Front shock leaking & Steering Rack Replacement | 1400 Miles

[f150harley]

While adding wheel spacers, I noticed excessive play in right front hub. Northstar ADV 5. Never wrecked. Took into dealer because only 3 days left on warranty. Polaris agreed to replace as manufacture defects. Could be one off?? Has anyone else encountered these issues? Have you checked your X? Consider my self average to mild driver. Also, this will be my third belt. Burn. First one was likely my fault based on driver expecting more out of a 3000 lb, under powered machine than it can deliver. Often in low gear and 4 wheel, 15 mph top end. I won't knowingly abuse mechanical equipment anywhere close to what its' rated for.

 

[JTBarlow]

My brother and I ordered and received our Xpeditions at the same time. Both XP 5s and 1 VIN number different. I have done all the accessory installs on both. That being noted, I’ve had zero issues with my machine. It has 1” hub adapters and 4/3 offset wheels bringing it out to 72” overall width and no problems with wheel bearings or shocks. I’ve also done the Gilomen ECU Tune and performance clutch kit. There’s 1100 miles on the original belt with 600 or so miles of that pulling a 1600+Lb trailer.

My brothers Xpedition, on the other hand, has had several issues. I found the rear driveline yoke loose on the output shaft and tightened it up. Then a couple weeks ago we finally got his HCR Suspension kit. When I started disassembly, one of the ball joints in the front upper control arms was loose in its loop. I could spin it by hand and it pretty much fell out once not connected to hub assembly. Then moving to the rear, one of the lower A-arm bolts was completely missing. It tweaked the rear A-arm mount and cracked it in several places, as well as the front hole being wallowed out from however long the bolt had been in there loose.

Like you, there were only a couple days left on the factory warranty but Polaris accepted the claim and are replacing the frame. Our Polaris Dealer has been top Tier and jumped right into it. If it’s not already done, it should be soon.

My overall take is that the factory could use a little better quality control. Some machines seem to come out perfectly while others seem to not really be checked very thoroughly.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

While adding wheel spacers, I noticed excessive play in right front hub. Northstar ADV 5. Never wrecked. Took into dealer because only 3 days left on warranty. Polaris agreed to replace as manufacture defects. Could be one off?? Has anyone else encountered these issues? Have you checked your X? Consider my self average to mild driver. Also, this will be my third belt. Burn. First one was likely my fault based on driver expecting more out of a 3000 lb, under powered machine than it can deliver. Often in low gear and 4 wheel, 15 mph top end. I won't knowingly abuse mechanical equipment anywhere close to what its' rated for.

So they are replacing the steering rack/EPS because it's loose? Mine has a knocking sound up front on both sides when you go over bumps and rocks. They replaced the tie rods which fixed nothing. Now they think the rack is bad. They have updated my case with Polaris but I haven't heard anything back yet.

I am on my first belt with 300 miles. I drive in high 95% of the time. I do have the AA cruiser clutch kit which is designed to keep the belt from slipping as much as stock

 

[f150harley]

My brother and I ordered and received our Xpeditions at the same time. Both XP 5s and 1 VIN number different. I have done all the accessory installs on both. That being noted, I’ve had zero issues with my machine. It has 1” hub adapters and 4/3 offset wheels bringing it out to 72” overall width and no problems with wheel bearings or shocks. I’ve also done the Gilomen ECU Tune and performance clutch kit. There’s 1100 miles on the original belt with 600 or so miles of that pulling a 1600+Lb trailer.

My brothers Xpedition, on the other hand, has had several issues. I found the rear driveline yoke loose on the output shaft and tightened it up. Then a couple weeks ago we finally got his HCR Suspension kit. When I started disassembly, one of the ball joints in the front upper control arms was loose in its loop. I could spin it by hand and it pretty much fell out once not connected to hub assembly. Then moving to the rear, one of the lower A-arm bolts was completely missing. It tweaked the rear A-arm mount and cracked it in several places, as well as the front hole being wallowed out from however long the bolt had been in there loose.

Like you, there were only a couple days left on the factory warranty but Polaris accepted the claim and are replacing the frame. Our Polaris Dealer has been top Tier and jumped right into it. If it’s not already done, it should be soon.

My overall take is that the factory could use a little better quality control. Some machines seem to come out perfectly while others seem to not really be checked very thoroughly.

Thanks for relating actual experience. Recommend that others consider checking out their X in these areas regardless of warranty situation. I'm not a mechanic. My local dealer is top notch and their service personnel have been great to work with and found issues that I hadn't detected.

 

[f150harley]

So they are replacing the steering rack/EPS because it's loose? Mine has a knocking sound up front on both sides when you go over bumps and rocks. They replaced the tie rods which fixed nothing. Now they think the rack is bad. They have updated my case with Polaris but I haven't heard anything back yet.

I am on my first belt with 300 miles. I drive in high 95% of the time. I do have the AA cruiser clutch kit which is designed to keep the belt from slipping as much as stock

Thanks and wishing you the best going forward with Polaris. Sounds like I could be in for a longer maintenance experience than where im at today. Not clear on exact reason why they are putting in new steering rack other than manufacture defect. I will update as I find out more. HCR just 40 minutes north of me may be in for a lot of business. I'm having the dealer pull my performance Gilomen and re / weight it. Or ... reinstall my old helix and spring then add polaris's service advisory clutch weights. Also, noted that my first belt replacement happened when using the Polaris stock clutch at around 600? miles.

 

[f150harley]

Thanks and wishing you the best going forward with Polaris. Sounds like I could be in for a longer maintenance experience than where im at today. Not clear on exact reason why they are putting in new steering rack other than manufacture defect. I will update as I find out more. HCR just 40 minutes north of me may be in for a lot of business. I'm having the dealer pull my performance Gilomen and re / weight it. Or ... reinstall my old helix and spring then add polaris's service advisory clutch weights. Also, noted that my first belt replacement happened when using the Polaris stock clutch at around 600? miles.

After communication with Gilomen, I'm going to max out the weights in the Gilomen performance setup I have installed right now. Will test and evaluate moving forward. This decision made in part by learning that the polaris service advisory weights are currently on National Back Order. Update 2/23/2024 = Going back to Polaris Stock clutch primarily because my dealer had pre-ordered multiple Polaris Service Advisory weights when the kit was first announced.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

After communication with Gilomen, I'm going to max out the weights in the Gilomen performance setup I have installed right now. Will test and evaluate moving forward. This decision made in part by learning that the polaris service advisory weights are currently on National Back Order.

I maxed the weights out on my AA kit. I think rpm went down another 150-200 rpm from AA's recommend settings for my tire size. So far I haven't saw any downfalls. Once I get the skid plate and rear bumper and rear winch installed I will probably have added over 350 lbs extra to the XP5 (includes 4 packout full of tools and supplies and the roof rack). Once we get it to Colorado and leave it there I will see how it does. Our place is at 8500' and we ride up to 14,000 so I will be down on power quite a bit.

About everything is on backorder with Polaris. They seem to still be having supply chain issues. I finally got my spare rear axle that I had ordered months ago. Front is still on backorder. A guy at the dealership just sold another XP5 and he said everything the customer wanted was on backorder (roof rack, rails, etc).