08 800R with just over 4000km - Time for a rebuild?

[Calg_Rider]

Hi Guys,

I am in the early stages of preparing for the next season. At the end of last year I was noticing a decrease in power, vibration and the clutch was getting noisy. I dont have the time,tools or expertise to get it all sorted out myself so I am headed to the shop. I was expecting a full clutch rebuild and some basic cleaning of the RAVE etc but from reading the forums it looks like I am at risk of this motor going boom. Should I be expecting a top end rebuild or should I be saving up for a full rebuild. What are the typical costs with these two major service items?

For reference:
08 Summit XP Everest 800R
- Stock unit with all the original recalls done.
- synthetic oil from day one.
- Easy on belts so far - 3rd belt just installed at the end of last year. Never had one blow just replacing for reliability.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[Lowlife82]

IMO......if you are like some of us and only get so many days in the hills then reliability is key. I have a couple spare sleds so it isn't as bad BUT if you break down in the middle of winter and can't do the work yourself you are then at the mercy of someone else to repair and at the mercy of their time frame.


My vote is for preventative maintenance-full rebuild due to year of sled and km's

 

[deaner]

Pistons for sure. Measure your crank run out and that will tell you where your bottom end is at. If you need a top and bottom rebuild just get a factory rebuilt shortblock.

 

[Bnorth]

Agreed measure the crank runout and if it's good then just do a top end. If your clutch has never been done then it will need pretty well everything.

 

[Lowlife82]

Just a question while on topic. If your outside crank bearings are both good but your center one is ready to go will a crank runout show that?

 

[sirkdev]

Hi Guys,

I am in the early stages of preparing for the next season. At the end of last year I was noticing a decrease in power, vibration and the clutch was getting noisy. I dont have the time,tools or expertise to get it all sorted out myself so I am headed to the shop. I was expecting a full clutch rebuild and some basic cleaning of the RAVE etc but from reading the forums it looks like I am at risk of this motor going boom. Should I be expecting a top end rebuild or should I be saving up for a full rebuild. What are the typical costs with these two major service items?

For reference:
08 Summit XP Everest 800R
- Stock unit with all the original recalls done.
- synthetic oil from day one.
- Easy on belts so far - 3rd belt just installed at the end of last year. Never had one blow just replacing for reliability.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

my 08 xp started making the grinding, vibration just before my crank piled up at 1800 km.

 

[neilsleder]

Have you ever greased the outer bearings? If not a short block might be the answer. It might be more money to buy then all the parts to rebuild but you should make it up in saved labour. And if you just do the top end and go drop down into a bowl in the back country and your sled blows the crank, well now you got a chopper bill on top of the repair bill. But then again there are lots of guys that have more kms then your sled and they still run strong! My 09 800r had just under 4500km and I still trusted it.

 

[oler1234]

IMO it may not need to be done. I did mine at 5500km with the Bb and even then it was questionable. Compression tests do not lie, should be around 120-130psi. If it pulls that psi in 3-4 strokes you are good. Check the crank run out, if its past 4thou you need to replace that.

 

[lilduke]

For guys that can fix there own stuff its a bit different,, for you Id say sell your sled to somebody in Saskatchewan for 4299$ keep the 4g you are going to have to spend on repairs. Then low ball some guy with a Summit X Etec that the dudes wife rode a couple times....

 

[hbar218]

For guys that can fix there own stuff its a bit different,, for you Id say sell your sled to somebody in Saskatchewan for 4299$ keep the 4g you are going to have to spend on repairs. Then low ball some guy with a Summit X Etec that the dudes wife rode a couple times....

sounds logical, lol

 

[Lowlife82]

Just a question while on topic. If your outside crank bearings are both good but your center one is ready to go will a crank runout show that?

Can anybody answer this one?

 

[deaner]

For guys that can fix there own stuff its a bit different,, for you Id say sell your sled to somebody in Saskatchewan for 4299$ keep the 4g you are going to have to spend on repairs. Then low ball some guy with a Summit X Etec that the dudes wife rode a couple times....

Thats actually pretty darn good advice. Even if you let the thing go for 4k, it isnt going to be worth 8k after paying someone to put a new engine in it.

 

[polarisdragon800]

Can anybody answer this one?

You wouldn't think so.

 

[Modman]

Hi Guys,

I am in the early stages of preparing for the next season. At the end of last year I was noticing a decrease in power, vibration and the clutch was getting noisy. I dont have the time,tools or expertise to get it all sorted out myself so I am headed to the shop. I was expecting a full clutch rebuild and some basic cleaning of the RAVE etc but from reading the forums it looks like I am at risk of this motor going boom. Should I be expecting a top end rebuild or should I be saving up for a full rebuild. What are the typical costs with these two major service items?

For reference:
08 Summit XP Everest 800R
- Stock unit with all the original recalls done.
- synthetic oil from day one.
- Easy on belts so far - 3rd belt just installed at the end of last year. Never had one blow just replacing for reliability.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

The bottom end issues on the Doo motors are more related to the 07 and older model years. Speculation is where the water cooled cases did not allow same rate of expansion on the bearing races and the cases. Inner race heat and pre-loading of the bearings caused failures. This is supported by many of them failing within walking distance of the parking lot.....LOL

Evidence of this is that the 08 motors carry a larger clearance on the bearing, and a t-stat (not present on the 07). The t-stat helps moderate the coolant temp, helping rate of expansion in the case.

Measure crank run out, but I would say anything over 3 thou and I would replace it. If you're gonna take it to a dealership and do a top end at 4000 kms, might as well get a short block and do it all at once, then you are not waiting on the other shoe to drop if your bottom end is a ticking time bomb. The other thing about doing it this way is the Doo shortblocks are warrantied for a year if installed by a dealer (double check that but pretty sure its a year warranty). You cannot buy a replacement crank if yours fails down the road, so you are doing a shortblock anyway at that point.

 

[Modman]

Can anybody answer this one?

Probably not, depends on the issue with your bearing. If it catastrophically fails, yes probably. If the bearing just wears and seizes, couldn't say for sure unless the thrust value was off spec, probably not much way to tell visually without a boroscope. If its getting good lube then there shouldn't be too much issue, the center bearings are lubed by the oil pump in most. Only way to confirm the thrust measurement is take motor down to crank. If you are really curious, I would call someone like Adrien Bernard (CVTech) and see what they say, they re-build cranks daily and have seen way more than most.

 

[snopro]

For guys that can fix there own stuff its a bit different,, for you Id say sell your sled to somebody in Saskatchewan for 4299$ keep the 4g you are going to have to spend on repairs. Then low ball some guy with a Summit X Etec that the dudes wife rode a couple times....

Best advice so far.

 

[Barry Barton]

I own my own company and if a machine cost more than half the value of the machine I find it cheaper to buy a new one. Like one guy said if u fix one the other might go and then get it out of the mountains and it's better to sell and buy new. It's simple math 4000 to sell the sled or a 4000 bill to fix maybe if u keep it and it's still worth 4000 and u have 8000 into it a new sled is about 14000 so it will only cost u 6000 to buy a new sled and with a new sled it's hopefully headach free for many years.

 

[Megrizzly]

You can list it higher than that in sask. list it at $5500 obo and people will offer $5000. You walk away happy and they walk away thinking they got a great deal. 4000km isn't a whole lot and every $$$ you can pull from selling is less $$$ that you have to dig into your account for.

 

[Calg_Rider]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think its been decided to let her go to a new home. I have loved this machine and am soooooo tempted to mod it up and make it a sleeper but alas that cost mucho $$ and ongoing work on the unit. Now I need to decide to just re invest the 5G I would have spent on a Summit sport or look for a second job to come up with the additional 3-4 Gs to go all the way to an SP. The sport is the refined version of my old girl but with some really nice goodies - pivoting rear suspension and short rod track, same front end, slightly less storage than a sp but still some. So i guess i need to sort out if its worth the extra 3-4 Gs to get the etec and the sm chassis.

Again, thanks to all for the comments.

 

[Calg_Rider]

omg - I might not be as bad as I thought. I am actually at 3500km and the crank was done for the recall on the 08's at 1200 km. Would I be silly to assume the bottom end got a good once over and regrease at the same time? If so am I really only in need of a top end and that would save me a ton of cash and carry this unit forward another season or two. Now after all the 'what ifs' come true what can a guy get a top end for these days?