[alloutdoors]

I just finished the first service (changed the front, rear, engine oil and grease in fittings) on my ranger and found it to be relatively simple and straight forward. I will post a picture today of the oil filling tube I put together so service to the front and rear, so adding fluid is simple. As a preventive step, I'm inclined to change the front/rear fluids more frequently then recommended in the manual given the capacities, 570 Main Gearcase (Transmission) 41 oz. and Front Gearcase, 9.3 oz.

The only portion which irritated me was how difficult it is to access/get to the actual air filter (to actually remove it, inspect it/clean out the box), what a pain on these units. Any tips on the air box would be appreciated

 

[alloutdoors]

Funnel created for adding fluid to front/rear diff.

 

[POS POLARIS]

wouldn't get carried away with service intervals unless you're going to be getting water in your gearcases from running through deep water. extra service intervals on these machines on the transmission/ front diff won't help longevity, but will make your wallet much lighter. I've been down that road. Just do good regular maintenance and you'll get good results.

 

[commanderjjones]

.......Just do good regular maintenance and you'll get good results.

Says the man that's in the process of rebuilding a motor and 2 trannys. Sorry Adam.......I couldn't resist.

 

[littlebigrancher]

Wow jerry just went there lmfao!!!!

 

[POS POLARIS]

LOL, I knew that was coming.!

So, I will explain myself....

I do believe in changing the engine oil every 50 hours. that's good practice.

on 3 machines now, I've had all 3 puke their first transmissions at about 1250-1350 hours. All of them had their oils changed yearly prior to this. which was around 500-700 hours per year.

Ok. Now, one machine I just rebuilt the transmission in for the 3rd time in about 700 hours. And this has all happened in the span of 1 year or so. Another machine that also had it's first trans repair at 1250 hours also puked out the transmission bearings again 200 hours later.

You can guess that every time a transmission was rebuilt, the oil was changed at that time. so, some of those intervals were only 200 hours apart, and sometimes only about 4 months between failures..

When the transmissions would fail, sometimes it was an old original bearing, sometimes it would be a new bearing that was replaced at the last rebuild. It didn't seem to matter much what I did to them, it didn't seem to help.

So, where I'm at now is this- I replaced all the bearings in the transmission on this last build myself with Non Chinese (non polaris) bearings. This I'm expecting to help a ton. I don't think there's a thing I could have done to help the polaris bearings live. you could have run the slipperiest stuff known to man and changed it every 5 hours and those transmissions would have still failed.... After mechanicing for a living for a number of years, you really get a feel when you look at failures for what is due to lack of maintenance, and what is due to cheap parts...

Change you oil every year, save your money and buy $150 worth of new non polaris bearings when your machine hits about 1000 hours, and have the transmission done. Best insurance you can buy.

As for the engine, found a tear in the throttle body boot between the air cleaner an the throttle body. Nothing I could do about that one. ! Just fix it and hope for the best.

All the rangers are out of the shop now and back on the road. 1 engine and two transmissions in one week is enough breakdowns for awhile. lol.

 

[Bonkie114]

Adam, you said, that you rebuilt this last trans with non Polaris (Chinese) bearings. What kind of bearings did you? Could you see the difference in quality between the two of them? Can you please keep us posted on how this trans holds up. Thanks

 

[POS POLARIS]

I use SKF bearings on this last one. I was in a hurry because I needed the ranger, and I only found one part store in town that had them all (napa).

SKF bearings are made in Argentina (says right on them) but have always had a good reputation. If I had an extra day or two, I'd have held out and put in NTN or Timkin bearings (Japanese). In fact, I ordered a set of Timkin bearings so that I can go through the transmission on our 2012 HD this fall before it has a chance to fail for it's 3rd time. It gets to expencive when the trans gernades and you start having to replace stuff like gears, chains, and case halves. I can re-bearing the main portion of these transmissions with higher quality bearings, for less money than buying ones that say "polaris" on them

The only place in town I could find Chinese bearings was at a Runnings farm and fleet store. Which is just an agricultural "wall mart" that carries generic parts and such. Couldn't even find chinese bearings at the local auto parts stores. (even they know better than to sell poor quality bearings).

Yes, I'll keep you all in the loop on how the freshly ovehauled transmission holds up with the SKF bearings.!

 

[mustangwagz]

POS, isnt it an issue due to lack of oil that takes the bearings out, or just wear? I thought i read that you had issues with the top bearing starving?

 

[Bonkie114]

Adam I was just looking at a parts schematic for the trans in my 570. It looks like their is about a dozen or so bearing. Some needle some ball. Is this the main reason for the failure in these trans, the bearings?

 

[POS POLARIS]

POS, isnt it an issue due to lack of oil that takes the bearings out, or just wear? I thought i read that you had issues with the top bearing starving?

Wagz-

The bearings that generally go out are the upper LH bearings in the case. Usually the suspect is the first bearing on the input shaft, or the LH bearing on the selector shaft beside it. Also on occasion the LH bearing on the main drive shaft that drives the main chain will fail.

The LH bearings seem to be failing more often I believe because they have more strain on them because power is either coming in or going out on the left hand side of the case.

My dealer told me he's never seen a bearing fail on the right side. I believed him until I tore my own apart this weekend and found that the bottom bearing (the largest bearing in the case) of the main drive shaft was going out. This bearing is constantly submerged in oil, and will never starve... only thing I can do is blame the parts. ?

 

[mustangwagz]

i wander if its due to a mis-alignment on the mating halves? Correct me if im wrong, but the case's arent pinned are they? Something like that, there's usally pins, or alignment bosses for the matting halves.

If not, just goes to show, chances are there's some issues on that note.

as for the bearing with constant oil, yah...just call it the bearings fault on that one man, hopefully the SKF's will take the load. Someone whos a bearing pro can chime in here, but there MIGHT be a bearing thats better suited for heavy load, and high rpms. (different style that is) i know some are designed for end load, and others for different types of load.. etc etc. i used to have a big sheet that showed each bearing, and explained everything.

 

[POS POLARIS]

Adam I was just looking at a parts schematic for the trans in my 570. It looks like their is about a dozen or so bearing. Some needle some ball. Is this the main reason for the failure in these trans, the bearings?

Tom-

What year is your 570?

In my opinion, there's a few contributing factors to why these transmissions aren't holding up, at least for me- and again, these are just my opinions.

1- The bearings are lower grade (peer brand bearings if I remember correct)

2- The combination of high loads, temp extremes of cold and hot, along with fast and slow speeds we really put these things through the test.

3- We run more hours in one year on a machine then most people will put on their machine in the entire time they own it. Many people simply will not own a machine long enough to find the weak links that can only be found when a machine is put through long enduring use.


Polaris in the 2012 model year moved the drain plug up in the case as well. the 2011s would hold about 1.5 quarts, while the 2012 and newer 800s would hold about 3 quarts! Polaris knew they had a problem with this style of transmission, and were trying (hoping) that overfilling the case would help band-aid the situation. Since I have both 2011s and a 2012, I can't say that the extra oil has done anything to help the life of the trans. (I do overfill the 2011 transmissions with about 2.5 quarts).

There is only one needle bearing to my knowledge that polaris uses in these 2 speed transmissions, and it's on the selector shaft with the dogs on it. I've never seen or heard of it failing, but it moves very little.

 

[POS POLARIS]

i wander if its due to a mis-alignment on the mating halves? Correct me if im wrong, but the case's arent pinned are they? Something like that, there's usally pins, or alignment bosses for the matting halves.

If not, just goes to show, chances are there's some issues on that note.

as for the bearing with constant oil, yah...just call it the bearings fault on that one man, hopefully the SKF's will take the load. Someone whos a bearing pro can chime in here, but there MIGHT be a bearing thats better suited for heavy load, and high rpms. (different style that is) i know some are designed for end load, and others for different types of load.. etc etc. i used to have a big sheet that showed each bearing, and explained everything.

I wondered about this as well Wagz. But after having one of these apart myself, the case is indeed pinned. so, I have to imagine that they've got to be pretty well aligned?

When the local parts store guy asked me what I was doing with all these bearings, I told him I was rebuilding an ATV transmission. he laughed and said that there was a couple of those bearings that were used extensively for an alternator bearing application. He said there's no way they have any business being in any kind of a transmission. But, I'll have to say those two smallest bearings I've never seen go bad either ! (on the RH side of the case)

We will see if the SKF bearings will last. only time will tell.? You are correct that these things do take ALOT of RPMs, and there's alot of torque on that shaft that holds the secondary clutch! that bearing has to get hot!

 

[Bonkie114]

Tom-

What year is your 570?

In my opinion, there's a few contributing factors to why these transmissions aren't holding up, at least for me- and again, these are just my opinions.

1- The bearings are lower grade (peer brand bearings if I remember correct)

2- The combination of high loads, temp extremes of cold and hot, along with fast and slow speeds we really put these things through the test.

3- We run more hours in one year on a machine then most people will put on their machine in the entire time they own it. Many people simply will not own a machine long enough to find the weak links that can only be found when a machine is put through long enduring use.


Polaris in the 2012 model year moved the drain plug up in the case as well. the 2011s would hold about 1.5 quarts, while the 2012 and newer 800s would hold about 3 quarts! Polaris knew they had a problem with this style of transmission, and were trying (hoping) that overfilling the case would help band-aid the situation. Since I have both 2011s and a 2012, I can't say that the extra oil has done anything to help the life of the trans. (I do overfill the 2011 transmissions with about 2.5 quarts).

There is only one needle bearing to my knowledge that polaris uses in these 2 speed transmissions, and it's on the selector shaft with the dogs on it. I've never seen or heard of it failing, but it moves very little.

I have a 2014. I have had it since Oct. 2013. It has 975 miles and 148Hr. It has been 46Hr since last service, that do myself. I used a K&N filter, Castrol edge 5w/50 motor oil. I used Polaris AGL in the main and the on demand oil in the front. I was going to go with 100Hr service on all three, but I'am thinking of maybe sooner on the motor oil since I read one of your other threads about changing motor oil every 50Hr. I think that I'am going to use the Amsoil chain&case lube in the main.(another one of your threads ) Do you think I should change to the Amsoil in the main asap.

 

[POS POLARIS]

Personally I think Amsoil is the best, or one of the best oil/grease makers out there right now. If I were you, I'd change the engine oil at 50 hours, but no sooner. I usually run mine 50-70 hours depending on the amount of hard running/idle time I'm putting on them at that time. I would suggest you run a motor oil made for your engine. The newer car/truck synthetics don't have the anti wear properties in the oil (because of the EPA) that you get when you buy amsoil powersports oil, or polaris oil.. so, I'd do that first.

I'd say putting their chaincase lube in would be a good idea. I'm not sure how much or if it will help alot more over the polaris oil, but I can tell you that 1 out of the 3 rangers here that had amsoil exclusively in it had it's transmission hold up the longest before failing. For what that's worth. I think you could use that gear/chaincase oil the the front diff as well. I'm not sure if they're suggesting ATF or Hydraulic fluid for the front these days, but the viscosity difference is very small between all 3.

Not sure if Z71 has been watching this post or not(amsoil rep), but I've been running a wix brand filter that I've been buying from amsoil for about half of what the polaris filter costs me (about $7). I usually buy them when I buy my oil so they arrive together. Not sure if wix has a fitler for your machine if it's a 570? or is it an 800? if it's an 800, the wix filter you can use is a - 51356 Maybe Z71 will chime in on what wix will work on a 570?

I wouldn't get to worried about switching the oils out immediatly, but wouldn't hurt to switch over at the next service time if you feel that's the direction your leaning. if you like the amsoil, i'll tell you right now that a one year subscription as a "perferred customer" saves me quite a bit off the retail price when buying this stuff. Just something you may want to consider down the road.

 

[Mtjag]

So, like Alloutdoors, I am quickly approaching my 50 hours service. Based on POS POLARIS comment, should I just change the oil and check the air filter and forget about the front and rear diffs?

 

[POS POLARIS]

Johnny

That is just my opinion. Many others here change their oil all all compartments every 50 hours along with their engine oils. It's their decision and their money.

I just don't think that turning a $30 oil change into a $80 oil change will do anything towards extending the life of the drivetrain. Especially considering most folks on here don't drive more than a couple thousand miles per year. max. Its the same idea behind changing oils in your car or truck. would you change your car's transmission oil at 10,000 miles? no.

I think annually as polaris suggests is a good start unless you pressure wash your machine around the seals on of transmission alot, or you go underwater alot. anytime you get water into the trans, you need to get it out asap!

 

[Mtjag]

Johnny

That is just my opinion. Many others here change their oil all all compartments every 50 hours along with their engine oils. It's their decision and their money.

I just don't think that turning a $30 oil change into a $80 oil change will do anything towards extending the life of the drivetrain. Especially considering most folks on here don't drive more than a couple thousand miles per year. max. Its the same idea behind changing oils in your car or truck. would you change your car's transmission oil at 10,000 miles? no.

I think annually as polaris suggests is a good start unless you pressure wash your machine around the seals on of transmission alot, or you go underwater alot. anytime you get water into the trans, you need to get it out asap!

That really makes good sense. Thanks much for that insight. Most of the water will be crossing some high mountain creeks. We have muddy roads up here from snow melt, but nothing like we had in Louisiana.

 

[alloutdoors]

So, like Alloutdoors, I am quickly approaching my 50 hours service. Based on POS POLARIS comment, should I just change the oil and check the air filter and forget about the front and rear diffs?

The only thing I would suggest, assuming you are not doing the front and rear differential would be check them, because when I changed mine both were low. The front was down by 1-2 ounces which concerned me because of the low volume it holds, i.e., 9.3 oz, so it may be worth checking levels. For the record, the fluids in both the front were very clean when removed.