4wd problem

[lupo]

I am having the pretty much the same problem,, I have 12 hrs on my 24 xp5 northstar, lots of vibration while in 4wd,, kinda like the drive shaft is out of phase/balance or the carrier bearing is junk,, took all the skid plates off last night and the carrier bearing looks to be in good shape and everything looks to be in order,, think I’m gonna put a camera under near the front drive shaft and see what it does,, i agree with JTbarlow and it actually could be a bent drive shaft from the factory,, had lots of utv’s and never have i felt this bad of vibration from the 4wd,, even my wife is like wtf is going on,,, thought about the after market drive shafts but at 1600 I’ll let the dealer deal with it, I just like to have some knowledge or proof when I get down there so I don’t get the run around and have it sit there for a month…..

 

[lupo]

If any of you have any suggestions let me know please,, thanx in advance…

 

[JTBarlow]

On the one we found with a bent driveshaft, we just took it to a driveline shop and had them replace the tube. I don’t know what the actual price was but it was less than buying a new one and they phased and balanced it properly.
We could have went the warranty route as the machine only had 50 miles on it, but there was the chance of just getting another one that was bowed or out of phase.

 

[lupo]

Sounds like a good idea,, how did you figure out it was bent,, I was thinking of driving it while trying to mount a camera or something,,

 

[JTBarlow]

Sounds like a good idea,, how did you figure out it was bent,, I was thinking of driving it while trying to mount a camera or something,,

It had a bad vibration at around 33 mph. First check found the U-joints were way out of phase on the front section. The slip spline is keyed, so I had to grind the spline out to get it close, but the closest I could get it was still a half spline off. That much wouldn’t be enough to be a real problem, but it still had the vibration at that speed so we pulled the driveline completely out. At that point the bow to the shaft was plainly visible.

One thing to note is this vibration was there whether in 1, 2 or 4 wheel drive, and at a particular speed (32+ mph). Quite a few Xpeditions have a “growling” vibration only when in 4 wheel drive, and at all speeds. Some people have got this to go away for a little bit by greasing the spline joint and/or u-joints, but it typically comes back within a short time of riding. In this case it would appear to be poor tolerances in the spline joint or low quality u-joints. My own Xpedition has had this growling feel from the beginning but hasn’t seemed to affect anything in particular. I’ve changed the front diff oil a couple times and there’s no more metal in the oil than is typical on these types of differential. It is a little annoying but I only run 4 wheel drive when it’s absolutely necessary, so it’s not an all the time thing.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

I just put new u joints in my Ranger because they were wore out. While I was at it I drilled and tapped both sides of the u-joint and installed quarter inch Allen set screws.. install them with loctite. This took all of the slop out of the splines. Can't take credit for this. My dad did it about 20 years ago on a John Deere Gator that we used to have

Precision 338 u-joints are 25 bucks at O'Reilly's. I got Moog 338 on Amazon for 12 bucks a piece

Now talking about my Xpedition I've got 5 to 600 miles on it I've never Greased the drive shaft and I have no noise from it at any speed

 

[JTBarlow]

I’m talking about the slip-joint spline in the middle of the driveshaft.
The U-joint splines at the front diff and transmission output shaft have 2 bolts to clamp them down on the shafts, but that’s a great secondary securement option. I have found a couple of those that weren’t fully tightened down, but one I torqued them up, there wasn’t any play.

 

[lupo]

Well I went to the dealer today and expressed my concerns regarding the vibration/growl or whatever we want to call it and they said it’s normal and just to drive it since it’s under warranty,, I drove it around the neighborhood like 3 times to make sure I’m no crazy before I went down there,, kinda figured something like that would happen,,, at this point I kinda agree with them and let it self destruct and then let them replace whatever explodes,, pretty upset with (ride now Rancho) in Las Vegas as this is the fix or whatever you want to call it… not spending 1600-1700 on a better drive shaft even though I know I should,,, but shouldn’t have to,,,,,what would you guys do? Definitely don’t need my buggy sitting at the dealer for months for them to say nothing is wrong with it,,,,

 

[JTBarlow]

With my Xpedition, the growling vibration only happens when I’m in 4 wheel drive and typically while turning or when it’s under load and possibly slipping like in the sand. I’ve pretty much accepted it as normal. 2600+ miles on my Xpedition and the oil changes have had the normal sparkly looking oil from the front differential with no chunks or large flakes in it, and everything is still working as it should.

I just don’t run in 4 wheel drive unless it’s needed, like in the sand, mud or really steep hills, and only for as long as needed.

 

[lupo]

I agree JTBarlow ,, just going to do the same.. I do love the machine and this is my only complaint so far,,, thanks for everyone’s input,,,

 

[Charlie]

I am having the pretty much the same problem,, I have 12 hrs on my 24 xp5 northstar, lots of vibration while in 4wd,, kinda like the drive shaft is out of phase/balance or the carrier bearing is junk,, took all the skid plates off last night and the carrier bearing looks to be in good shape and everything looks to be in order,, think I’m gonna put a camera under near the front drive shaft and see what it does,, i agree with JTbarlow and it actually could be a bent drive shaft from the factory,, had lots of utv’s and never have i felt this bad of vibration from the 4wd,, even my wife is like wtf is going on,,, thought about the after market drive shafts but at 1600 I’ll let the dealer deal with it, I just like to have some knowledge or proof when I get down there so I don’t get the run around and have it sit there for a month…..

I have not taken it to the dealer yet which is a 4hr return trip. I'm waiting for their fix for my leaky flip up windshield but I've told them about the issue with the noise and feel. The response was not promising. He said Polaris says the noise is coming from the the connection at the Differential and they allow 2hrs to push the dif forward slide back the yoke, grease it and they consider it regular maintence. The fact is that the machine should be quite like everywhere sxs I've owned and they need to permanently fix the issue. Not sure where we are going to end up here but paid far too much for a sxs to have a problem like this. Does anyone know if the 2025s have the same issue

 

[JTBarlow]

I have not taken it to the dealer yet which is a 4hr return trip. I'm waiting for their fix for my leaky flip up windshield but I've told them about the issue with the noise and feel. The response was not promising. He said Polaris says the noise is coming from the the connection at the Differential and they allow 2hrs to push the dif forward slide back the yoke, grease it and they consider it regular maintence. The fact is that the machine should be quite like everywhere sxs I've owned and they need to permanently fix the issue. Not sure where we are going to end up here but paid far too much for a sxs to have a problem like this. Does anyone know if the 2025s have the same issue

The last Xpedition I worked on was a ‘25 ADV and had the same growling vibration in 4 wheel drive.

 

[attakracer]

The last Xpedition I worked on was a ‘25 ADV and had the same growling vibration in 4 wheel drive.

Soooo Polaris hasn't taken any of the complaints seriously obviously !! Sad they can't fix the minor things for us on such an expensive machine to make it an INCREDIBLE machine !! Not much expense to them to improve this car enough to make us HAPPY we spent so much !!

 

[B B]

What's the likelihood that this issue leads to bigger, more expensive, damage to the machine. Who really knows what more serious damage this could be causing? The response of, "Just ride it it'll be fine" seems to be rolling the dice once the warranty runs out, especially if an extended warranty wasn't purchased.

The thought of a class action lawsuit doesn't seem like it would gain much traction because, technically the machine runs as it should and I wouldn't doubt for a second that Polaris is banking on that and in no rush to address it.

My best advice is document, document, document. Be sure your dealership is maintaining documentation of any complaints and all repairs done to your machine and don't leave without copies of same.

JMHO