the secondary you apparently can't change the bushing you will have to replace the sheave.What kind of engineering is this anyway?Has anyone else heard this?Surely with the aid of a decent machine shop a person could get around these issues,NOT that I'm going to buy one of them I'm just curious.
 
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fourbarrel said:
When a bushing or some such wearable item wears out you can just replace the bushings and not the whole assembly it sits in.I mention this as a bud of mine with a 900 Fusion (05?) anniversary sled tells the bunch of us that were out riding on Friday,the rest of us on Yamahas by the way,that the Fusion will be his last Polaris after having had them most of his life.He had his sled to the dealer for some service work and was questioning a salesman on the new Dragons and he actually got some pretty good advise on staying away from them. First he says that some of the components on the sled that have bushings installed will have to be replaced when they wear out,the bushings that is. For instance one of the arms in the skid will have to be replaced rather than just the bushings. The same goes for the movable sheave in the secondary you apparently can't change the bushing you will have to replace the sheave.What kind of engineering is this anyway?Has anyone else heard this?Surely with the aid of a decent machine shop a person could get around these issues,NOT that I'm going to buy one of them I'm just curious.
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1. I'm not sure if I'm understanding the first part in bold correctly, but it's a bushing, they are made to wear and be replaced.
2. As far as replacing the arm goes, I have no proof but I call BS on that anyways. I can't see why Polaris would design an arm without bushings that could be replaced instead of the whole arm. Ask your friend to ask his dealer which arm he is talking about exactly.
3. First off, Polaris doesn't make the secondary, TEAM does. You can buy the moveable sheave from Team, it's advertised clearly on their website. http://www.team-ind.com/motorsports/showchart.aspx?app=7&brand=27&type=236&chart=284

Sounds to me like the dealer doesn't know jack #$%&* And he's telling this guy to stay away from Dragons and he owns a 900 Fusion, one of the biggest "flop" sleds of all time? The magazines say the Dragons are awesome, best suspension in the business, solid, strong motors, great chassis, Mike at Van Amburg says the IQ bulkhead is the strongest production chassis he's seen from ANY manufacturer. They have had a few small issues(EFI mapping, slight bog in midrange) but they have been fixed and there has been no reports of motor, chassis or suspension failures.

I'm sure someone will play the brand loyalty card on me, it's simply not true though. I call them like I see them, I won't bitch about my Polaris as long as the crank doesn't go out. :bump: It's treated me well, left me stranded the same amount of times my Yamaha did, ZERO. I will say my sled needs more maintenaince and needed more setup time to get it to full potential but I knew that would be the case from the start, plus I like working on my sled. You can't get any sled more maintenaince free than a Yami.
 
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I agree fully with Shortstop.

I call BS on the need to replace the arm. Bushings are designed to be replaced.
 
I didn't post that to make sound like I was bashing the Polaris sleds I personally like the looks and style of the Dragon and have read the same accolades about the chassis and engine.I really don't know if my bud got the info mixed up or what but as he was telling the other 4 of us we could not believe that he had been given credible info.I know that the secondary is a Team unit and would have faith that they have done their work and made the bushings replaceable and I also would expect that Polaris would do the same type of designing.To make a part that doesn't have replaceable bushings in this day and age is in my mind taking a step backwards.I hope I didn't come across as putting down the sled (Dragon ) but I was merely looking for clarification on this.

Oh I should add that my bud finally does have his Fusion working decent after putting in an SLP engine plate plus what ever recall mods that Polaris did,he had a chance to try the top end out the other day on a lake that was flat a$$ calm and just a skiff of snow.According to his speedo he hit 188km/hr (roughly 112mph) and another bud with an 01 SRX hit 190kmh (about 114mph),mind you this is speedo readings.
 
No offense taken fourbarrel:)

really the fusion big blocks (700-really a 750 and the 900 which was 855 IIRC) were not as much of a turd as some will say. I did not like the styling, and I am not alone, but the real issue was the vibration from the big blocks. Note the 600 HO fusion had no issues that any other first year sled doesn't have. Heck, fisrt year 97 proaction chassis sleds had rivet issues on the bulkhead , and 97 600 twins had bad oil pumps. I am pretty sure yamaha never went back and recalled the heavy oil using 97 600 twin oil pumps, because my new to me venture 600 uses a lot of oil, and others recently have noted that 97 model 600 twins still use a lot more oil than they should. Ours uses a quart every 100 miles, and the plugs are dark, not light tan like they should be even with the smart carbs adjusting jetting. Not even my 00 xc600sp VES uses anywhere near that amount which were known to use more oil than 01+ ves 600 twins due to a higher output oil pump.

The fusion /IQ chassis is a good start, and really, if I were offered a fusion700 or 900 new in box- or out of box, with warranty, I would buy it if it was a smokin deal. I then could get past the not so great looks of the fusion, which actually looks better than the F series cats in the dual spar chassis. Talk about an ugly sled. Yuk

The aftermarket seems to always have a solution to issues even if the factory can't or won't address them, and know that polaris did a lot to remedy the vibration issues, and other small issues like a chaincase cover that warps a little letting oil drip. Polaris came up with an update to fix that.
 
I was looking around at a local dealer one day after work, mainly for something to do. Saw a 900 RMK there, opened the hood just for the heck of it, there must've been about 20 stickers on the clutch cover for recalls/updates. I wouldn't buy one unless you're prepared to spend $1K in aftermarket stuff just to make it perform how it should from the factory.
 
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